Love Them First: Lessons from Lucy Laney Elementary: My Reflection

Because of the teacher in-service day, I was unfortunately not able to observe this past week.
However, because I missed my observation, I was introduced to this documentary and was very
happy to have been exposed to it. Admittedly, I’m not usually someone who cries while reading
books or watching movies. I can’t say the same for this documentary; I definitely cried once or
twice. The documentary was so beautifully created and the principal, Mauri Friestleben, is unlike
anyone I have ever encountered before. Her devotion to her students was unmatched and was
truly inspiring to watch.

Love Them First: Lessons from Lucy Laney Elementary is a documentary focusing on a school in
South Minneapolis. Immediately within the first five minutes, the audience could tell that there
was a higher level of investment coming from the faculty. I mean, they were definitely working
tirelessly to set morale at a high. Teachers were lining up to welcome students back to school on
the first day, they were actively working to decorate their classroom spaces to make them more
welcoming. Some were even going door-to-door in their community to inform students and
parents about back-to-school night. Not only that, but the teachers at Lucy Laney created a
system where they collected clothing donations from their community so that families living in
poverty didn’t have to worry about what they were sending their kids to school in. As they went
door-to-door, they also informed families that at back-to-school night there would be a clothing
and shoe drive, where students can get clothing for the school year for a dollar donation. It is
such an incredible system they have in place.

The documentary displayed the following statistics about Lucy Laney Elementary:

● Has students from pre-K through 5th grade

● 90% of student population are black students
● 90% of student population are students living in poverty
● Lucy Laney listed among the lowest 5% of underperforming schools in Minnesota

Because of this, Mauri has to annually send a letter home to all of the families claiming that they
are in the lowest 5% of underperforming schools. It was very powerful to see how this took a toll
on all of the teachers and faculty. As Mauri put it, the teachers and faculty at Lucy Laney are
who make the difference. Part of what makes those teachers so good is that they take everything
so personally. When their students succeed, they feel great, and when their students fail, they’re
devastated. But it was so cool to see how all of the teachers rallied together to try to find
different ways to accommodate students, further ensuring their success.

Some things that the faculty had to focus on were the home and living conditions many students
faced. Everyone had to learn how to empathize, how to teach students who have faced trauma in
their lives. They’ve recruited psychologists and behavioral therapists to make sure that all
students were getting the individualized care they needed. An example in the film was when one
of the students was struggling with family issues at home and he came to school angry. He had a
physical altercation with one of the teachers and was regularly getting sent home. Mauri felt that
they needed to put a stop to sending him home because of the emotional toll it would have on the
child. Instead, while Mauri was greeting all of her students at the front of the school, to she
pulled this particular student aside. “I’m not mad that you came to school angry because you
have a lot to be angry about,” Mauri said. “It’s how you project your anger and frustration that
we need to focus on.” She decided to send him to work one-on-one with the behavioral specialist
who took him to his office to get out some of that frustration. This behavioral specialist had a
punching bag in his room, pushing him to take out his aggression on something that was meant
to take out aggression on. After he got tired of that, the behavioral specialist pushed him to do
jumping jacks and laps around the room.

Eventually, after working with him, they got to the root of the problem. He started talking to the
student about empathy, and the importance of apologizing from the heart. He asked the boy if he
had apologized to the teacher. When he said no, the behavioral specialist asked why. The boy
said that he was afraid to. So instead of forcing him to deliver an empty apology, the behavioral
specialist allowed him to apologize in his own way; by drawing the teacher a picture.

They also advised his mother that it might be best if she spent an hour with him in the morning at
school. I don’t think he was getting enough attention at home because of everything that was
going on, so blocking out a chunk of time where he was alone with his mother was exactly what
he needed. One day of that alone, the staff started to notice a big difference in his behavior.

The behavior specialist later took him to meet with the teacher, where he gifted her the drawing
he had been working on. She sat down with him and said that he was a bright kid and was
excited for him to come back to the classroom. She wanted him to have the shared experience as
his peers, but he needed to be in the classroom to do that. She said, “I need to be your
kindergarten teacher, is that okay?” He nodded and that was that. Instead of sending him home,
they worked through the behavioral issues with him until they got to the root of the problem.
They didn’t take the easy way out, which all too often, we see happen in schools. And to
students, that’s almost like we’re giving up on them, that they’re invisible, that they don’t matter.

The faculty at Lucy Laney didn’t fall short in the research department. Mauri didn’t want her
staff flying in blind when it came to handling students with trauma. Instead, they did extensive
research on what trauma and pain does to kids. They brought on child psychologists to learn
more and to understand, which is also something that we don’t see too often in public schools,
especially a poverty-stricken public school. The psychologist claimed that vulnerable children
often don’t know how to do school because they’ve been frightened. Taking the extra time to
make the child feel seen and understood is ultimately what will help students to learn.
Another instance that I loved was when one of the teachers was talking about what the learning
environment looked like in her own classroom. A kid will say this homework’s hard, and
students will say “good!” This teacher used to say “good” all the time, in response to a student
saying that their work was hard. It means that they’re learning something, and she loved the full
circle she saw come to fruition; eventually, students began saying “good” whenever one of their
peers complained about work being hard. Students began craving difficult work, craving to learn
more. One of the teachers said that they teach for the outcome, to see the growth in students, and
I think that’s why I entered the field myself. Working in my observations, there’s nothing more
rewarding than experiencing that a-ha moment, once the child begins to understand. Some
students can have a subpar teacher and they’ll be okay. Some students, however, cannot afford to
have a subpar teacher. So my goal is to never be that subpar teacher.

One thing that I absolutely loved about the school itself was that they validated African
American Vernacular English. Students weren’t going to get penalized for using that language in
the classroom. Parents of color are looking for schools that validate and affirm each child’s
culture; Lucy Laney accepts students for who they are. Instead of deducting points on
assignments for grammar, they would help students translate it into academic vernacular. They’d
make distinctions between the two and let students know that both were equally as important.
“Language is how people communicate the mastery of their concepts. It shouldn’t be how they
communicate their mastery, it should be whether they’ve mastered it or not.”

The biggest takeaway from this documentary is in the title, love them first. If we push ourselves
as educators to get to know the students personally before we start teaching them, it will make all
the difference. Empathy is one of the strongest qualities in an educator. Without it, you’re just
mindlessly barking a lecture at students. Making students feel seen, feel understood is how
students will connect. Not giving up on students when we don’t understand them, but instead
working towards understanding will only take the student farther. Like Mauri said, some students
can’t afford subpar educators; they can’t afford to be given up on by an educator. If we believe in
all of our students and we love them for what they bring to the table, that can make all the
difference in that child’s life.