[clock ticking]
[speaking Spanish] -I really don't remember
my last day of school.
But when the online classes began,
my world collapsed.
[ticking continues]
I look at myself in the mirror and ask,
"What happened to you?"
"Where did that studious girl go?"
"What happened?"
-It's hard to create community online.
If you're new to this country,
you want to be part of something here.
Being part of a Zoom class is not the same.
[clock ticking]
[birds chirping]
Hey, Titans.
It's Mr. Elias,
your Facebook page operator/history teacher, and...
-Hi, Titans!
I am Ms. Bonilla.
I work as the family social worker.
-My students come in diverse classes --
so, different language groups, different levels.
You have kids who have gone to private schools,
and you have kids who grew up on farms
and haven't been to school at all.
-The survey is in English, in Spanish,
in Amharic, and in Arabic.
-The survey is about our experience with virtual learning
and our plans for reopening.
This is for level one students,
so language has to be real simple.
"These were the first technologies."
So, what we've been doing
is we've been looking at Paleolithic and Neolithic.
Let me just throw this up here.
Okay, so, Ali, which one is having homes, villages?
-The Neolithic. -Very good, Ali. Villages.
The disruption
and the disruptiveness of this whole time
has made their long-term goals seem farther off.
[dishes clinking]
-[laughs]
-Ana Reyes is a leader and a helper.
She's never been my student, but I've worked with her as a --
in the student leadership meetings.
The other kids go to her when they need help,
when they want to understand things.
-This is positive.
You have to make it negative.
You never take it from this side.
-Ah.
-Here 'a' is something different.
-Okay.
-I want to study forensic science and criminalistics.
Before, I was always on the honor roll
and I had perfect attendance.
Since everything is online,
let's say I'm not doing so well,
and I feel really scared of not
being successful like I was in the past.
-Gracias.
[sighs]
-Well, I want to have a greater grade,
but I don't know how to improve that.
-The best bet is always to do your best work, on time.
-Okay.
-That's how you get good grades.
[computer chimes] If you get a bad grade,
you need to follow up immediately on that grade,
not waiting for the next one or the next one --
-I was trying to do that. -...but follow up on that one.
I'm pretty easy to get an "A" from if you do the work.
But if you don't... -[whispers indistinctly]
-It's quite frequent for kids to go through isolated periods.
They need lots of check-ins.
One kid'll be on fire for a while,
and then you forget that the kid over there,
you know, is just, like -- you know, they got their head down
and they're stressed out or the grades are falling.
-...extra credit work...
-Difference is, before the pandemic,
it's a face, not a dark box on Zoom.
♪♪
-I came to the United States
basically two years ago.
[laughter]
-I was working for the government.
I was specialized in security issues.
Having that kind of
decision making power
makes you a target.
We had already been victims of some attacks,
and there was an attempt to kidnap my daughters.
So, I had to do it.
You wonder if you made the right decision.
♪♪
[conversing in Spanish]
-My mom walked away completely.
She doesn't worry about us,
she doesn't call us on our birthdays,
or News Year's or Thanksgiving.
Nothing.
The first months after she left,
I only knew how to make rice and fry an egg.
I didn't know anything else
and I felt lonely.
But little by little, I started to learn on my own.
[indistinct talking over speakers]
-I hear nothing. -No?
-I don't hear anything.
-Learning in my house is a little complicated.
-Do we have another pair?
No?
No? No?
-Especially my youngest sister,
she gets very distracted.
-...if there was anybody else,
but we did a pretty good job -- -I'm sorry.
-...I think, for what we had.
-So... -You are sorry!
[indistinct talking over speakers continues]
-Mia.
Drink the juice next to you, please.
-Mnh.
-I want to keep her active,
but I also get distracted from my classes
for taking care of my sisters.
-And...start!
-...we have to go backwards... -Oh!
-...so what was yesterday?
-The pandemic first caused a reduction of work,
then construction workers were considered essential workers.
But we were not working the same hours,
we weren't receiving the same income.
So for us, it has been twice as difficult.
-Are you hungry?
-Mm-hmm. [speaking Spanish]
-Do you want -- Do you want, like, bread?
Bread!
-[speaks indistinctly]
-With Nutella?
-Yeah. -Okay.
When he doesn't have work, it has been
it has been a crisis at home, thinking --
What are we going to eat tomorrow?
What are we eating later?
Or am I making the same thing as yesterday?
I have that worry in my mind all day.
[birds chirping]
-[chuckles]
I will feel very happy
to go back to the place where
I am very successful,
where I was once successful.
I'm very excited.
Like...
All of this quarantine, I prepared so much
for doing my perfect eyeliner.
Believe me.
I will feel like I matter again.
I will feel that I can.
Okay. Okay.
-Ana Reyes is someone who wants to be at the center of things
and she wants to be a part of a movement, of something.
-Good morning! -Good morning.
You going to T.C.? -Yes.
-Go all the way to the last seat.
-Okay. Thank you.
-Good morning, Titans!
After you finish breakfast,
if you don't have a first period class,
you're free to hang out in the gym.
-This next stage is gonna be just kind of making sure
that things are safe and having a place for people to go
who want to do hybrid and they want to get out of the house.
How are you, man?
Give me your elbow.
[both laugh]
A lot of the kids thought this was gonna be back to normal.
They were looking forward to going to lunch.
I had one student be like, "I can't wait to be in person
'cause I want to kiss my girlfriend."
And I was like -- [sighs]
"Okay, here's how it's gonna be."
See, it's the same?
-Yes!
-Firstly, we should compare who we are today
with who we were...
-I am absolutely proud and grateful,
and I apologize if I get emotional, but
she is a brave and smart kid...
-I'm here.
This was from the last year, when I was in 10th grade.
I'm here.
-...who has been able to adapt to the situation,
she has filled herself with so much patience,
and she filled herself with a lot of maturity.
-Yeah, I want to be there again.
Ugh! Yeah, it's pretty hard right now.
But I can.
-One of the big lessons that
my own kids and my students have learned is,
those little victories are the moments in life that count.
-[chuckles]
-Just the idea that, you know,
you can take these little victories,
even though things aren't going the right way.
That's resiliency, and that's perspective, too.
There's no reason to get into that
doom-and-gloom emergency mode that I think is common
in education, to talk about learning loss and lost year,
but really to think about what have we learned
and how can we do it better from now on.
-I will be in 12th grade next year.
I want to show everyone who I am, that
I am someone who has a lot of motivation inside.
But right now, I don't.
I don't have that motivation, but I'm working on it.
♪♪