Every day, teachers and school administrators walk onto their school campuses and encounter kids who are struggling with academic difficulties and behavioral issues. But there is hope, and sometimes it comes in unexpected forms. For a class of fifth graders at Heaton Elementary School, implementing Beat the Odds, a social-emotional drumming program, has been instrumental in creating life change.

Many kids “in our elementary schools are coming to school with a lot of anxiety and a lot of issues from the environments that they live in,” explained ENP Saturday Sports Program Director, Brian Semsem, and “they just don’t have the self-control or self-regulation skills to function in a structured environment.” It’s tough for them. They “have a lot of energy and have a hard time focusing, have a hard time listening, have a hard time recognizing their own feelings.”

Walking into the cafeteria, the class entered the drum circle along with their teacher and sat in the chairs set up around the hand drums, where they were instructed to use their hands to strike the center of the drum for a low sound and the outer edges for a higher sound.

This particular Thursday the kids learned drumming phrases by mimicking the syllables in fruit names, such as “grape” for one beat, “cherry” for two beats and “banana” for three, combining different phrases in rhythm to play “Fruit Salad.” Semsem led, saying, “I go, you go. I do it once, you do it once. I do it twice, you do it twice.” He then said fruit names aloud in various patterns while striking his drum in unison. The kids listened to his beats and repeated them back, following his direction.

Semsem explained, the “curriculum uses rhythm activity in a fun way, and it helps them to develop some awareness of their own feelings,” and “as they practice the rhythm and have to practice self-control, have to practice listening skills, communication skills, that translates into better self-regulation.” They learn basic self-care too, such as shaking their hands out if they get tired while drumming. Over time, they begin to learn to regulate their emotions and are then “able to function in a classroom more effectively.”

ENP started using the curriculum in the 2017-2018 school year at Homan Elementary, and has since expanded to Heaton, Winchell, Kirk and Olmos elementary schools in Fresno Unified. Semsem has seen tangible results from the program. Recalling a fourth grade class from the previous year, he said, “they had a very difficult time self-regulating and listening to directions,” so he got them drumming and that noticeably helped. “They began to listen more and participate more.” The kids became more responsive and started sitting “in the seat long enough to hear a direction, long enough to hear a cadence or a rhythm on the drum be played, and with enough focus and attention to actually repeat that rhythm. And they didn’t have that skill or that capacity when they came in at the very beginning.”

Heaton Elementary Principal, Laura Gemetti, concurred. The program “is helping our students become more grounded,” and it is her hope that it “also increases self-regulation in the home.”

In one encounter, Gemetti recalled Semsem instructing a child, “’Say your name with a drum beat,’ and this one child who has struggled academically, he just whipped out his name in a drum beat and spelled it.” Beaming as she remembered the moment, she said it was “an incredible experience, and it was the first time I really saw the connection of drum circles to the academic piece.”

She has seen the benefits in the faculty too, explaining, “our teachers are learning self-management and classroom-management skills as well, while they’re in the circle, and then we can leverage that both out on the play yard and in classrooms during lessons.”

Out of the whole class, one boy chose not to drum that Thursday, but he was given the freedom to do so without criticism. Sometimes kids, “at first, don’t feel like drumming,” said Semsem, “and we tell them, ‘That’s okay. Just being in the circle is participation.’” Each kid is allowed to go at their own pace, following the beat of their own drum, so to speak. “And what we see over time is they begin to engage, and they have a great time.” He chuckled, saying overall that it is tough to get the kids not to touch the drums.

The drum circle environment becomes a unique communal experience. Everyone sits in a “circle because everybody’s equal, and they learn to recognize that nobody’s more important than anybody else,” Semsem explained. Yet within the circle, each kid is also recognized as an individual who deserves to be seen by others. Some of them “don’t feel like they’re heard or understood, and our activities include opportunities for kids to share an expression on the drum that they play, and then the rest of the kids listen and repeat that back to them.” That moment can be profound in their lives because “somebody actually heard what they said and was able to repeat it back.”

Toward the end of the period, Semsem finished a phrase with a drumroll, where the kids struck the drums repeatedly as fast as they could, and when he held his hands up in the air they all came to a stop (mostly). Then they all sat back in their chairs and Semsem began a short discussion with them by asking how they felt when they came in. Answers varied from “Horrible” to “Excited” to “Tired” to “Scared.”

Semsem affirmed them, saying, “If it was your feeling, it’s okay.” He then spoke about the reality of being scared or nervous when trying something new and asked the kids what they can do to cope when they feel those “really big feelings.”

Brian Semsem facilitating a drum session at Heaton Elementary.

Their responses ranged from cuddling with a pet, sleeping, listening to music, watching Netflix and playing Fortnite. Semsem nodded at each answer, and concerning Fortnite, told them that if video games help them to relax, that can be good, but balance is also essential. “There’s something really important about knowing your limits,” he said. He empathized with them that following directions and rules can be challenging, especially after a long day, but also instructed them to remember to follow through on their responsibilities once they’ve calmed down.

Semsem closed the class session by encouraging the kids that they did a great job, and he gave them something to look forward to the next time: cardio-drumming.

We’ve “loved having the mentors from Every Neighborhood Partnership here at Heaton, connecting with our students,” said Gemetti, and we “love what’s happening on our campus.”