In this article, the author, an urban middle school teacher in Northern California, describes the evolution of her classroom into one in which the day-to-day realities of students' lives -- most significantly their encounters with death -- are acknowledged and formally addressed as being central to the work of the classroom. She asserts that there is a need to make connections between the day-to-day realities of students' lives and the day-to-day process of teaching and learning that takes place in urban public schools. She explains how her understanding of her teaching has been informed and transformed by critical pedagogy. She invites readers to follow her journey with her students as they move from viewing the teacher as knowledge giver to legitimating the students' knowledge and experiences as a basis for learning. In this example of a teacher's attempt to translate critical pedagogy into practice, she also brings home the impact of the violence and death in American society on students' lives. Footnotes, references