Mrs. Taylor Silver is a counselor at Northstar Elementary. Her days are busy because, like many other staff, in addition to her work at school, she is working on an advanced degree to help her be a better educator. She’s taking night and weekend classes at Drake to further her career.
She tells me that she likes to teach students to have a growth mindset and to always be ready to learn more.
We talk about the magic or the power of yet. So instead of saying I can't do this, that's a fixed mindset. With a growth mindset, we'd say I can't do this YET. I'm going to keep trying. I'm going to keep practicing. I'm going to ask people for help and then using those strategies hopefully someday I will be able to get there. It's pretty much just not shutting down when things get tough, and it's recognizing things are still going to be difficult in life, but with every frustration and complication or barrier we face in our life, we can't just stop there. Otherwise, we're not going to get anywhere.
She tells me about some of what she likes about being a counselor:
I might be biased but I think I have the best job ever. I get to work with every single kid in this building. The staff here is incredible. It's a very unique position, kind of standing on my own in this role because I'm the only school counselor here, but every other school counselor in the community has been so helpful….We're all here rooting for each other. We're all here trying to extend a hand to help each other out. So, really trying to get that message across to our students.
Here is our full interview:
Ben Gallagher (l), with the Donovan Group, was in town last week to interview students, staff, parents, and members of Knoxville community. Here he is pinning a mic on Jim Baker, a community member who has children in the district.
I asked Ben a few questions before they began the interview. My questions are in bold.
Ben, what are you doing in the Knoxville Schools today?
So today I'm here with the Donovan Group, and they do school communications and they've brought us in to do a branding video for the school. So just kind of highlight the school district, the community, and what everyone loves so much about it.
How do you go about getting the interviews and figuring out what you're going to ask and things like that?
Yeah, so usually before the shoot, the school district kind of comes up with the themes and you know certain topics that they want to highlight in their video. And then just kind of develop some questions around that; some different ones for staff, community members, or parents, and students. And today we're mainly asking about the thriving community of Knoxville and how that's reflected in school district.
So what do you like about this job?
I bounce around a lot from school to school and in Iowa, so it's nice to see the the variety and different buildings, different people, a lot of interaction and I get to highlight quite a few different programs, classes, people, and then overall districts like we're doing today.
What are people telling you today?
A lot of great stuff--I've heard a lot about the strong relationships here at Knoxville between staff and students. Heard some really cool stories about how students come up to teachers whether they're in school now or you know graduated, and come up and give their current or former teachers hugs and just kind of tell them about their lives, how it's going. So that's been really special to hear about.
Whitney McWilliams and Rhonda Douglas are staff who help the students make Homecoming happen. I spoke with Mrs. McWilliams about how staff and students managed to make Homecoming a success this year. Here are a few comments from her:
Rhonda (Douglas) and I start and with our student Senate kids back kind of in July. June, July we get some initial ideas on the board. We get approval for things like dress up days. We start talking about what games we're gonna play at the homecoming assembly. We start organizing our big fundraiser. We sell tattoos, K-5.
…Our kids are the ones that drive the ideas… Rhonda and I…manage things behind the scenes. We had a really great group this year. They were really all go-getters.
I just want to say thank you to all the different people that Douglas and I talked to across the last two or three weeks to get it going, if they played any hand in that, that was good. We want to thank the community members for being supportive and coming to events and going to the parade. The parade went really well…Thanks to my group. Without them. I wouldn't have any of these ideas or things to do. Thanks to Douglas. She and I work really well together and if I didn't have her I would lose my mind. So, and then thanks to the high school and the district and Cassie (Pearson) for letting us continue to do what we do.
Below is the full interview:
Students and staff in the Knoxville School District honored long-time employee Lynette Rankin by standing outside as her funeral procession passed. Below is a statement the district released:
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of Lynette Rankin. She was such a wonderful member of the Panther family, with more than 40 years as a member of our kitchen staff.
Lynette always had a smile on her face and kind words to share with every student and staff member who passed through the lunch line. She was full of school spirit and a big supporter of the Panthers. Lynette will be dearly missed by everyone who knew her.
Lunch at West Elementary—fun and friends.
Every Friday at the Knoxville Middle School two “Orange Frog of the Week” awards are made. I found myself at the middle school recently when the awards were given out by Mrs. Corrie Sass, Mrs. Ann Kingery, and Mrs. Kelsey Nichols.
Mrs. Sass explained the program to me:
Orange frog of the week is on Fridays. During our home room, teachers ask students who they think could get orange frog for next weekend. Being an orange frog means helping others, being kind, being nice, being respectful, going out of your way to really help someone, including everyone, not just your friends. Just someone who's an overall welcoming, empathetic person, and so during homeroom teachers ask—hey, who do you think should be nominated for orange frog next week, and so students give their input. We collect the votes and then we go surprise them the next week.
Below is a photo and a video of the presentations to a student, and a staff member. Please watch the videos—they are delightful.
This was so much fun!
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