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MARSHALL -- It's tough to narrow down the scope of work Marshall Middle School teacher Ethan Hoppe does with students. As a social and emotional learning (SEL) teacher, Hoppe said his job came down to what individual students needed.
"The best way that I can describe it is, 'How can I help?'" Hoppe said. "One minute I might have a kid in my office who might have had something go on with a friend, and they have some friendship issues that we've got to talk about or work through. Two minutes later, I could have someone in my office who didn't have a good day in math class, and is really struggling with math. I could have someone in my office who had something tough happen at home that they just need to talk through, and then I could have someone just stop in to say hi."
This is the second year that Hoppe has served as SEL teacher at MMS. At Tuesday's Marshall school board meeting, Hoppe and MMS assistant principal Peggy Reynolds talked about the position and how it has impacted students.
"It's a position that works with all kids fifth through eighth grade, regardless of who they are," Hoppe said. "It's kind of up and down. Every day is different, which can be very different from a regular classroom setting."
Hoppe said as an SEL teacher, he offered middle school students someone to talk to. "Another thing I do, is I have a lot of discussions with kids based on behaviors, grades, missing work," he said. "A big focus right now is to help with the behavior at the middle school."
For example, Hoppe said, he might talk with a student about the student's negative behavior in class, as well as how to set things right with their teacher and how the student can move forward. "Sometimes that involves me demonstrating. Sometimes the kid is able to get that really quickly. Regardless, it's a lot of conversations," he said.
However, SEL is not part of the disciplinary process at the middle school, Hoppe said. "Discipline is all referred to Ms. Reynolds, the assistant principal," he said. "My position is more about, how can we fix this or how can we make this right?"
The SEL program also has a curriculum on character-building that is used at Park Side Elementary, Southview Elementary, and MMS, Hoppe said. At the middle school level, lessons are taught once a week in advisory classes. Then, Hoppe's job is to reinforce those lessons by meeting with students. Some students might meet with him for a couple of sessions, while others might have regular meetings, he said.
Hoppe is also the coordinator for the BARR (Building Assets Reducing Risks) program at MMS. He and other school staff are working on ways to implement BARR together with SEL.
Hoppe said he works together with administration and the two middle school counselors, during times when he might be overloaded.
So far, Hoppe said he feels he is making a difference and building relationships with MMS students.
"The goal and the idea in my mind, is just to be a positive person that kids have, because they might not have that anywhere else," he said.
Reynolds said she has seen fewer discipline issues at MMS this year. "This year has been wonderful," she told board members. "We made a lot of changes in utilizing Ethan's position . . . it's made a huge difference. The atmosphere in our building is a complete 180."