Mr. Middleton-Michelle Chavez- Junior

Teacher appreciation week is nearby, and it is such a great week to show some appreciation and love and (hopefully already) respect towards some of your favorite teachers and even the school staff members. It is also the week to thank our teachers for sharing their knowledge and expertise of their subjects onto us, like Algebra, English, Spanish, Chemistry, Forensics, Physics, Communication, Photography, and other subjects that our school has to offer to all the students, and our extracurriculars, like band and athletics. We should take that time to also thank the school staff that does not teach a class because they also help out the teachers and students whenever they are needed. Also, the subs take care of a class when a teacher is not there on a personal matter, but one teacher that I want to thank is Mr. Middleton. 

Mr. Middleton, our high school band director, has guided our band through competitions and led us to the area marching band finals this year. We were able to do our best and do great this year thanks to his, Mrs. J’s, and everyone’s hard work in marching band and concert band. He also makes sure we have enough money to go out and get food after a long day so we didn’t go hungry when we got home. He always tries to make sure we know what to do and how to do it, corrects us when we make mistakes, and shows us respect and trust, which I believe allows a lot of students to respect and trust him.

Mr. Middleton has always struck me as one of the funniest teachers I know (when he isn’t getting on people’s nerves). Whenever he and Mrs. J make a joke about something or someone, or tries to “trip” someone and always “bullying” all of the students. He is also a nerd for wanting to talk about his favorite Star Wars movie. One thing I enjoy is when he tells us a story from the past, whether it was this year, last year, or when he was a kid. It’s always a funny story, and then he turns it into a lesson on what we’re doing in class at the time.

I just want to say thank you Mr. Middleton for everything you have done for us for both our marching and concert band and for our school and helping it be the safe school it can be and thank you for looking out for our well being. Thank you also to all of our  other teachers  that help shape the school to how it is now and how it was in the past. Also a thank you to the staff members and aides that work here and help out at our school. 

Mrs. Kirk -Payslie McDowell -Junior

As teacher appreciation week is quickly approaching, we are all here to tell everyone more about the amazing and hard working teachers around our entire campus. For this teacher’s appreciation, I chose my favorite teacher and the one that has made the biggest impact on my life. 

The teacher I have chosen is Darcy Kirk. She was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her husband’s name is Tony Kirk. After high school, she attended Tarleton State University to receive her Speech Communications degree in 1999. After coming to Itasca, she started teaching 1st grade but has recently moved up to 2nd grade. She teaches because she loves the littles. She likes to see so much growth in their learning over the year, and seeing how they entertain her with the things they all say. Going back to her home life, she has 5 kids, Preston, Dan, Michaelas, Ruban, and Lamine. She describes herself as caring, easygoing, and funny. She grew up in Dublin, Texas, where she also graduated from. She says the unique things about her is that she is Native American, Comanche (enrolled member) and Cherokee. Looking back to her high school years, she participated in Basketball, track, band, and flag corp. She says the kids alone is what inspires her to teach, to see how amazing it is to see the kids understand a concept or learn to read. The advice she gives to high school students to help them along the way is, “Always stay true to yourself. Find the version of you that makes you happy.” Her hobbies include going to concerts, gardening, reading books, and going shopping. She says if she did not teach she would not know what she would be doing, after she started teaching, she just knew that is what she was supposed to be doing in her life. Her role models as a child/adult are her mom and dad, they are the hardest working people she knows and they lived their dream by owning a farm, it inspires her to follow her dreams and what she wants. She has 3 pets, dogs named Bingo, Tilly, and Scrappy. She has always wanted to teach and after following her dream, she has been teaching for 14 years. She has never taught anywhere else other than Itasca because it feels like home to her. She chose Itasca because she wanted to be in a smaller district and she had many friends that were teachers here already. She enjoys so many things but her favorites are there for a reason. Her favorite food is Mexican food, favorite drink is White Chocolate Mocha, favorite movie is “Forrest Gump”, book is “A Dog’s Purpose”, and her favorite quote is, “After climbing a great hill, one only finds there are many more hills to climb.” -Nelson Mandela. 

Mrs. Kirk has been here since I was little, and she has been amazing. This teacher appreciation definitely deserves to go to her for everything she has done for every single one of her students along the years. Knowing her teaching career is nowhere near done, I hope she finds more amazing and brilliant children to impact.

Mrs. J -Wesley Stinemetz -Junior

Teacher Appreciation week is next week, and they really deserve it. Every day for a whole 9 months, teachers come to work to deal with students cooperating and not cooperating. Teacher Appreciation week is one of the best weeks in our school.

One of my favorite teachers is Mrs. Jeansonne, or Mrs. J for short, she is the Assistant Band Director for the high school, and the band director for the Middle School. Mrs. J is one of the kindest and meanest teachers that we have, and its fun and chaotic because of it. In all seriousness though, Mrs. J is one of the most kind-hearted and heart warming teachers that we know. 

Mrs. J started working here about 6 years ago and during that time of knowing her, we have all come to love her. She knows a lot about woodwinds and percussion, as she specializes in it. She also goes through and organizes the band events that we attend and because of her we wouldn’t be as good as we are today. 

Mrs. J claims to not have any favorite students, but we all know that she is lying, every teacher has a favorite student. Mrs. J does so much for us that without her we wouldn’t be the band we are today. She is in charge of the uniforms and handles everything that every band student needs so they would not leave without a piece of clothing or instrument, which has happened before (the CJ rule). 

Mrs. J is also a pretty funny person who is always kidding around with us. Even though there are days Mrs. J wants to throw a hammer at us, she still does a lot for us, and we very much appreciate it. Without her, students wouldn’t know how to play woodwinds or percussion, considering that she specializes in it. 

She also helps us with our tunings and fingerings so that we play right in the music. We all appreciate her for trying to help us, and we all love her for it. If not for Mrs. J, the band program wouldn’t be as good as it is today.

And now for a special message to Mrs. J:

“Mrs. J- we, from the bottom of our hearts, want to thank you for everything that you do for us and that without you I’m sure there would be a lot of confusion and questions that would need to be answered. You’ve been here for almost 7 years and everyday since then you have helped us become who we are today, and we thank you for it. Thank you for all you’ve done for us and its going to be an emotional year next year when we Juniors leave.”