At Deerfield USD 216 in southwest Kansas, students in grades 6-12 sit at tables to practice cursive signatures and how to address an envelope — and then pop up to shake hands with classmates with steady eye contact and firm grasps.

What’s going on?

Each week, CTE Coordinator Jennifer Wieberg dives into the Rubin Emerge curriculum, an online library of practical lessons for employability, and then delivers each lesson to her students in middle and high school.

Emerge is designed as a comprehensive resource to help students become stronger writers and speakers as they pursue college and career opportunities.

“Last year, I was up late many nights scouring Pinterest for career resources and even paying for curricula out of my own pocket,” said Wieberg. “Emerge has everything I need in one place with activities, lesson plans and discussion questions for critical life and career skills. I love it.”

Check out scenes from Wieberg’s classroom!

A little role play action with juniors on handshakes and greeting. #inthearena #spartans216 pic.twitter.com/RSbNeyANvO

— MrsWieberg (@MrsWieberg) August 31, 2021

Learning a new skill. Today we learn to sign our names in CURSIVE. So we can sign documents instead of printing. Another skill needed to adult! #inthearena #spartans216 pic.twitter.com/S0Lk00EYab

— MrsWieberg (@MrsWieberg) September 13, 2021

More real world practicing on meeting people and hand shaking today! #inthearena #spartan216 pic.twitter.com/A5MJDggQJE

— MrsWieberg (@MrsWieberg) September 2, 2021