Rooted & Rising: Stories From Across Our Schools
Campfire conversations celebrating the people, practices, and purpose that make our schools thrive.
Rooted & Rising: Stories From Across Our Schools
11 - Support During Interesting Times
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In this episode of Rooted & Rising, Andrew McDonald is joined by Alissa Miller and Tanya Stewart to explore the vital work of student support in grades 5–8.
The conversation focuses on how schools intentionally meet students where they are during the pivotal middle‑school years: a time marked by academic growth, social development, and increasing independence. Alissa and Tanya share how targeted support, collaboration with teachers, and a focus on relationships help students build confidence, develop effective learning habits, and experience success in meaningful ways.
Grounded in a Catholic understanding of the dignity of every learner, this episode highlights how support is not about labels, but about accompaniment, helping each student grow academically, personally, and spiritually.
It’s a thoughtful look at how care, structure, and responsiveness combine to ensure that every student is given what they need to flourish.
Welcome to Rooted in Rising, a short podcast where we highlight the people, programs, and moments that make Billings Catholic schools special. Each episode, we'll spend just a few minutes sharing one story from across our system. Something worth noticing, worth celebrating, and worth building on. I'm Andrew McDonald, and I'm glad you're here. Sound good?
SPEAKER_01Raise our hand like you.
SPEAKER_02All right, today we're talking about something essential and often invisible in the life of a school. Uh, how we support students when learning feels challenging, overwhelming, or just different. So I'm joined by two people who walk alongside our fifth through eighth graders every day in that work, Tanya Stewart and Alyssa Miller from our student support team. Tanya and Alyssa, would you introduce yourselves and share just a little bit about the work that you guys do?
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna let you go first.
SPEAKER_01I'm Tanya Stewart, and this is my eighth year here at St. Francis. I just, you know, my passion is for kids, period. I want them to have what they need, and that's the bottom line. So when they come to see me, I already know that they have a history because it's fifth through eighth grade. A lot of times, by the time I get to see them and work with them, they have a pretty poor self-image about their own capabilities. They might say, I'm dumb. This is too hard for me. They don't always have the motivation or that push-through that a lot of other students might have. They sometimes give up before they even start. And so one of the first things that I just feel like I need to do is get to know them, get to know what their strengths are, and start talking to them about that. It's like if they're great at basketball, it's like, hey, how did you get great at basketball? Well, I practiced. I have a hoop in my driveway. Like, oh, practice. Okay. And then we talk about how, just with any other skill, basketball or whatever, that it takes practice. And we're not perfect at it right off the bat. And so I try to make some positive associations for them. That to me, the building the relationship, that's the first thing that's got to be done.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. I think everything starts there, right? If you don't have that positive relationship, there's there's not a lot that you're gonna get done for sure. And Alyssa, how about how about for you?
SPEAKER_00So I've been with the Buildings Catholic Schools for seven years, full time, but I was subbing before that. So probably about 10 years altogether. And I've always felt like a teacher's job is not just to educate, but they're always students need some sort of a connection. And it's not going to be with every teacher all the time, and that's okay. But if you can pinpoint in your education one year where you were like, I had this great connection with this teacher, and they brought this out in me, when they can do that, then that sort of stays, and then you know you have that in you to kind of move forward in your educational career with that. And so I try really hard to kind of like Tanya said, you get to know them, you get to know them kind of what they like and dislike. And then I found that I have an almost exorbitant amount of patience. So something that you absolutely need for sure, right? So if I'm helping a student one-on-one and they need to sit in a wheelie chair and roll around the room while they're answering math questions, I absolutely have no problem with that. Right? They can't do that in a class with 20 kids. It's obviously disruptive and it doesn't work. But when you have the kind of classrooms that Tanya and I have, where maybe we're able to do that with just a few kids or one-on-one, then the amount of pride they feel in what they were to accomplish without even realizing it. Because then you're like, look, you just got this whole worksheet done and you, and they're like, What? I was just, yep, you were. And then finding out the things that help them individually because they're never the same. This, you know, student might just need something reworded. They might not be aggressive, excuse me, a great test taker. And so when they're reading through these questions, it's just anxiety and I don't know. And so it's just a reassurance, you do know, you do know this. And I think that we are work so closely with the teachers. So, for example, Mr. B's history class, I I know what he's teaching them. So I can say, Do you remember when he said this about this? Oh, yeah. And then they can kind of repeat back some of that, and it says, Well, that's what this is asking. So write that down. And then they kind of just have this aha moment where they realize that I they're not stupid, and I hate that word, and I hate that they think that. And I hate that sometimes what we do comes with that stigmatism. You know, the kids are like, Oh, we're in the stupid class. That's not what this is, right? It's just finding the way you learn and being able to manipulate that to better suit you.
