Inside the Classroom: Mandy Stuber - Medlin Middle
Inside the Classroom: Mandy Stuber - Medlin Middle
Inside the Classroom is a series that visits Northwest ISD campuses throughout the year and highlights the magical moments that happen between teachers and students each and every day across the entire 234 square miles of NISD.
“Words are powerful. How you treat people matters.”
That is the message Mandy Stuber wanted students in her leadworthy class to understand. When we visited Medlin Middle School for the next edition of Inside the Classroom, she certainly captured their attention and accomplished her goal.
Ms. Stuber teaches leadworthy (sixth grade) and student leadership (seventh and eighth grade) at Medlin, classes that offer life lessons far beyond what’s found in a typical middle school classroom.
The NISD Middle School Course Selection Guide describes leadworthy as a class that “teaches students to take responsibility, express themselves and handle problems and decisions when they arise. The class enables individuals to build personal responsibility and leadership skills through group activities, role play, speeches and projects.”
In Ms. Stuber’s words, “I get to help them learn how to be great human beings!”
When we visited, Ms. Stuber was using a unique role playing activity to demonstrate to students that how you treat other people can be powerful and important.
As she does for each class, Ms. Stuber began by standing outside her classroom door and greeting every student with a handshake. Students had already learned to make eye contact when greeting someone and how to politely say hello, so each day they put those skills into action when they enter Ms. Stuber’s class.
Once all students were in class, the period started with an activity called “good news.” One student stood in the front of the class and called on fellow students who shared any good news they had going on in their lives. The news ranged from upcoming baseball and volleyball games to academic successes.
The leader of the discussion was tasked with asking follow up questions and carrying on a conversation, building communication and public speaking skills simultaneously. After “good news” was finished, the class and Ms. Stuber gave the student leader feedback on her performance, teaching the class how to provide and receive constructive criticism.
Next, it was time to get started with the class period’s main activity. Ms. Stuber asked the class what it means to take responsibility. She then explained how we can always control three things: our thoughts, our attitudes and our actions.
For the activity, each student taped a piece of paper with their ‘role’ to their forehead and did not know what it said. These ‘roles’ acted as instructions for how other students should respond to them in a discussion.
Some roles were positive, such as “encourage me” or “show me respect.”
Many roles, however, were negative...
“Wave at other people when you talk to me.”
“Cut me off.”
“Change the subject.”
Students were paired together, then given a topic to discuss. Topics included opinions on the school’s dress code, do adults discriminate against them because of their age, if they could change a rule at school what would it be and what would they teach the class is they switched places with Ms. Stuber.
No matter the topic, conversations were very lively because of the roles students were playing. After discussing one topic, students would rotate to a new partner and discuss the next topic. There were lots of laughs and awkward conversations, especially when two students with the role “look down at your feet when you talk to me” paired with each other.
When students returned to their desks, Ms. Stuber asked for a thumbs up or thumbs down guess of if their role was positive or negative, then let students look at their role.
Every student guessed correctly, which is exactly what Ms. Stuber hoped would happen. She then led a discussion asking students how they were so sure of their role and how they felt about the way they were treated.
Students with positive and negative roles shared how vastly different their experiences were, driving home the importance of how we treat others even when having simple conversations.
The class closed by discussing if they had seen or overheard conversations among students on campus that made them feel uneasy. They discussed strategies for how to politely intervene when they know someone is not being treated fairly.
The lessons that leadworthy students are learning are not just preparing them to be excellent leaders on campus, they are learning to be great citizens that positively impact their community. With a teacher and role model like Ms. Stuber who is committed to serving her students, they certainly have the perfect example to follow.
Check back regularly all year as we continue to visit students and teachers throughout Northwest ISD and offer a rarely seen look Inside the Classroom.