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Teacher, and mom, Rashana Graham.
When Black Lives Matter protests began again in New Haven, Rashana Graham asked her sixth graders to analyze the preamble to the U.S. Constitution in today’s context.
She also prepared a lesson plan for her own children.
The past few months have been tough for Graham. The Augusta Lewis Troup School science and social studies teacher has figured out how to teach remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic through trial and error. Yet limitations remain, particularly when she wants to talk about complicated or heavy subjects like inequality in America.
“Work for me isn’t just being a teacher. It’s about being a friend and an ear, a comforter and a protector. When you’re home, you can’t do that. I don’t know how to get students to do their best work while they’re at their house,” Graham said.
Graham said that she incorporates social justice themes in some way every year. One year her classes talked about Childish Gambino’s song, “This Is America.”
Graham at home.
This year, her class on the Constitution coincided with nationwide uprisings against police brutality after the death of George Floyd. She sent her students explanatory videos by Schoolhouse Rock and history teachers. Then she added a quote from Mos Def’s 1999 album and explained that the justices and freedoms in the preamble were meant for the people who considered African Americans property.
“Some kids are really thinking about it. It’s hard to not talk about it with them. I don’t know how to within the guidance from New Haven Public Schools,” Graham said.
The assignment came up as Graham was cleaning her room for the summer. It was her first time stepping back into her classroom since schools closed in March to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
“I actually feel at peace,” Graham said. “I think it’s because this is a place where I come alive. This is where I create magic and do what heals my soul, and that’s teaching.”
“My Cute Sons”
Graham spoke with her three children recently about racism and police brutality. While the conversation allowed her to embody her teacher self at home, thinking about it had tears welling up in Graham’s eyes.
Graham grew up in an impoverished neighborhood in Waterbury. She was able to pull herself out of poverty, earn multiple master’s degrees and give her children a different life. She still needed her children to know that a white police officer had killed George Floyd.
“I know I have to tell my children to act a certain way in order for them to come home. That’s the goal, to get them home,” Graham said.
Graham recalled driving with her husband between Trumbull and Bridgeport and getting pulled over by a police officer. She started to talk back to the officer; her husband told her to shut up so they could get home to their kids.
“I’m scared that my cute sons are going to become these black boys who people are scared of. Are they going to be walking down the street in 10 years and be intimidating to someone?” Graham asked.
Graham’s children are ages 4, 8 and 9. The youngest did not understand the conversation and thought he would be killed by police if he went to jail.
“I had to explain to him that if somebody feels like you are a threat, that might be the way you get killed,” Graham said.
The Reason To Teach
On the virtual tour of Graham’s classroom.
Graham said that she teaches because she wants students to think critically. For example, she saw news that George Floyd was Covid-positive. She wondered about the point of reporting this, as though his death were more inevitable or less important, she said.
“If you think about it, these kids are enraged too. They are just as angry as the people rioting, because they feel injustices too. They don’t know how to express it yet,” Graham said.
Graham has made sure her classroom is a safe space for them to explore those questions. She said that the only requirement for her class is to try. A student who tries might not get an A but will definitely pass, she said.
Graham teaches a camp during the summer on the New Canaan Country School campus. She described being shocked the first time she saw the woodworking space, pool, state-of-the-art dining hall and skylights in the private school’s classrooms.
“My kids go to lunch in a dungeon. It bothers me a lot. Their school should be just as nice. Why can’t we figure out a system that doesn’t give so much to one end and nothing to the other?” Graham asked.
She can at least provide them with a great education and the belief that they can succeed from poverty, as she did. She tells her kids to send her a postcard when they become famous.
Graham was the only teacher in Troup on the day she packed up her classroom. She has been anxious about Covid-19 and asked for her own time slot, she said.
As she started taking down students’ bucket worksheets — a social emotional learning tool — she realized that there was so much she had not been able to do with her students: hiking trips, a possible trip to see a play on Broadway… The year felt unfinished.
Graham said that she is applying to assistant principal positions, a long-term goal. She has realized lately that she would not be sad if it doesn’t happen this year, so she can stay at Troup.
She taught at a series of different schools before Troup as she searched for a flexible workplace where she could bring her kids and feel valued.
“The people here are so loving. It’s a family,” Graham said. “By the end of [my first] year, I knew that I don’t need to work anywhere else.”
Thank you for doing your best to teach these difficult lessons and examining the constitution in its historical context. I wish we had more teachers able to teach a critical look at our nation's legal birth documents and civil rights historically and present day reality in our schools with the support and guidance of the school system.