SPEAKER_02For sure. Because we all learn differently, right? There's something that makes each of us unique, and so serving all types of students and understanding the way that they learn best is often a really powerful tool once a kid leans all the way into that. And you mentioned kind of the uniqueness of your rooms. Both rooms very unique. Yours has, Alyssa, has some of the craziest chairs that I've ever seen. And I love going in there because of the flex seating. Can you talk a little bit about the setup of your rooms and and what a typical day looks like for you all?
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, absolutely. So, as you mentioned, I have flexible seating. I actually went to a oh my goodness, one of the PIR days we had brought people in from around the state, and there was a teacher talking about flexible seating in her classroom. And from that moment, I was like, this is a great idea. And the more I watched these kids, the more I was like, Yep, thank you. We're gonna need some of that. So because of our generous donors and our wonderful Rams Day of Giving project, I was able to do that a couple years ago. And so I got what we they call ruckus chairs and they have kind of a triangle back, and so the kids can sit them like in a three sit in them in a 360 direction, facing forward, facing to the side, or even facing backward, and they can um use that lip as like a little bit of a table, which works great with their iPad, and they can actually sit on the lip with their feet on the seats, which got a little taken used to because they'd be sitting up there and I'd want to go, don't sit on the top of the chair. And then I'm like, wait, they can do that. It's fine.
SPEAKER_02That's actually what these chairs are designed for.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and I love it. I have standing desks because I've had kids in the past who you're they just want to stand. They need to kind of be up, which is totally fine. But at a regular student desk, how are you supposed to work? Standing. So a couple of standing desks. I have floor cushions, they can sit on the floor with floor desks. I have wobble chairs, I have regular chairs, I have chairs that rock.
SPEAKER_02But like, isn't that a lot for you to manage? Is that hard for you to like get used to or or manage?
SPEAKER_00That's a really good question. It was not. I don't let the kids move the chairs around, so I think that helps because they kind of would start to go in there and the chairs stay where they're at. So if you want a certain chair, you have to go to that spot. And I let them move around every quarter to kind of try new seats. Some of my smaller classes, they just can do whatever they feel like that day, but I make them leave one seat in between them so they're not sitting right next to each other. And the smaller classes work really well because I might have a student one day who needs to stand, but the next day they want to sit on the floor. The amount that I have noticed that they are focusing more on their work when they are in a situation where they are comfortable and can sit in a way that makes them be more productive is unbelievable.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's almost like adults, right? Like that's kind of how we work. Standing desks are a huge thing now. People have the standing desks that raise and lower, right? Like we've got people that work really well at coffee shops or on a couch, right? I know that I am actually super productive sending emails when I'm in bed because I have a laptop, right? And it's just a it's a thing that works now. I'm not saying that we need, you know, full queen size beds in every classroom, right? That seems a little bit obnoxious. But choice is a really good thing. Tanya, what about for you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, my my classroom does not have all the same sorts of flexible seating as Alyssa's does, although I do have cushions, I do have it's like a a floor chair, but it has a built-in little desktop with it. So they can park that anywhere and sit in that if they want to. Some of my students they like to actually sit on top of the desk with a clipboard, depending on what we're doing. I do have a U-shaped table with just your standard chair. But those are those times are for specific purposes, a little bit of reading together or instruction. But typically they can sit where they would like to sit unless it causes a problem. And so then we have to move. And I say, well, you choose your your spot today, and as long as it doesn't cause that problem, then you get to stay there. And they they enjoy the freedom of that. And to me, that's one of the blessings of having a smaller room, is it feels cozy. The lighting is important to me as far as environment, having light filters. Personally, fluorescent light really bothers me. And so it is for myself, but I find that the students really enjoy that dimmer lighting too. It's as far as the rest of the environment, I don't like thing the like the walls to be too over stimulating. I like calm. And so when they come in, it feels homey. They they get to choose that sense of freedom, like I said, is important. And I think overall, the teacher in the classroom and how we approach students, how we greet them, how we talk about the day, or inquire about personal things like how was your night last night, or did you what about that fun thing you got to do last weekend? Yeah, there's those relationships exactly. Again, back to relationships. I'm so huge on that. All I guess combined together to make that an experience for them and hopefully memorable because when we're learning, the more sort of emotion attached to it and positive feelings, it's memorable then. And so it's just it gets to be it gets to be its own unique thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that idea of a unique thing. Anybody that has been a parent of a fifth through eighth grade student or has taught a fifth through eighth fifth through eighth grade student knows that that is kind of a unique season in life, right? It is a very unique time in in children's lives, developmentally, socially, spiritually. So, what makes support work especially important during that that that season of life?
