Buttry: Mustang Studio and Crew Time Give Every Middle Schooler a Project and a Person

Buttry: Mustang Studio and Crew Time Give Every Middle Schooler a Project and a Person

 

Middle school principal Luke Buttry told KCSI and KOAK that two new programs are running in the 5–8 building this year: Mustang Studio, a twice-a-week project block for seventh and eighth graders, and Crew Time, a twice-a-month advisory that pairs every student with one teacher they keep.

 

 

Mustang Studio

Buttry developed Mustang Studio with instructional coach Maria Blake. It is not a traditional class. Seventh and eighth graders meet twice a week during homeroom. A teacher facilitates. The students run a project they will finish by the end of the year.

One group is building a career fair. Those students reached out to local professionals and took a field trip to Iowa Western for a career night. Another group is staging a live wax museum. They are researching historical figures, and the art teacher is working with students on sewing the costumes.

Sixth grade has a similar block called enrichment. Fifth grade still runs on a more elementary schedule and is not in Mustang Studio. Last week Buttry canceled a Studio session so teachers could prep for student-led conferences. Students complained. He took that as a good sign.

“It showed me that they’re excited for it and that they look forward to it,” he said, “which I think will result in some really nice projects and work by the end of the year.”

 

Crew Time

Crew Time meets twice a month. Every teacher has a mixed group of fifth through eighth graders — two or three students from each grade. The block starts with a team-building activity, then a short lesson on a topic that matters to middle schoolers.

The point is simple: every student should have one adult in the building they trust. “If they need something, they have somebody in the building that they can go to and they feel comfortable with,” Buttry said.

The groups stick. Eighth graders move on to the high school. The seventh, sixth, and fifth graders stay with the same teacher the next year. All four grades participate.