Melissa Oberg, 2024 National Rural Teacher of the Year, Lets Her Students Lead the Way to Belonging
Sep 26, 2024 08:31AM ● By Content Editor
Oberg’s passion for her work is evident, and is reciprocated by her students through their work. Photo provided by Oberg/District 166.
By Jennifer Janasie - Boreal Community Media - September 26, 2024
Melissa Oberg, a special education teacher who works with students from grade 8 and up in the Cook County School District 166, was named earlier this month as the National Rural Education Association’s 2024 National Rural Teacher of the Year. Over the past 17 years in the education field, Oberg has fine-tuned an approach to education focused on mentoring, student-specific experiences, and cultivating a culture of belonging and empathy. This approach has had lasting effects on the school and the community at large.
The catalyst for Oberg’s desire to enter the education field and become a paraprofessional revolved around the idea of mentorship – a concept that Oberg heavily incorporates into her classroom experience. “When I was growing up, I needed additional mentorship,” says Oberg. “I found that in nannying for two amazing women who constantly told me I was good at it,” she says. Those formative experiences helped to shape Oberg’s professional path. “When I found myself at a crossroads later in life, I fell back on their wise words. I felt myself relying on what they had told me to do all along,” she says.
Oberg offers unique experiences to her students as one way to nurture their success. She strives to make meaningful connections for the youth she works with, and to make education fun along the way. One way to make learning fun is to get creative. “I think that’s the joy of teaching special education and teaching special education specifically in a rural setting. You have to get creative,” says Oberg.
At the start of each academic year, Oberg doesn’t know exactly what types of experiences she will facilitate until she meets the kids. However, as she gets to know her students year after year, she allows experiences to unfold organically. “Every year I focus on finding each student’s strengths, and on how to weave those into opportunities in the community. That’s one of the most important parts of my job,” Oberg says. “I let the kids lead, and I try to create unique experiences for them based on that,” she says. Some enjoyable and valuable opportunities that Oberg has facilitated for her students have included polar plunges, bowling, and track meets, for example.
These events, as well as many other unique approaches that Oberg utilizes, help cultivate a sense of belonging in the youth she works with. A core component of the development of this belonging is the fact that she fosters relationship-building between peers. “It is really important to focus on relationships. A lot of times in education the focus is on the students’ relationship with the teacher. While that is important, forming relationships with peers is more important,” Oberg says. “The students want to feel belonging among friends. When a student has even one person that she or he can sit next to in order to feel safe, the odds of learning increase immensely,” she says.
Oberg pairs her students with peer mentors. And here again, letting the kids lead the way is critical. “Teenagers have different ways of showing affection (than adults),” says Oberg,” and “adults often unintentionally bring their own stories to how they react to the students’ ways of showing affection.” “In letting the kids guide how it looks (to show affection), sometimes you have to step back and let things happen naturally,” she adds.
Oberg also uses creative approaches to foster a school culture of empathy. Her strategy goes back to the concept of relationship building. If a teacher enters a situation between two peer students with curiosity, then “you don’t have to do a whole lot (to build the relationships) when you let the kids do the heavy lifting. Once relationships are built, empathy is just part of the culture,” according to Oberg. For example, after providing training to peer mentors about how to understand and respond to disabilities, empathetic lunchroom encounters between mentors and mentees just occur naturally.
Oberg’s emphases on empathy and belonging ripple out into the broader community. Programs like the Coffee Cart offer an exciting way for Oberg’s students to explore a career path and to help them prepare for the world past the school’s walls. “Finding jobs in small rural areas like ours can be a huge challenge, particularly when you add in a cognitive delay,” says Oberg. “Getting my kids any sort of a leg up in our workforce is pretty vital,” she says, especially because no supported-work program or equivalent exists in our community.
The impact of Oberg’s efforts are seen in her students’ lives post-graduation. “I am super proud to say that almost every one of my peer mentors has the intention of being in a helping field. They are all bringing with them this idea of how to interact with everyone, really, not just how to interact with people with disabilities,” says Oberg. “They are learning how to be kind, how to accept and include all types of people, how to be human,” she says. Oberg hopes that the interpersonal skills these students pick up will carry forward to have a positive impact on their other peers and their families.
Oberg’s endeavors have had a demonstrated beneficial impact on her students and on the larger community beyond the school. Her recent 2024 National Rural Teacher of the Year Award further proves that. Being recognized by the National Rural Education Association (as a result of being nominated by the Minnesota Rural Education Association) “feels great,” says Oberg. “It is an honor.”
Later this fall, Oberg will have the opportunity to speak regarding her rural school story at the Minnesota Rural Education Association Awards Banquet. “I am most excited to talk about our community and to brag up our kids,” she says. “Our kids really deserve the spotlight right now,” she adds, “and I hope that they can watch online.”
“It is hard to be recognized as a teacher because you aren’t recognized often,” says Oberg. She wants every teacher to feel as special as she has felt over the last few weeks. “I would not be able to be here if it wasn’t for my team – the ones that say yes, the ones that buy coffee from the cart,” says Oberg. “I hope that the community knows and understands that our school is pretty amazing,” she says. “Our school is an example of what education can look like despite the limitations of being in a rural district.” The district’s students, including her own children, have access to many amazing humans they can interact with throughout their school experience, according to Oberg. “There is a reason I am raising my kids here,” she says.