SPEAKER_01That's a great question. I think that when we think about student support services, we think, okay, this student needs help with academics. Well, absolutely. I mean, we're trained to do that, so that's what we do. But there's so much more to a human being than just what we put in our brains. So to me, I'm looking after that emotional part. They're they're mental and they're spiritual and even physical. I notice, hey, you look so tired today. What's going on? Are you are you feeling okay? It's like just that back to relationship, inquiring about them personally. But I don't look at it as okay, my job is to just do instruction. My job, especially at this time in their lives, things are changing so rapidly. I mean, one month it's this is going on, and the next month something else is going on. And developmentally, I I empathize. I don't think any adult ever wants to go back to middle school. Yeah. Maybe high school. They had so much fun in high school. That could be a possibility, but I have never met anybody that wants to go back to middle school.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, I'd be okay not returning to middle school years for sure.
SPEAKER_01That is so uncomfortable. The the the physical growth, the you know, entering into that puberty and all the hormones that can come with that. It's just recognizing as a teacher and a parent and a grandparent that, okay, I know this is this could be tumultuous for them, and therefore I have to be prepared too. Like Alyssa was saying, I think God's given us just a tremendous gift of patience. And that's what they need. They need somebody to walk alongside them. And thankfully, we get them for more than one year.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01So I'm not looking just at what's going on today, but I know, oh, I'm gonna have this student the next year, and I'm gonna keep building relationship and so on. And seeing that from fifth grade through eighth grade and having that personal relationship, we might catch things that another teacher might not. And to know that that those students have a comfort level through what can be a very difficult time in life, we're we love being kind of that rock for them.
SPEAKER_00Yes. The emotions get super high, right? Everything is a huge deal. And so I think a lot of times as adults, we're like, we are able to put that in perspective and be like, that is not as big as a deal as you think it is, but for them it is. So when they're coming in and they're like, I have this doing this class, and I don't know how to do this, and this teacher just picks on me. And you're able to, when they have that trust with you, sit down and go, okay, let's really think about this, right? Break this down. You have this do, this do, this do. So how can we do this and organize this so you can do this? And let's like, let's talk about this teacher then. Okay, what happened in class? What did you say? What did they say? Okay, well, you know, and so you're breaking this down with them. They have that trust with you. And so then maybe it isn't, you know, they kind of are able to relax and take a breath and go, okay, yeah, maybe that wasn't quite the ordeal that I was thinking it was going to be.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So you're you're you're helping them navigate even how to think about challenging situations, right? It's not just about the work, but it's about how you're thinking about thinking about the work.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02So what do you find that students during this time of their lives are beginning to discover about themselves?
SPEAKER_01I believe that they are starting to figure out that I have my own beliefs about things, that they don't take what you say for face value necessarily. Yeah, the pushback's not staffing, right? It does the pushback, that's a great way to say it. Because when they're younger, mom, dad, teachers, pastor, priest, these people will only speak the truth and not to be questioned. And then all of a sudden, I'm not sure I totally agree with that. I'm not sure I totally even understand that. I'm gonna have to check that out for myself.
