Military inspires Marshall Middle School lessons

One Clovis middle school has decided to honor military personnel by incorporating  military themes into student lessons in various subjects for a week.

To kickoff the unique lesson plans, Marshall Middle School will host “A Tribute to Our Troops” evening on Thursday.

“This will be the kickoff for our one-week military unit,” said Marshall math teacher Terry Pipkin. “That night, students will do activities with their parents and then they can take them home and do extended lessons for extra credit. We wanted to do this because we have so many military families here. This is in their honor.”

While the initial kickoff activities will be part of the school’s Parent Night, the event will be open to the public, school officials said.
Bestella Gardner, whose granddaughter Paige attends eighth grade at Marshall, said she thinks the event and the military-themed lesson plans are “a wonderful idea.”

“Since we have the military base here, it’s wonderful for the kids to be a part of that,” said Gardner, whose husband Jeff is a retired U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant who served in the military for 22 years, including 11 at Cannon Air Force Base.

“It sounds like a good way to welcome our military troops as part of our local community,” Gardner said. “With this being for families, it will be a great way to bring together our military families and our community.”

Marshall Principal Dante Thacker said she sees this as a good opportunity to integrate military themes across various curriculum subjects, to strengthen bonds with military families and to pay tribute to area military men and women.

“It’s our goal to honor them and show them how much we value their service,” Thacker said. “We have families here at Marshall who are assigned to Cannon and we have some military people from the base who volunteer in the schools. The teachers have all worked extremely hard on this unit.”

Classroom lessons will include activities in science, math, history and English, Pipkin said.

Among the unique lesson plans will be activities to measure the distance military personnel travel when completing travel plans in New Mexico; creating a timeline with dates of historical value related to Cannon Air Force Base; and creating letters to welcome students from military families to Marshall.