MEET OUR INTERMEDIATE (3-5) TEAM!

nicole

Nicole Eller – Inclusion Specialist (TPS since 2023)

Nicole was blessed with the opportunity to join the amazing TPS team in 2023. She believes that all individuals possess the potential to grow and shine bright. She strives to create the just-right environment for students to be their best. In the Inclusion role you may find her building relationships, promoting self advocacy, celebrating strengths, and supporting needs. After school she is hanging out with her twins (who are TPS students), her teenage daughter, and three cats. If there is time left over, reading novels and watching mystery movies are a bonus.

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Kandi Krothe

Kandi Krothe – Lead Teacher (3-5) (TPS since 2006)

Kandi is a founding educator of The Project School. She has 20+ years teaching experience, with most in multi-age groupings. She is committed to heart-mind-voice education, regardless of learning format. She values the dynamic relationship developed when hearing a child discuss, explain and wonder. Kandi develops lessons that are scaffolded, and that gradually release the responsibility toward independent practice. She holds a BS in Elementary Education and MS in Language Education, both from IU.

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Tyler

Tyler Nelson – Lead Teacher (3-5) (TPS since 2021)

Tyler joined the TPS Community in 2021, and has served the 3/4/5 team an Instructional Assistant, Inclusion Specialist, and a Lead Teacher. Prior to teaching, Tyler worked in a fundraising role for the Boys & Girls Club and in the legal department of USA Track & Field. Outside of school, Tyler lives in Bloomington with his wife. You can find Tyler around town, walking and training his puppy Moose. He also enjoys hiking, cooking, and exploring all of the local Bloomington restaurants.

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heather rock

Heather Rock – Lead Teacher (3-5) (TPS since 2006)

I have been at The Project School from the very beginning and have served in multiple roles since we opened in 2009. I've taught in intermediate grades for the majority of my teaching career and am so excited to be back with this age group! I'm also the mother of an Intermediate student at TPS and have twin 1st graders and a four-year-old. When I'm not at school, I love reading, traveling and spending time outside with my family.

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karen

Karen Stiles – Lead Teacher (3-5) (TPS since 2023)

I bring thirty-four years of experience to The Project School. In addition to teaching in both public and independent schools as a classroom teacher, learning specialist, and literacy coach. I launched a forest school in Duluth, MN on the shores of Lake Superior where I lived and worked for twenty years before relocating to Bloomington. Most comfortable with a canoe paddle in my hand and water beneath me, I appreciate the power of the outdoors to calm, connect, and inspire. I value, too, the power of community, connection, and inquiry to expand hearts, minds, and voice.

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