By: Adalee Hobson
Students don’t just leave Monika Spaulding's class with projects - they leave with a sense of who they are. What begins as a media class quickly becomes something more for the students who walk through her classroom door each day. Cameras, microphones and laptops may fill the room, but it’s the environment she creates that leaves the biggest impact.
Her teaching goes far beyond showing students how to film or edit. She challenges her students in the classroom to reach bigger things. For many students, it is the first time they’ve been asked not to just complete an assignment, but to express who they truly are.
This impact doesn’t happen by accident. Through constant encouragement and genuine connection, she makes it clear each of her students belong in her classroom. Freshman Claire Schmaltz believes her classroom gives her a breath of fresh air for the day.
“People are always laughing and making jokes, there is never negative energy,”
Schmaltz said, adding that there is never a dull moment in Spaulding's class room.
Her students have a variety of ways to express themselves in their assignments. There is always something for someone to do in her media class.
She has been a comfort person for some of her students. Sophomore Khloe Crockett believes she is a very welcoming person to be around.
“She doesn’t just act as a teacher, but also as a friend and some people are able to open up to her,” said Crockett
Her students believe that she is more than a teacher. They also believe that she impacts every student that walks through her door. She makes her students' confidence go up and gives them a variety of ways to express themselves.
She isn’t just a teacher to her students. She is also a friend. These are all things that make her different from other teachers at SHS.
“She believes in all of her students in a different way than all the other teachers do,” said Schmaltz. “I feel like she really gets to know the students rather than just teaching them a subject.”.
Those feelings become much more clear as the school year comes to an end. Students who once walked into class quietly begin speaking up, pitching new ideas, and taking creative risks that they never have before. Projects for them start to look more like personal stories and experiences that reflect the person they are becoming.
Even outside of assignments, students find themselves thinking differently. They notice stories in everyday life, conversations, events and moments that would have been ignored before. She doesn’t just teach media skills, she teaches awareness, expression and confidence.
As the year goes on, Spaulding's impact becomes less about a project in class and more about the change in her students. They start to trust their voices and begin to see themselves as creators, not just learners.
And when the final project is turned in, it isn’t just the end of a class. It feels like proof of something much bigger. Not just what they have learned this school year, but who they became while learning it. As new students walk into her room, they will leave with more confidence and creativity than they ever had before.