On Sunday, Diane Knowles retired and a celebration in order! Diane was my preschool teacher!!! I loved her very much and she was very supportive of my energy and name changing. Yeah, I changed my name to Daisy in preschool. I would crimp my hair, ask to be called Daisy, and well I pretty much ruled the roost but Mrs. Knowles loved me and all my energy. Thank you for your dedication to me and lots of other energetic students!
The child whisperer
May 28th, 2011
“Hello, how do you do, it’s good to see you,” sings Diane Knowles at the piano. Knowles has been teaching preschool in Spokane Valley for 32 years, first at Redeemer Lutheran Preschool and most recently at Creation Station in Hope Lutheran Church.
“Hello, everybody. How do you do?” Diane Knowles has sung this greeting to preschool classes for years. It’s one of many songs and sayings that still stick in the minds of many Spokane Valley children and their parents, along with “It takes a lot of slow to grow” and “Be a thinker, not a stinker.”
Knowles’ combination of creativity, love and classroom management sparked word-of-mouth referrals for a preschool program that often had a waiting list. For 25 years at Redeemer Lutheran Preschool, then for the last seven at Creation Station in Hope Lutheran Church, Knowles has been known as a child whisperer and teacher who nurtures preschoolers.
“She has more energy and creativity than anyone. I’m in awe of what comes out of her head,” said Cathy Knecht, who has taught with Knowles the last 10 years. “She loves what she does and she loves the kids.”
On June 5, Hope Lutheran Church will honor Knowles and Knecht for teaching, hugging, molding and loving area preschoolers. Knowles is retiring, while Knecht is changing careers.
On a recent Tuesday, 4 and 5-year-olds clustered on the carpet in the stimulating and efficiently organized Creation Station classroom. They sat enraptured as Knowles read “The Grouchy Ladybug,” stopping to ask questions and listening to their answers.
“I get grouchy,” she said, making a face. “Do you get grouchy?”
Taking turns without being told, the children answered. “All the time.” “Never.” It’s a calm close to two and half hours packed with interactive learning through play.
“If you spend time around children, you know it has to be in their hands to be in their head,” Knowles explained of her teaching style. “I teach to the heartbeat of a child. I teach the things they are interested in. Play is a child’s work.”
“She has such a positive way of getting kids to learn,” said Bobbie Worley, who sent three children to Redeemer Lutheran preschool because, like many parents, she heard it was the best program in town. “I’d heard about Diane’s reputation as a master teacher and was anxious for my kids to be in her class.”
Though she approaches all areas of learning, from ABC’s and 1,2,3’s to fine and large motor skills, Knowles said she focuses on social and emotional growth because 80 to 90 percent of success in school hinges on those skills. “We do problem solving and conflict resolution. How do you have a healthy relationship? It’s something to learn for preschool and learn for life,” she said.
Sitting with the kids while Knowles read, Knecht put a hand on boy’s back, a signal to stop talking. He stopped. By the end of the year the children line up quickly while singing the days of the week. They put away their snack cups and napkins quietly and push in their chairs before getting in the carpool pickup line. But they aren’t controlled; rather their energy is channeled.
“She’s very intuitive,” said Worley. “She has a way of motivating kids by inspiring them and really not making them feel like they’re following rules.”
“Kids are pleasers,” Knowles explained, noting she doesn’t boss them but gives gentle reminders of her expectations. By building consistency, she said, it becomes easy to elicit appropriate behavior. She turns off the lights and they listen for instructions. She turns on the music and they go to the carpet. “Pretty soon you don’t say a word.”
That’s also a result of children knowing they’re loved and understood, parents say. “She was able to tag my children, their personality, strengths and weaknesses, so quickly. She is so gifted in understanding each individual child,” said Laurie Sahlberg, whose kids are now in their 20s. “She just loved those kids wherever they were at. It was a firm, consistent, loving teaching environment.”
That environment also set the stage for school. “It established their love for learning and their desire to go to school,” said Worley. “I always refer to her as a master teacher. I don’t think I’ve seen anybody do it better.”
