A long-simmering crisis of mental health struggles among students has been magnified by the pandemic, and most teachers are not adequately prepared to deal with it as campuses reopen.
The seven students she began teaching in person last month at UCLA Community School in Koreatown are thirsty for connection and need a lot of one-on-one care. One girl darts outside to the playground any chance she gets. A boy came to class for two days and then didn’t return. The new routine overwhelmed him.; she will give instructions once, twice, five times, to no avail. “Can you all show me your work?” Chavez will ask. If she’s lucky, a single student will hold up a worksheet.
Chavez is afraid that they will completely disengage if she pushes them too hard, or that she will further harm their fragile psyches. She recognizes that the ever-growing waitlist for students to connect with her school’s social worker makes it all the more vital for her to know how to respond to students’ emotional outbursts or disengagement.screaming in the corner,” Chavez said. She anticipates this could be a likely scenario in the fall.