Evergreen Elementary principal creates YouTube channel to stay connected with his students
![A screen shot of the “Mr. Danford Shares” channel on YouTube shows Evergreen Elementary School Principal Mike Danford reading the book “Giraffes Can’t Dance.” Danford has made over a dozen videos to stay connected with his students in the Mead School District during the shutdown due to the new coronavirus pandemic. (Screen shot / YouTube.com)](https://thumb.spokesman.com/uO6q6eDqVn9RLDznlEJuDvMVKgE=/600x0/media.spokesman.com/graphics/2018/07/sr-loader.png)
Evergreen Elementary School Principal Mike Danford found himself missing his students only days after the Mead School District canceled classes, so he started making videos he calls “Mr. Danford Shares” and posting them on YouTube for his students to watch.
“I just want to stay connected with my kids,” he said. “I was a teacher for a long, long time, and I know how important that connection is.”
But don’t look for Danford to talk about COVID-19, homework or other school topics. He shares that sort of information on his school’s Facebook page.
“These are for kids,” he said.
Instead, Danford reads from his favorite books. He’s painted a cow and made simple recipes in the kitchen, including a brownie bite ice cream sundae. He spent several videos talking about his various collections, such as his state quarter collection.
He’s friendly and approachable in the videos, not unlike Mr. Rogers. “I’m having a lot of fun with this thing,” he said.
His father, who lives in Colorado, made a guest appearance one day to talk about his bird photography hobby. His father talked to the students about how well they’re doing and gave them encouragement, Danford said.
“It’s kind of heartwarming, really,” he said.
Danford also showed students how to write and mail a letter in one video. He’d seen a Spokesman-Review story that talked about sending letters as a way to stay connected and thought he’d show his students how it’s done.
“It was almost a lesson,” he said.
He has been posting a video each weekday for weeks, and the topics vary widely. They’re between two and five minutes long and he usually records them in batches. “I did a couple art projects,” he said. “They’re just random.”
Danford is at his school every day when students come to pick up their lunches and he said quite a few students have told him that they’re watching the videos. Some have even suggested new topics for him to cover.
“Kids are responding,” he said.
While school was in session, Danford would sometimes post information about what was going on at the school on the school’s Facebook page. Those posts would typically get about 50 views, he said. But the videos are much more popular, with some getting more than 200 views.
“This is way higher,” he said.
Danford said his work as a principal is often stressful and when school was in session he used his weekends to rest and decompress. But he finds himself spending a lot of time, even on the weekends, making his videos. “With this, I want to do more of it,” he said.
Sometimes he convinces his wife and his college-age children to help him make the videos. He said he plans to keep doing them through the end of the school year.
“That’s my own personal commitment,” he said. “I think I have enough ideas.”
While he may have started making the videos to benefit his students, Danford also gets something important out of it.
“It brings total joy,” he said.