Lincoln Program Spotlight: Oakland Freedom Schools (OFS) Part 1

Lincoln Program Spotlight

“Bey” Mariyam Bey

Oakland Freedom Schools (OFS), Site Coordinator

This is the first of a two-part series featuring Lincoln OFS staff.

2019 was my first year back at Lincoln since leaving in 2017 to attend Georgia State. I have worked for Lincoln in both the West Oakland Initiative (WOI) program as an Academic Mentor, as well as Oakland Freedom Schools in the summer as a SLI (Servant Leader Intern). This summer I’m back as an OFS Site Coordinator. I’m happy to be back from Georgia---I missed working with kids and being engaged in the important work of youth development. I love seeing the continuum of kids from WOI to OFS - we get to provide year-round literacy support while maintaining relationships and connections over the summer.

This year we have had to make a lot of program shifts because of COVID-19. An OFS Site Coordinator would typically supervise a school site with many different age levels, but this year we are supervising a particular age level and the virtual activities that are dedicated to the age grouping. This summer, I am supervising Level 3/4, which includes 12-16 year-olds who attend middle and high School. Enrollment was challenging this year because schools had been shut down and kids were tired of online learning activities, but we have a great group of scholars from Oakland schools including West Oakland Middle and McClymonds High School.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is so important right now, since scholars have been isolated in their homes. We use poetry nearly every day as a way for scholars to connect with themselves and gauge their feelings. A lot of teen scholars are very self-conscious and shy right now, and don’t want to turn on their cameras for the Zoom activities. They are active in the chats and comment on topics and texts, but they don’t want to show their faces or their home settings. So, we meet them where they are and treat them with respect in hopes they will come around on their own. While we don’t pressure them to turn on their cameras, we have started to brainstorm ways to incentivize it to encourage them to open up in that way. We have an OFS store and scholars can earn Freedom School Dollars that they can use to pick something off of Amazon that we will send to them.

OFS staff are very aware of trigger warnings and the things that can make scholars feel scared or upset right now. Some of the poetry and literature we read covers difficult topics like ICE camps on the border. We are very focused on making sure we check in on our scholars’ feelings and how the reading topics may impact them. The teen years are hard enough as it is, but with our social climate and COVID-19, our scholars are impacted more than ever. We may use YouTube videos, TedTalks, or spoken word pieces that are aligned with the topic of our reading assignment. This way we can start our day with discussion questions and an honest conversation about the topic.

Many teen scholars want the shelter-in-place to end, but are starting to accept that it won’t be ending soon, especially since school won’t be opening normally in August. Our scholars are processing a lot of conflicting feelings, some don’t even like being at school in the first place but also struggle at home with constantly being around their siblings and family members. Literacy is absolutely going down; reading skills are clearly lower, and understanding concepts is harder for them. OFS teachers are taking the time to not only do the SEL learning that is so important, but to frequently pause, unpack, and take the lessons slower. We see fellow scholars supporting each other’s comprehension, using the chatbox to explain and discuss larger concepts like sexism. We use an Integrated Reading Curriculum (IRC) and when folks are reading and doing activities together, OFS teachers pause and ask questions and do frequent comprehension checks.

An important part of OFS is the enrichment classes which have been difficult in the virtual model. Physical enrichments have been pre-recorded and then posted to our YouTube channel. Scholars are encouraged to do the physical activities in the afternoon, but it’s been challenging to ensure that they do. OFS scholars were given packets of supplies at the beginning of summer so they do have easier access to enrichment activities that are tactile or based on arts and crafts.

At the beginning of OFS this summer we did a ZOOM 101 for parents to make sure they feel comfortable with the technology use that is required. Many scholars are experts in using technology since they have been doing this type of learning since March. When we do have technical difficulties we worry that we are going to lose them and that retention will suffer, but the scholars have been consistent and keep coming back. The scholars show such resilience, they bounce back after technical issues, they give helpful feedback to OFS teachers and to their fellow scholars. Everyone is helping and supporting each other during this nontraditional summer.

Four Lincoln staff members were lucky to be able to attend the Children’s Defense Fund training for Freedom Schools in Tennessee, just before the shelter-in-place was ordered. This training was one of my best life experiences. I was surrounded by like-minded people and it was held at Alex Haley’s (famed author of Roots) farm. Thousands come from around the country and beyond to support the learning, literacy, and cultural pride of African-American children. The pandemic caused the training to be shut down early, and we scrambled to find flights home. While we were worried about being stranded, we found that the airlines were helpful and made flight changes easy for us. It’s a memory I will never forget - not just the training but the onset of COVID-19 and a time in our history that we could never have imagined.