By Japhet Weeks/WEST BERKELEY
On a Friday afternoon in the Plum Garden classroom, Julian’s first grade teacher asked him to perform a simple task: bring a cardboard box full of paper scraps to the table. Instead, Julian grabbed a scrap of paper from the box. The teacher told him again that she wanted the box, but Julian still didn’t understand. So she took the box herself as she repeated the request, enunciating each word.
