Want to Teach?

State is the place to start

When Lauren Dietz was attending Sioux Falls Lincoln High School, she was told by several of her teachers that if she wanted to go into education, she needed to attend South Dakota State University.

“You normally don’t hear that but my high school teachers kept saying you need to go there and it’d be a great choice,” said Dietz, who is on track to graduate in December 2018. “When I met the professors, it cemented that idea. They’re here for us, are so highly qualified and know so much. They’re just so excited to support and help us. They teach us a lot of hands-on information that we get to know so well.”

According to numbers provided by the South Dakota Board of Regents, State awards the most teacher education degrees among the regental institutions. And it’s doing it at a high level as indicated by several organizations.

For example, Rachel Schaefer ’05/M.S.’08, a kindergarten teacher at Elkton Elementary School, was named South Dakota Teacher of the Year, while Dell Rapids elementary physical education teacher Shannon Tjaden ’99/M.Ed.’11 was named the 2017-18 elementary teacher of the year by SHAPE of South Dakota. And Carla Diede ’07, a Harrisburg mathematics teacher, was honored by the Milken Family Foundation as one of the nation’s 44 Milken Educator Award recipients.

“It shows we’re doing something right when graduates from vastly different areas are going out and making a difference and being recognized,” said Jill Thorngren, dean of the College of Education and Human Sciences. “I think it’s the strong content compilation coupled with the strong and innovative teacher education preparation that Andy Stremmel and Jennifer Kampmann do that lend itself to those awards and successes.”

Stremmel leads the Department of Teaching, Learning and Leadership while Kampmann is an assistant professor and college assessment coordinator in that department. Both cited the department’s student-centered approach and focus on building relationships as the foundation for success.

Relationships are key

While Dietz, a head teacher in a preschool classroom in the on-campus Fishback Center for Early Childhood Education in spring 2018, knew what she wanted to do before arriving at State, Charlie King ’18 arrived on campus thinking he wanted to be a pediatrician. However, he changed his mind after some job-shadowing experiences.

“I wanted to build a relationship with young people and being in the classroom everyday seemed to be a great way to do that,” said King, who is from Rapid City. While student teaching at Brookings High School in spring 2018, King was offered a job but turned it down to pursue a graduate degree.

“Being at SDSU, one of the things they really emphasized in teaching was how it’s about people and relationships; the relationships between the teacher and the students, the students and the students, and teachers and other teachers,” said King, who had honors chemistry as one of his classes at Brookings High. “Content is obviously very important but the relationships between people are the most important. That was one thing they really emphasized at State, and it’s been important as a student teacher to build relationships with teachers and students.”

Chad Caldwell, King’s mentor teacher at Brookings High, agreed that King’s ability to collaborate is one of his skills. However, it was not his only one.

“Even before he started teaching classes full time, he was working hard to establish rapport with the students, making connections and building the beginning of a relationship with them. He shows them he cares about them as people first and then learners,” Caldwell said. “I’ve appreciated how Charlie came to the classroom prepared to try new things with students.

“As a technology native, he incorporated technology into his teaching in innovative and fun ways. He was intentional about trying a variety of approaches to teaching and learning, rather than playing it safe or just sticking to what he was most familiar with. Student teachers are often not strong classroom managers, but Charlie has demonstrated an easy management style that has worked well with my students.”

Developing that management style is part of the college’s approach

“It’s not my quote but I totally believe it—‘education is a relationship between the learned and learner’—it puts the focus on how we’re all learning together,” Stremmel said. “It’s all focused on the fact that there is a real shift from teaching to learning. Every learner can learn and be successful but has different needs and ways of learning. We have to focus on that instead of teaching a particular content as if everyone learns the same way.

“Teaching is one of those professions where you can’t just sit in a classroom and learn the content, you have to be out there applying it and really make sense of what this means in the context of where I am,” he continued.

Dietz has lived that style in the Fishback Center by being able to plan and implement lessons and strategies and have a mentor teacher step in only when needed.

“That approach gives us so many hands-on opportunities. You’re able to you learn from your experiences instead of it just being hypothetical,” she said. “Teaching’s just everything I love. Children are so capable of learning on their own, but just need a guide. I’ve always wanted to be in that role and soon will be.”

– Matt Schmidt