The new third grade teacher at McKinley elementary is Sherise Maness, but she is not new to the Iola school district.
Maness taught at Jefferson Elementary for four years but decided to take three years off when she had her son, Michael.
Maness graduated from Emporia State University with a bachelor’s degree in education.
She grew up in Iola and though she attended classes in Emporia she never left her home town.
“I would commute back and forth every day,” she said.
The drive was worth it for Maness because teaching had been her passion for as far back as she could remember.
“I had a teacher who had a big influence of me,” she said. “I wanted to do that for someone else.”
She enjoys working with the younger kids but said she is careful not to treat them too young. “Third grade is the highest level McKinley offers and my students are the big kids in school,” she said.
Not much has changed in the school district since her time off, Maness said, although since her return she has been introduced to a new teaching concept through the KAGAN program.
KAGAN is a developmental course that works with teachers to get students more engaged.
The techniques are mostly driven by teachers taking a hands-off approach and having the students be more hands-on.
“It is really neat to see them engaging,” Maness said. “I always had a well-structured class, so to step back can be a little scary. But it is working really well.”
The program encourages students to work together in groups.
“This way no one can hide, everyone has to participate,” she said. “I’m not calling out just one student at a time. It takes the fear off, and it makes the kids more confident.”
The students also tend to retain more information by talking among each other as opposed to listening to a teacher give a lecture, Maness said.
Through KAGAN Maness said she has seen her students really engaging and learning, so “once I have gone through the curriculum this year it will make it that much easier next year,” she said.