“It made them ready for going to kindergarten as far as interacting with other children and the schedule of the morning,” said Mindy Rowe. “They were more than prepared for entering the public school system. It was very positive.”
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Karin Steever was my 1st grade teacher at Skyview Elementary. I went to Skyview K-4 and was home schooled in 5th grade (biggest mistake ever, ha!). I later on came back to student teach with Karin because I wanted someone to teach me everything, and Karin did. I left East Valley School District and went to Valley Christian, but Karin still cut out pics of me in the newspaper and put them on her "wall of fame". She just moved classrooms so her wall is gone but she is amazing and remembers each student by name. WOW do I feel loved! I just visited her last week because they are closing Skyview, which saddens me deeply. East Valley is moving to a K-8 model (yes all in one building). They had a celebration to end it of course I was there to visit my teachers:).
This article was written when I student taught with her in the fall of 2004:
Student ready to learn again
Student teacher Katie Arnhold, left, helps Jon Tipton do a math problem with money while teacher Karin Steever assists Kevin Krant in Steever’s second-grade classroom at Skyview Elementary Friday morning.
Things in Karin Steever’s classroom at Skyview Elementary School haven’t changed much over the years.
There are still the same rules posted on the wall: Safety first. Be kind. Do your best.
Mrs. Steever, a 29-year teaching veteran, hasn’t changed much either.
“She still tells the story of the alphabet kingdom, and how the alphabet got its name from alphabet land,” said one of her former first-grade students, Katie Arnhold, now 22. “She was by far my favorite (teacher) ever.”
And that’s why she came back to Steever’s classroom 15 years later.
Standing in front of Steever’s second-grade students at Skyview Friday, it was Arnhold’s turn to tell the story of the alphabet kingdom.
A student at Whitworth College, Arnhold is spending this school year student teaching side-by-side with Steever.
“To see her remember some of the things that we did when she was a student, it’s such a joy for me,” Steever said. “I’m learning as much from her as she is from me.”
“It’s the circle of learning and teaching that we, as teachers, strive for in our lifetime,” Steever said.
Their relationship started in 1988 at Skyview. After Arnhold moved on, Steever, 53, kept track of her, as with all her students.
Steever has made it a practice to keep all the photos sent by former students over the years. There are graduation, wedding, class photos and newspaper clippings that make up a collage in her classroom. The sign overhead reads, “All My Children.”
There are three obituaries on the wall.
“I tell them when they walk across that door that they will be mine forever,” Steever said. “It’s just so powerful to see what they become.”
When Arnhold walked into Steever’s classroom this spring seeking a student-teaching assignment, and saw a newspaper clipping of a photo from Arnhold’s senior year in high school stapled to the wall, she knew instantly she wanted to be a part of Steever’s learning circle again.
“I knew I wanted to be that kind of teacher; obviously she loves these kids,” Arnhold said. “I also knew she’d take the time to invest in me, in my career as a teacher.”
Arnhold said she has written down everything Steever has said since school started two weeks ago.
“She is so positive, she really listens to the kids,” Arnhold said. “It’s great, because I remember her caring that much about me.”
She hopes to combine Steever’s kind spirit and many of Steever’s ideas into her own classroom one day, including the “Loving Cup” – a giant paper cup at the front of the classroom where students nominate class members for acts of kindness each week.
“They give me a year of their lives to work with them, and I give them a year of mine,” Steever said of her students. With Arnhold, Steever feels like she’s been given a second blessing.
“She is giving me another year, and I have one more chance to be with her, to grow with her. It’s just amazing.”
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These two teachers shaped how I grew as a person. They didn't just care about my academics but me as a whole person. They invested in me. I hope to be a teacher just like them when I grow up. I want to show each student that I love and care about them. I'll try to show as much of God's love as I can, without saying it:). Make sure you thank a teacher today, they sure do invest a WHOLE LOT into our future generation!
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