Spangdahlem Middle School Turns Creativity and Collaboration Into Instructional Halloween-Time Magic

The teachers and halls of Spangdahlem Middle School have recently been haunted by a persistent, whispering and sometimes in-your-face nemesis — “6-7.” With the Ghostbusters not answering their calls, the SpMS staff took matters into their own hands, leaning into the meme to beat the chaos at its own game. Armed with creativity, collaboration and a good dose of humor, Bulldogs turned the mysterious “6-7” into a schoolwide celebration of imagination and learning.

On Oct. 30, classrooms buzzed with energy as teachers donned “6-7” shirts and students engaged in a creative writing challenge inspired by The Town of 6-7.

The prompt began mysteriously:
 “In the desert lay a town called 67, home to exactly sixty-seven souls…”

From there, students had six to seven minutes to craft their own endings to the tale — but this wasn’t just a writing exercise. It was a cross-grade, schoolwide learning experience grounded in AVID WICOR strategies — Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization and Reading — and designed to strengthen the school’s instructional focus areas under the Department of Defense Education Activity’s (DoDEA) Blueprint for Continuous Improvement.

Across grades six through eight, teachers used the creative prompt to model authentic discourse, purposeful collaboration and digital tool integration:

• Eighth grade: Students began with a K-W-L chart exploring “The Impact of 67 Memes,” connecting pop culture analysis to literary creativity. The inquiry-based approach encouraged higher-level questioning, text-to-world connections and evidence-based reasoning before students completed their own Town of 6-7 endings.
• Seventh grade: English language arts classes leaned into collaborative discourse and peer review. Students worked in small groups to brainstorm character motivations and plot twists, using dialogue stems and feedback protocols to strengthen their storytelling. These conversations modeled AVID’s “Inquiry” and “Collaboration” components, building students’ confidence as writers and communicators.

• Sixth grade: Students used Lumio’s virtual whiteboard app on their Chromebooks to co-construct ideas digitally. They brainstormed everything from the town’s layout and economy to its mysterious residents’ habits and history. The real-time collaboration illustrated how technology can elevate brainstorming, ownership and organization — key elements of both WICOR and Spangdahlem’s School Action Plan.

   

Throughout the project, students engaged in peer feedback, whole-group discussions and story-sharing sessions, developing not only their creative voices but also their ability to communicate, question and reflect — all essential skills for college and career readiness.

“Activities like The Town of 6-7 show how creative writing can be a powerful tool for academic growth,” Principal Adams said. “Our teachers intentionally weave collaboration, discourse and digital literacy into lessons to align with our School Action Plan and the DoDEA Blueprint. It’s not just about writing a story — it’s about building thinkers and communicators.”

By the end of the day, hallways were filled with laughter, curiosity and the occasional spooky theory about what really happened in the town of 6-7. The final products — a collection of wildly imaginative stories — stand as a testament to what can happen when students are given voice, choice and meaningful time to create together.

Spangdahlem Middle School teachers once again proved that when Bulldogs write, think and collaborate — learning ignites.