Mrs. Stephanie Hansen

                This year I will begin my 22nd  year of teaching. It is  the halfway mark of my teaching career as I can retire in 20 more years. I grew up loving school and loving to learn. I received these traits from my father who completed only eight of school, but was still one of the smartest people I knew. He never once told to do well in school; I just did in order to please him.

                I was the first person in my family (on both sides) to attend and graduate from college. It was hard work, but as a work study tutor, I found that I had a talent for instruction, and I really connected with those I helped. I helped students in English, biology, math and reading and still have relationships with some of the students I tutored. Finding my niche, I declared my major as biology, my minors in English and health and earned my bachelor’s in education. Few of the instructors at NSU really inspired me (in fact, most provided great examples of how not to teach), but Dr. Dan Tallman’s hands-on approach appealed to me. I can learn in a variety of ways, but his learn by doing techniques made an impression.

                My first job was in my hometown, where I still live today, in an all-girls alternative school. I taught any and all subjects necessary from health to English, from job skills to math with authorities to act for many of those subjects. Though challenging, this job encouraged my creativity and allowed me to develop as a leader. Because some of the students were on IEPs (Individualized Educational Plans) in the special education department, I had to learn to write, modify, maintain, and implement them.  Having little SPED training, I was lost. Thankfully, the SPED director at the public school became my mentor. Without Betty Williams-Twiss, I would not have been successful. She taught me most of what I know about special education, Title I, and gender equity. She also taught be about grant writing. I learned that all students can learn; it is up to the teacher to find out how to best teach each student.

                In 1997, I transferred into the public high school to teach English 9-11 and biology. It was during this time that I found the work of Howard Gardner and his multiple intelligences at a summer training. Gardner claims that all students learn through eight intelligences (verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, musical rhythmic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalist) and that each individual excels in one-three of those intelligences. If a teacher can identify how a student best learns and teaches to that intelligence a student will learn. I found that most of the students I taught were not verbal/linguistic and did not learn by lecture; they were instead visual/spatial and bodily/kinesthetic and learn by seeing, moving and doing. These discoveries have forced me to change my teaching styles to incorporate all eight intelligences in every lesson.  In the past five years, I have learned about and been intrigued by the revised Bloom’s taxonomy and differentiated instruction. Both of these pedagogies dovetail with the Gardner’s multiple intelligences and have added to my teaching repertoire. I love learning how to incorporate all of these ideas into how I teach and I think that I have been successful.  

                I have been teaching a variety of classes since 1997, and I have not once taught the same schedule of classes two years in row.  During that time I also developed as a leader and have had  several leadership positions in school and in education-related organizations: English/Social Studies department head, lead English team teacher, student assistance team leader, Redfield Education Association president, negotiations committee leader, charter member of the professional learning committee, assistant North Central Accreditation committee member, National Council for the Teachers of English vice-president, and South Dakota Education Association board of directors member. These positions have allowed me to develop relationships with administrators that the average teacher doesn’t have.

               My latest fascination is the world of computer technology. I am exhilarated by the challenge of keeping up the technology that my students access and use every day. The idea that the technology of a time period shapes what teachers teach has always fascinated me. I am currently learning podcasting and presentation software to help my students who miss my classes. They can access any class they missed. Next on the list is Skype and live video steaming.

                If you ask any of the students in the high school I taught in what kind of teacher I am, they will almost all say that she is the hardest, most demanding teacher in school with high expectations of her students. They will also all stay that if your take her classes, you will most definitely work hard but you will also learn something. I am proud of that description. I learned those traits from my high school English teacher Miss Larsen. She expected her students to learn and then did everything in her power to help them do it. My students know that I will do whatever it takes to help them succeed in my class. My SPED training allows me to help my special education students stay in my classroom and I often identify students who may need special assistance. That is my job and I love every minute of it.

                Although as a child I never dreamed of becoming a teacher, I believe that I have done a good job of becoming one due to the influences of those who have taught me and pushed be to be a great educator. Someday, hopefully, I will be to repay by debt to them by teaching others to be teachers. I can’t imagine doing anything else.