'I feel like I'm a world-changer': Teachers often inspire their students to enter education

Editor's note: This is the second article in a five-part series, exploring South Dakota’s teacher shortage and the myriad of ways school districts, colleges and the state are attempting to solve that teacher shortage.

As the teacher shortage continues to be an issue citywide, statewide and nationally, school districts have to come up with creative solutions to get more teachers into classrooms.

One of those unique strategies are grow-your-own programs like the Sioux Falls School District’s teacher pathway program, which allows high school students to take teaching courses for dual credit while in high school.

Those dual credits are granted through the University of South Dakota, which reports 575 students have participated in teacher pathways so far, with enrollment increasing from the time it began with a cohort of 108 in 2018. As part of the two teacher pathways classes in high school, students get to visit schools across the district and gain a bit of student-teaching experience without the official title, then continue their teaching education in college after high school.

South Dakota as a whole has seen an increase of 200 teacher job postings over the last five years, something experts say is driven by pay, politics and the pandemic, for example.

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There isn’t reliable national data for tracking teacher vacancies, according to USA Today, but there is evidence of a teacher shortage.

Amy Schweinle, Dean of the School of Education at USD, said teacher pathways students’ classroom experiences through the program show them they can teach by sitting with K-12 students, helping them read and assisting with whatever they need.

Schweinle said USD is in discussions to expand the teacher pathway to program to districts other than Sioux Falls, too.

"When they get into their field experience and they go to these elementary schools and start working directly with elementary kids... they realize, 'I can do this. I have a future. There's something I'm really good at, and it might be teaching,'" Schweinle said of teacher pathways students realizing their potential, and the impact of the program. "I think that makes for an amazing teacher, to have that past, to have that story."

Sioux Falls students become Sioux Falls teachers

Last year, the Sioux Falls School District made its first teacher pathway hire: Alisa Larsen, a teacher at Discovery Elementary School. She went through the program when it started in the 2018-2019 school year and finished her teaching degree early thanks to the program, AP courses and dual credit.

More: Sioux Falls' teacher pathway program sees first hire within the district

"I joined (the) teacher pathway because I wanted to be sure I was making the right choice to study education in college," Larsen said at the time. "That's exactly what this program solidified."

Another of the first teacher pathway hires is Jeryn Mediger, who attended John Harris Elementary School, Memorial Middle School, Roosevelt High School and USD, and now works as a kindergarten teacher at John F. Kennedy Elementary School.

Teaching runs in Mediger’s family. Her mom and sister both teach at John Harris Elementary School, and other distant family members teach, work as education assistants, secretaries or administrators in local schools.

Mediger remembers learning more about classroom management, art and music integration, the history of education and more in her teacher pathways classes at RHS, and getting some of her first classroom experiences in the course as the class would get to visit Oscar Howe Elementary School once a week and work with elementary students on their projects.

As part of her teaching residency through USD, Mediger student-taught at Cleveland Elementary School in Sioux Falls. Her student-teaching experience in an elementary classroom showed her the real-life applications of all the teaching skills she learned in a college classroom, she explained.

Now in her first year as a teacher, Mediger said teaching is exactly like she thought it would be, but it’s also a little different than expected because she and her students build a community together in her classroom.

“I’ve been in the classroom so much with my mom being a teacher that I knew what I was walking into,” she said. “I’ve never seen kids get so excited to come in here every day, or have parents email me, ‘(My child) had a great day today. She’s so excited to come back to school tomorrow.’”

Teachers inspire their students to become teachers

Alison Terhorst is one of four teachers in the district teaching the teacher pathways course in addition to her regular psychology classes. In her teacher pathways class at Washington High School, on the very first day, she asks her students about “their why,” or why they wanted to become a teacher.

“Usually, (a teacher) made a huge impact on their lives, and it makes them want to become a teacher,” she said.

For Larsen, it was her own teacher pathway teacher Gina Benz at Roosevelt High School, who she said showed her how rewarding teaching can be. For Mediger, it was all the teachers in her family she grew up admiring.

In the rest of the teacher pathway classes, Terhorst covers topics like the history of American education, classroom management, lesson planning and implementation, and more.

Students have to plan and teach a lesson to students at an elementary school each year as part of the course. Their lesson is observed by Terhorst, WHS principal Kari Papke, a teacher and principal at the elementary, and assistant superintendent Jamie Nold, Terhorst said, who each give feedback to the students on their lesson that focuses on their strengths.

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Terhorst said she initially wanted to be a school counselor but was encouraged to teach later on in her career. Now in her 18th year at WHS, she said she can “sing the praises of teaching any day of the week.”

“When I got in here, I was like, ‘This is amazing.’ I just loved the relationships and the impact. It was very fulfilling and rewarding, to tell you the truth,” Terhorst said. “There are different currencies in life. I think we focus too much on the pay of a job, like what it’s going to give you, but that’s only one of many currencies you can get in a job. Is it fulfilling? Are you doing something that you’re passionate about?”

“I feel like I’m a world-changer,” Terhorst added.

If you're a teacher who has left the profession, we'd love to hear from you about why as we continue to report on this statewide issue. Email education reporter Morgan Matzen to reach out at mmatzen@argusleader.com.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: What inspires South Dakota students to become teachers themselves?