Once A Barrier, Now An Opportunity

In the June 2020 article, “SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL & CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE APPROACH LEAD TO SUCCESSFUL PATHS FOR BLACK & BROWN YOUTH”, Btheabstract Atelier claimed that academic and behavior struggles from students and barriers would inevitably find a way into the educational spaces of marginalized students.

Rashauna Schuler, a current Uncommon Schools student, and one of the interviewees from Btheastract’s June 2020 article, is experiencing those academic and behavior challenges in her 6th grade classes. Last year, Rashauna explained how her time in 5th grade was a great improvement from her previous years at a different charter network. Her biggest highlights from Uncommon were having outlets when she gets angry and having the space to use her voice to advocate her needs to her teachers and to empower her classmates.

Although there were supports in place to help address Rashauna’s social-emotional needs, the 21-22 school year hit Rashauna in an unexpectedly overwhelming way. Her 5th grade year was a unique year. Her class had no more than ten students and the schedule was hybrid. Fast-forward to Rashauna’s 6th grade year, hybrid is no more, school is everyday, the school day is longer, and there are almost 30 students in her class. To say Rashauna has been having a difficult time adjusting is an understatement.

“ I wish we could go back to how it was in 5th grade. There are too many kids in the class and now I don’t get as much attention as I did last year. It is hard for me to stay up all day because the classes are longer. It is way more kids this year and we have to keep on the mask.” Rashauna voiced her frustrations with how 6th grade is going for her so far.

Even though a lot seems to be going wrong in Rashauna’s opinion, she also admits some of the things that are going well despite the circumstances. “I was getting upset a lot in the beginning of the school year. I would shut down and started getting sent out of class again. Me, my teachers, my social worker and my mommy came up with a plan to help me with staying awake in class, following directions, and doing my work.”

Through staff, student, and family collaboration, Rashauna’s school was able to upgrade her previous supports and cater to her current needs of learning how to adapt to the new way of going to school during a pandemic. The meeting of the minds resulted in a strategic seat placement in the classroom, a emoji communicator sheet, a hallway/water/bathroom break system, and an incentivized behavior tracker.

With the pressure being applied to educators to make up for the learning loss that Covid-19 created, social emotional needs of students could easily be slighted by a staff nearing burnout. Luckily, Rashauna’s school and family, her village, her support system, ceased the decline before turning things around for Rashauna became impossible. What was once a barrier and potential failure became an opportunity for her support system to be of service to her in a new way.