Welcome to Panther Tales: Dr. Bob Goes Back to School. I’m Bob Leonard, and I’m sharing some of the very best moments I see as I wander the buildings of the Knoxville School District and talk to some of the students and staff.
The above photo is of part of a poster in Mrs. Hermsen’s classroom.
Jake Willoughby is the custodial supervisor for the district and also serves as a football coach. In the first audio clip, he shares what his work entails in supervising over a dozen custodial staff, and his philosophy of leadership. Here it is:
I then asked Coach Willoughby if there are life lessons that can be learned by playing football:
Football’s my favorite and there's … kind of a reason because I incorporate it with life. There’s times when you struggle, there’s times where you play a little bit injured, there's times where you don't feel so good, but you have to push through it.
You have to work as a team, you just have one running back out there. He's gonna get hurt. You have to have the lineman to block for him. You have to have the receivers to block for him. So as far as a team game, it's to me second to none. There is nothing that is more of a team game than football to me, but it teaches you how to be able to push through struggles, teach you how to work as a team, just things like that that you're going to have to do in the real world. You're going to have to work with the team. Most of the time you're going to have to work with people that may or may not be great. You have to be able to work within that group and find a way to be successful.
Here is our interview about football and life:
There was a fire drill the other day at the Middle School and High School.
The gym sure was busy during a class!
Mrs. Sass takes roll with a question. The question the other day was whether or not the students thought there was life on other planets. While there were differing opinions, the consensus was that the probability is high, given the number of galaxies and planets in the universe.
In the video above, Mrs. Sass shares her discovery of the Starlink satellite system.
Bringing modern technology and wonder into the classroom!
Leslie Briggs with Child Nutrition.
I spoke with Leslie Briggs and Loretta Thompson about their work with Child Nutrition at West Elementary. I learned that “cheesing,” and “hamming” are verbs, and that they love their jobs because of the kids, and the people they work with.
Oh! And that the buns are baked fresh every day at the high school. Here is our interview:
So much fun on the Northstar Elementary playground before school!
Mr. Keefer and Mr. Mobley on bus duty.
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