Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 26, 1990 TAG: 9004260725
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: TRACY VAN MOORLEHEM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Eleanor Knott is not used to being showered with public adoration. She's used to wiping noses and playing make-believe, settling crayon disputes and giving hugs.
She's a kindergarten teacher.
Green Valley School honored Knott Wednesday on the 25th anniversary of its dedication. Knott is the only faculty member who was there when the school opened in 1965. But longevity is not the only reason she was honored, Green Valley Principal Dave Trumbower said.
"She's loved here. She's an excellent, innovative teacher. She likes kids to live experiences when she teaches them."
He gave an example of one creative method she used to illustrate the daily uses of math: she set up a miniature candy store and passed out make-believe money.
Knott was walking her dog when Trumbower arrived at her home in a limousine, courtesy of a student's parents, and whisked her off to breakfast at a restaurant owned by another student's parents. The day was full of surprises for Knott, including visits from old friends and a party in her honor put on by the faculty.
Throughout the day, Knott modestly apologized for receiving attention she felt other teachers deserved. Once, greeting two former Green Valley teachers, she said, "Of all the people who have been at Green Valley and of all the wonderful teachers here, I don't deserve this."
In unison, the two women replied, "You certainly do!"
Knott, 61, has taught for 28 years. She has taught nearly every elementary grade, but likes kindergarten best because the kids are so enthusiastic.
"My kids are always the ones you can hear in the hall I'm afraid," she said. "I am not a good disciplinarian. I don't like to force, I like to suggest and lead." She said she doesn't like to squash individual creativity, even though it can get pretty loud.
"Some kids are so excited in kindergarten, and as they go up the grades they lose some of their creative abilities, they become alike." She blames the educational system rather than individual teachers for this conformity.
"With small groups you can let children go." She's concerned that the teacher/student ratio has been widening in most school systems. Her kindergarten classes range from 20-25 pupils, usually closer to 25.
Some aspects of the teacher's job have changed over the 28 years, Knott said, such as the addition of computers and filmstrips to the classroom, but the basic task of teaching has not. "The task of teaching itself hasn't changed, and it can't change because it's a human feeling, the transfer of knowledge," she said.
Children have changed superficially over the years, becoming more precocious, she said, but "down deep they are the same."
Another change that affects teachers, according to Knott, is the change in family lifestyles. She's afraid that children don't get enough sleep and that parents don't read to their children or talk about education. "With two working parents you really have to fight for any time you get with your family."
Knott is an expert on two-career families, having raised five children with her husband Roy, who died a year ago. She said she chose teaching originally because she thought it would give her a lot of time with her family. "I was terribly fooled. During the school year you are never free of school work."
Knott said she's not as quick as she used to be. "I knew I was getting older when I couldn't play follow the leader with the children anymore." But just four years ago she returned to college to earn her master's degree in education.
"I wish I had done it years earlier, but I had five kids to get through college first so I had to wait." She said graduate school made her feel young again. "It put life back in the old horse."
Ex-students often visit her, she said, and some are parents who have children of their own in her class. She likes to hear what the kids have done since their days in her classroom.
One fond memory of such a meeting happened four years ago in a Leggett store. A clerk stopped her and said that she had just found a list she had made in Knott's sixth grade class entitled "what I would take to the moon."
"She was so excited about it," Knott said. "It is things like that that children remember. It's a little thing, but little things grow into big things."
Green Valley planted a silver maple on the front lawn to honor Knott, and the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors issued a proclamation that April 25, 1990, be Eleanor Knott Day. The school celebrated its 25th anniversary with a rededication ceremony and an open house.
Knott's students spent the morning baking a cake, counting out all 300 stirs of the batter. Their sentiments are, perhaps, the best measure of her success.
"She does fun things and makes fun things," said 6-year-old Tyler Mason. Danielle Walker, 6, said unreservedly, "She helps me learn and I love her."
by CNB