In the fall of 2011, 22 honors students from Chicago Talent Development Charter High School set out on a difficult journey. For the next 10 weeks, these sophomores delved into the immense project ahead of them: they read together, discussed their ideas, and scripted personal narratives and imaginative poems about the myriad challenges they've overcome.
Each week, the students worked closely with Open Books program leaders and a dedicated group of literacy coaches to learn, write, perfect, edit, and share their words and knowledge. Life Beyond School is the result of their hard work. This anthology contains remarkable prose and poetry straight from the minds and hearts of a wise and thoughtful group of students. Their memoirs will make you smile, cry, and sometimes wince, but they are the true stories that make up this group's lives and experiences.
