What are Student Leadership Teams?
The OES Middle School Leadership Teams are opportunities for students to take an active role in making our school and local communities a more positive place to work and live. Each team has a specific purpose (listed below) that will improve the quality of life for our staff, students, and community members. This year, our groups are made up of a mixture of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Students meet outside school hours to plan activities, promote their causes, and educate others about important information related to their goals.
Culture Team
- The purpose of this team is to design and facilitate opportunities to strengthen the positive culture of our school community. This team will also be responsible for sharing the positive work and experiences of our students and staff with the community through social media. The team will collaborate with OES staff to implement routines, create on-going activities, and plan special events that promote positive school culture. They will also support the efforts of the OES Humanities Learning Lab by welcoming guests into our classroom for visits.
- Attend conferences and workshops about establishing positive school culture
- Meet with staff advisors to plan activities and special events that will strengthen our school community
- Posting successes (as well as challenges) to OES and Humanities Twitter feed, Facebook page, and website
- Research field trip opportunities that promote teamwork and community-building activities
(The Culture Team created this bulletin board in the middle school hallway to inspire kindness in our school community.)
Justice Team
- The purpose of this team is to explore, promote, and create opportunities to encourage social justice in our school, as well as in local, state, national, and global communities. Team members will meet weekly (as well as other times as needed or desired) to discuss and plan activities to promote social justice in our school and local community. The team will develop relationships with other groups that are doing similar work in other schools or the community and collaborate with these groups to make sure the positive impact of social justice reaches as many people and places as possible.
- Planning presentations, events and activities for OES middle school students, lower elementary students, the public, and OCSU educators that promote conversations and activism around issues of injustice
- Contacting organizations and schools to develop and maintain social justice partnerships
- Exploring organization websites and gathering ideas for activism
(The justice team created this interactive presentation to share their learning about gender identity.
Two of our group members attended a staff meeting to educate the OES teachers on this topic!)
Two of our group members attended a staff meeting to educate the OES teachers on this topic!)
Learning Team
- The purpose of this team is to collaborate with Mr. Chadburn and Miss Gratton to develop the Humanities curriculum. The team will collect information from their classmates about their preferences for learning (tasks/activities, learning environment, projects, etc.) and use that data to design units and projects that have options that can meet the needs of everyone.
Activities may include:
- Seeking out opportunities to expand learning beyond the classroom (either physically or digitally)
- Brainstorming and researching meaningful topics and activities/projects
- Exploring and choosing digital learning tools
- Creating and administering student surveys