SPEAKER_02Which is one of the things that's so fun about the middle school years like that's what I love is seeing them come into this and develop their own sense of like, no, no, no, I I think differently than that. Yeah. And then they start to explain it, they start to say it. And it they don't know how to do that the right way all the time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that would be true too. And middle school, I think, is the first time too you see them going, Well, what am I ever gonna use this? What do I need this for? When, and so they really do kind of start to think about what they're learning and why they need it and what they would use it for. And they are quick to usually be like, Well, I'm never gonna need to know how to do this or have to break down a sentence. And you're like, You're you're right. In that way, you you're not. But, you know, this all translates into something bigger that you do need to know how to do. We're just starting small. So that's kind of their first. So we're always ready for like, you know, and and when you give them that example, they're kind of like a well, maybe, right? They don't want to admit that they maybe might actually need that.
SPEAKER_02And and you might actually know something.
SPEAKER_00Right, just a little bit.
SPEAKER_02So to to kind of wrap up our time, uh, can you share a moment when you saw a student make a breakthrough, not not just academically, but but with that confidence piece or or ownership?
SPEAKER_01I have one so recent. It's still blessing my heart when I think about it. We got a new student just very recently in the last couple weeks. And on her first day, she was in my math class, and I wanted to make sure that we all welcomed her. And we just did some personal questions first, where she was from, etc. And I said, Well, tell me about your favorite subject in school. Well, lunch and recess, of course. Absolutely. You know, that's it right there. B E. Right exactly, but not for her. It was lunch recess. So I said, Well, what about math? Because of course she's in my math class now. I hate math. She hates math. And I said, Welcome to the club. Because the rest of these people at this table, they don't like math either. But guess what? We're gonna work on it together, and I hope you will come to at least be able to tolerate it, if not love it. So, I'm gonna try to make you love it. And of course, she was like, No way, no way. But the very next day, she got her very first hundred on a math assignment, and she was almost in tears. So, I have never gotten a hundred on a math assignment. And then her mom came at the end of the week to see how things had gone, and she told me that her daughter came home and told her that she got a hundred and that how incredible she felt. And ever since then, she is paying attention on the edge of her seat in math class. And I overheard her tell a friend, which thank God in this school that we have a lot of really great students who have just sort of taken her under their wing, but that she said that her favorite class with Matt was math class now. And it was like, oh, that just warmed my heart. And I hope I can carry that flame with her. And that is it always gonna be this easy? No. Is it always gonna be 100s? No. But what a great start for her and what a great beginning for our relationship, her relationship with the other students, because they clapped. They, I mean, they were thrilled for her. And what a great, I mean, I just think what an incredible blessing for her to start.
SPEAKER_02Well, and just what a confidence builder to have that initial spark of confidence and then to see that kind of catch fire, right? Catch flame, and and now that that may translate into other things. So what an incredible story. Alyssa, how about you?
SPEAKER_00I'm not even sure I can think of one singular one, but it but it is that those little moments, right? When they come in with a test or or an assignment and they're like, Mrs. Miller, I did this all by myself and look how how well I did. And I'm like, see, I knew you could do it. I'm so proud of you. And just the the look on their face, their their eyes lit up, right? And they just know. And I think the other thing is follow following the kids through the system. I that's one of my favorite things about working here is once they leave eighth grade, they're not just gone. You watch them through central. You know, I go to the football games, I go to the basketball games, we're still cheering them on. And Tanya and I have, was it your first year they were here? The boys? Yeah. So Tanya's first year here, those kids are now seniors and they are graduating. And there were a couple of boys that, you know, are a little bit naughty and like writing on the bench in her room and like carving stuff into it. And you're just like, come on, I need you to do this work, and are graduating this year and off to colleges with scholarships and doing incredible things. And it is so like I just got tingled, but it is so amazing to watch them grow like that and to know that maybe we were able to help that a little bit along the way and kind of give them some of that confidence that they were able to take with them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they were seen, they were they were heard, right? They they had those relationships. And that's you guys. Like that's that's what you guys bring and and and what you guys can can do for these kiddos. And I cannot thank you enough for the work that you do for for how awesome it is. Just the smiles while you guys are talking too. Just and and you saying like I almost got tingles. I think it's hard to not get those regular stories like that. Uh, thank you guys for everything that you do. Appreciate you spending some time with me today.
SPEAKER_01Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Thanks for listening to Rooted in Rising. We'll be back next week with another story worth celebrating.
