I see Assistant High School Principal Mr. Brett Sandy regularly out and about, walking the halls, and interacting with students in a friendly and positive way. I’d heard that there had been some changes with Panther time and decided to ask him about them. Also, about the importance of parental involvement in knowing how their students are using Panther time.
Mr. Sandy, what is Panther time?
Panther time is a period in our school day that is set aside for what we call intervention time. Intervention is a time that allows teachers to request students to their classes to give them additional help. It allows the students to ask questions in a smaller group setting so that they can get a little more one-on-one help or a little bit more specific help in that class or on a specific topic. It also allows them to make up any assignments that they might have missed from absences or to retake a test if they need to do that so really it's just a set period of time that allows students to get more help.
Right now we just changed our schedule to allow for one more Panther time throughout the week. First term we only had Panther time on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We have an advisory time which is specific lessons that our students go through on Tuesdays. But we saw the need that there could be more time for our students to get help from teachers. So we adjusted our lunches on Monday.
That opened up room to put in a Panther time on Monday as well, so because of that we moved our advisory to Fridays. So now we have Panther time Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It allows for students to get on this program called FlexiSCHED and they can sign up to go to teacher’s classes or they can be requested by the teachers…
And our Panther Times, we have a handful of different offerings that kids can do, and by offerings, it means they could sign up to just do a study hall if they just need more quiet time. They can sign up to do that and some teachers will offer a room in a space to do that. They can sign up to do intramurals. They can go to the gym and shoot baskets and do some games down there or the teacher will have a specific intervention on a specific subject or topic. It may be an actual assessment retake…
Is there anything for parents to know about Panther time?
Yeah, I always recommend parents to ask their students, hey, where are you going to Panther time this week? What are you signed up for? You know, if their student is talking about a class that maybe they're struggling in or don't quite grasp that well.
Parents you can ask your students, well, have you signed up to go to this Panther time? …Parental involvement is critical…so important when parents understand just a little bit more about the resources in that time that we offer here.
They're so supportive of that… It definitely makes an impact on the students and you'll see them sign up and get to their Panther times a lot more regularly.
Below is our full interview:
I spotted second-grade teacher Mrs. Leedom in the hallway and she introduced me to Maverick and Freya. They love Mrs. Leedom and think she is the best! Below is our brief conversation. Please listen. Hear the joy in their voices as they talk about what they love about learning at West Elementary.
My conversation with Maverick and Freya reinforced the great respect I have for elementary school teachers who help at this early stage of a student’s education. Mrs. Leedom and other teachers deserve our thanks and appreciation for all they do—not only for our children and grandchildren—but for all of society.
The last day for School Resource Officer Kyle Keller was Friday. Keller has been promoted to Sergeant and is moving on to new responsibilities. Above middle school students sign a t-shirt to thank him.
Please check out the above video about Knoxville and the Knoxville Public Schools. Community leaders, teachers, and students agree that Knoxville is a great place to live and learn. Knoxville schools are “right-sized” with so many opportunities for students to learn, and so many activities to do, that there is a place for everyone.
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