Those who have had morning classes in the A-wing know that when the sun starts shining, the glare peeks through the window, right into your eyes.
Andrew Casuco is a junior who had to deal with this every morning. “During 1st period I couldn’t focus because the sun was so bright. It made me feel annoyed.”
Classes on campus that face the sun all experienced similar problems. And so two years ago, English teacher Sarah Gutierrez saw the challenge as an opportunity. Her goal was for the students to learn that even outside an assignment you can make way for change, and so she had her class write an argumentative letters.
Gutierrez wanted her students to keep in mind that writing has a purpose, can make change, and that their voices do matter.
In the letter, students made the claim that without any form of shade from the sun, their learning was affected because the brightness was distracting and made it frustrating.
“At one point it was fine,” Gutierrez said, “but when the gates were installed, the sunshades were removed, and as a result the sun would just come straight through the windows.”
And it’s not only a problem in A-wing classes. B-wing History teacher, Anthony Lee and his students faced the same problem, especially during 1st period.
“When the sun was rising where it would beam on you, everyone that would be on [the side facing the windows] of my classroom, you could see it glaring off of their textbooks.”
Junior Anita Lee said, “It distracted me from doing my assignments or paying attention in class.”
Before the Viewboards that classrooms have now, teachers used projectors, which already made it hard to see and even harder when the sun came into the rooms so bright.
In their letters, students explained their feelings, writing “we still feel we deserve window coverings because we want to feel like we matter and are cared for as well.”
And now, SUSD has shown that they are listening to their students, dedicating money towards installing the shades in all classrooms. And while the sun is away now, when the sun comes back, teachers are happy to have it. “ I definitely will be using them on a consistent basis,” said Lee.
Gutierrez feels the letter made a difference. “We knew that our school needed it, we knew the students wanted it, and we thought it would help with their learning and their comfortability.”
She feels that despite the delay it was still an important learning experience. “Those students are graduated now but I think the important thing is that they can see their words and their writing can impact future students,” said Gutierrez.
