Danielle Cogbill is a new learning strategist at The Westminster Schools this year alongside Rachel House.
Cogbill brings her extensive teaching experience to Westminster. After studying at Georgia South-Western, Cogbill taught at various schools such as Jonesboro High School, Drew High School, and Sutton Middle School. Cogbill served in many roles in her years of teaching including math. “I taught math and I was in administration, a type of role at Sutton Middle School,” she says. “I also was a special education director for a Charter school for a few years, and then I worked at Walker School.”
She is enjoying her time at Westminster so far and her favorite part of the experience has been “the kids—you guys are really nice, very friendly, funny, and I feel like when I talk to kids I’m forming relationships and like you guys are open to hearing strategies.” She encourages trust in relationships where students can express their feelings because emotions impact learning ability.
Cogbill decided to take the role of a learning strategist after she suffered a tragic event while she was carrying her son. “So I had a severe car accident when I was pregnant with my son, and when he was born, he needed to receive some support because of that,” she says. Working with her son pushed Cogbill to discover strategies to support him. “Because of that I kind of had to learn about how different people learn, and how outside events can affect your learning,” she says.
Cogbill hopes that students will learn how to speak for themselves through their time with her. “[I want students] to be able to self-advocate; I want kids to learn that their voice is important and that they should use their voices.” Cogbill also wants students to know that every voice can shape our community. “Every voice impacts our community,” she says. “So, the louder your voices are and the more space you’re able to take up in this community makes the community even better.” In her many years of teaching, Cogbill stresses the value of relationships. “I think [the best way to aid students is by] getting to know them, and hearing what they’ve tried, hearing what works and what hasn’t worked in the past,” she says.
In her free time, Cogbill enjoys watching sports and getting out of the house. “I love the beach, I enjoy listening to audiobooks and podcasts, and I love sports,” she says. “I’m a big FSU fan and Seminoles fan, I love college football and basketball, I enjoy hanging out with my son and trying new restaurants, and I’m a bit of a foodie, walking on the belt line and hanging out with friends. I love to travel and visit new places, but I also love to visit old friends in different places.”