Last fall, Woodbury Middle School teachers Erin Caughron and Angela Hill saw the seventh grade class take their lessons from the desk to the dinner table. Caughron and Hill teach a brand-new class named for the cornerstones of professional and interpersonal development: Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication and Creativity, also known as “the 4 Cs.”
The 4 Cs curriculum challenges sixth- and seventh-grade students with real-world questions like “How do we learn to work with others when we don’t always see eye-to-eye?” or “Is it always what we say that counts, or is it how we say it, or maybe even what we don’t say?” The class also serves as an introduction to real-world skills like product design, business proposals and applying for a bank loan.
At the conclusion of the fall trimester last year, Caughron and Hill’s seventh graders used their newlyacquired skills to organize a fundraiser. With the help of Woodbury’s own Big Frog Custom T-Shirts, the students designed a logo incorporating all five middle school houses (avalanche, hurricane, tsunami, tornado and firestorm). After establishing their profit margin and creating an advertising campaign, the students sold their so-called “perfect storm” shirts school-wide. Caughron says the fundraiser was a great success. “The shirts were really popular with the staff, especially the P.E. and choir teachers, who don’t [belong to] a specific house,” she says.
The students elected to put their earnings toward an “etiquette breakfast,” where they could practice some of the table etiquette they had learned during the trimester. Held in the school cafeteria, the family-style spread featured fresh fruit, eggs, hash browns and sausage, which were donated by Kowalski’s Market of Woodbury; store employees also contributed their time and expertise in helping the students to plan the menu for the event. “The etiquette breakfast was a great way to apply what students learned in 4 Cs to a real world experience,” Hill says. “We wouldn’t have pulled off such a rewarding event if not for the students’ ability to communicate and collaborate with peers.”
Caughron and Hill are planning to host another etiquette breakfast this fall, and hope to see it evolve into an annual tradition. “It was a great way to wrap up the trimester and prepare them for Thanksgiving,” Caughron says. The students recalled the proper way to set a table, which direction to pass food, which utensil to use when one has multiple forks and spoons to choose from, and where one’s napkin should be at all times, as well as rules like “the salt and pepper shakers must travel together” and “elbows off the table.”
Along with what Caughron deems “the basics of common courtesy,” like pulling out a chair for an older woman or waiting until all have been served and the host/hostess is seated before digging in, participants addressed more generation-specific etiquette, like where to keep your phone during a meal. “Out of sight,” Caughron says. “If you absolutely must answer it, politely excuse yourself from the table.”
Originally from Kansas, Caughron says that table manners and “Southern-Midwest hospitality” were part of her upbringing. Later on, she was familiarized with fine dining etiquette as a sorority sister and she also gained real-world experience in her first career as a businesswoman. By contrast, many of her students lack this foundational knowledge. Caughron says, “[Some of them] have never been exposed to proper etiquette. [They should be] aware of it, so they are not feeling self-conscious in formal settings. The little things go a long, long way, like how you shake someone’s hand and even small talk. If you are not polished, it can leave a bad impression.”
One of Caughron’s students, Calvin Stepan, says that he imagines these lessons will serve him well in the future. “If I [go] anywhere fancy or for a job interview, I would feel like I could make a positive impression in that setting,” Calvin says.