By Jennifer Janasie - Boreal Community Media - September 26, 2024
Melissa Oberg, a special education teacher who works with students from grade 8 and up in the Cook County School District 166, was named earlier this month as the National Rural Education Association’s 2024 National Rural Teacher of the Year. Over the past 17 years in the education field, Oberg has fine-tuned an approach to education focused on mentoring, student-specific experiences, and cultivating a culture of belonging and empathy. This approach has had lasting effects on the school and the community at large.
The catalyst for Oberg’s desire to enter the education field and become a paraprofessional revolved around the idea of mentorship – a concept that Oberg heavily incorporates into her classroom experience. “When I was growing up, I needed additional mentorship,” says Oberg. “I found that in nannying for two amazing women who constantly told me I was good at it,” she says. Those formative experiences helped to shape Oberg’s professional path. “When I found myself at a crossroads later in life, I fell back on their wise words. I felt myself relying on what they had told me to do all along,” she says.
The whole classroom team works together to nurture student success. Photo provided by Oberg/District 166.
Oberg offers unique experiences to her students as one way to nurture their success. She strives to make meaningful connections for the youth she works with, and to make education fun along the way. One way to make learning fun is to get creative. “I think that’s the joy of teaching special education and teaching special education specifically in a rural setting. You have to get creative,” says Oberg.
At the start of each academic year, Oberg doesn’t know exactly what types of experiences she will facilitate until she meets the kids. However, as she gets to know her students year after year, she allows experiences to unfold organically. “Every year I focus on finding each student’s strengths, and on how to weave those into opportunities in the community. That’s one of the most important parts of my job,” Oberg says. “I let the kids lead, and I try to create unique experiences for them based on that,” she says. Some enjoyable and valuable opportunities that Oberg has facilitated for her students have included polar plunges, bowling, and track meets, for example.
Oberg’s students learn through student-centered experiences like track meets. Photo provided by Oberg/District 166.
These events, as well as many other unique approaches that Oberg utilizes, help cultivate a sense of belonging in the youth she works with. A core component of the development of this belonging is the fact that she fosters relationship-building between peers. “It is really important to focus on relationships. A lot of times in education the focus is on the students’ relationship with the teacher. While that is important, forming relationships with peers is more important,” Oberg says. “The students want to feel belonging among friends. When a student has even one person that she or he can sit next to in order to feel safe, the odds of learning increase immensely,” she says.
Oberg pairs her students with peer mentors. And here again, letting the kids lead the way is critical. “Teenagers have different ways of showing affection (than adults),” says Oberg,” and “adults often unintentionally bring their own stories to how they react to the students’ ways of showing affection.” “In letting the kids guide how it looks (to show affection), sometimes you have to step back and let things happen naturally,” she adds.
Programs like the Coffee Cart offer an exciting path to career exploration. Photo by Jennifer Janasie.
Oberg also uses creative approaches to foster a school culture of empathy. Her strategy goes back to the concept of relationship building. If a teacher enters a situation between two peer students with curiosity, then “you don’t have to do a whole lot (to build the relationships) when you let the kids do the heavy lifting. Once relationships are built, empathy is just part of the culture,” according to Oberg. For example, after providing training to peer mentors about how to understand and respond to disabilities, empathetic lunchroom encounters between mentors and mentees just occur naturally.
Oberg’s emphases on empathy and belonging ripple out into the broader community. Programs like the Coffee Cart offer an exciting way for Oberg’s students to explore a career path and to help them prepare for the world past the school’s walls. “Finding jobs in small rural areas like ours can be a huge challenge, particularly when you add in a cognitive delay,” says Oberg. “Getting my kids any sort of a leg up in our workforce is pretty vital,” she says, especially because no supported-work program or equivalent exists in our community.
The impact of Oberg’s efforts are seen in her students’ lives post-graduation. “I am super proud to say that almost every one of my peer mentors has the intention of being in a helping field. They are all bringing with them this idea of how to interact with everyone, really, not just how to interact with people with disabilities,” says Oberg. “They are learning how to be kind, how to accept and include all types of people, how to be human,” she says. Oberg hopes that the interpersonal skills these students pick up will carry forward to have a positive impact on their other peers and their families.
Oberg helps students to shine, and their appreciation of her is palpable. Photo provided by Oberg/District 166.
Oberg’s endeavors have had a demonstrated beneficial impact on her students and on the larger community beyond the school. Her recent 2024 National Rural Teacher of the Year Award further proves that. Being recognized by the National Rural Education Association (as a result of being nominated by the Minnesota Rural Education Association) “feels great,” says Oberg. “It is an honor.”
Later this fall, Oberg will have the opportunity to speak regarding her rural school story at the Minnesota Rural Education Association Awards Banquet. “I am most excited to talk about our community and to brag up our kids,” she says. “Our kids really deserve the spotlight right now,” she adds, “and I hope that they can watch online.”
A focus on finding student strengths helps to build individual success while fostering a sense of community. Photo by Jennifer Janasie.
“It is hard to be recognized as a teacher because you aren’t recognized often,” says Oberg. She wants every teacher to feel as special as she has felt over the last few weeks. “I would not be able to be here if it wasn’t for my team – the ones that say yes, the ones that buy coffee from the cart,” says Oberg. “I hope that the community knows and understands that our school is pretty amazing,” she says. “Our school is an example of what education can look like despite the limitations of being in a rural district.” The district’s students, including her own children, have access to many amazing humans they can interact with throughout their school experience, according to Oberg. “There is a reason I am raising my kids here,” she says.
