Head of the class

Elkton teacher still ‘in shock and awe’ of Teacher of the Year award

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BROOKINGS – It might have surprised Elkton kindergarten teacher Rachel Schaefer to have won the 2018 South Dakota Teacher of the Year award, but it is well-earned.

As the South Dakota Teacher of the Year, she becomes a sort of representative for the teachers of the state, something she doesn’t take lightly. There will be opportunities to visit and speak at colleges across the state, and there will also be opportunities for traveling to such places as California and Washington, D.C.

“I’ll be an advocate for policies and reaching out to our legislators and being an advocate for education and the profession and for the students,” Schaefer said.

This also puts her in the running for the National Teacher of the Year award.

In the meantime, South Dakota Teacher of the Year is a role she’s perfectly suited for, given her unique history of working with children both in school and in after-school programming.

Schaefer never doubted her calling, and it was evident enough to her parents from her earliest years. As a 3-year-old, she would pretend to be a teacher. She knew that she wanted to be a teacher, with the only tough question coming when it was time to pick out her major: would she go for early childhood education or elementary education?

She ended up getting her degree in early childhood education at South Dakota State University. Later, she’d earn her master’s degree in family and child studies, also at SDSU.

Even with this determined path to be in the classroom, she’s only begun to teach at a school recently, starting at Elkton in 2015. Before that, she spent her career at after-school programs.

A Volga native, she first began working for an after-school program when she was still a Sioux Valley student. This was her first work experience outside of babysitting, and she loved it.

One of the programs she was involved with was GAP, an experience for which she’s grateful.

“I got to learn how to work with a group of 26 kids up to about 100 a day,” Schaefer said. “It was a great experience for me to learn about classroom management and different activities to do with students and build positive relationships with youth.”

She worked at other after-school places during college, but it was after graduating that she began at the Boys & Girls Club of Brookings. When she received her master’s degree, she started full-time work there, earning an administrative position.

“Again, everything I learned as an administrator, I utilize with my classroom now,” she explained.

But then two big things happened in her life. Her father died in 2012, and then in April 2013, her son was born.

“It made me stop and think I went to school to be a teacher, (even though I believe in after-school programs and think they’re wonderful),” she said. “I always knew I wanted to be back in the classroom, and I thought that if I don’t do it now, I don’t know if I’m ever going to do it. So, it took a leap of faith to make that switch and it was a big change for me, but it’s great.”

Schaefer spent her first two years as a Clubhouse preschool and junior-kindergarten teacher at the Boys & Girls Club of Brookings before becoming a kindergarten teacher.

Her time at after-school programs has paid off and helped her learn the skills that allowed her to become the state’s Teacher of the Year. One of those skills is classroom management and coupling that with relationship building with the students.

“You have to have that at the core if you’re going to have a successful classroom,” she said.

It’s the challenge and the constant change of the job that she enjoys. There are many hats to be worn as a kindergarten teacher, too, that goes beyond being their instructor.

“You’re teaching your students how to be responsible, how to be caring for one another, how to be a team-player, how to solve a problem when it arises, how to be a learner. You’re a mom, too, when they fall down and get hurt or are having a bad day and just need a hug and encouragement,” Schaefer said.

With that in mind, she likes to keep things hands-on in the classroom, letting them interact with the lesson materials and each other as they study. It helps keeps things fun for them, too, but the main idea is that it lets them be in control of their learning with Schaefer acting as their guide.

There’s plenty to be grateful for, too, things that have helped her get to this point in her career. As a mother of a 4-year-old son and pregnant with her second child, she appreciates the support of her husband, who’s willing to go to Elkton with her on the weekends if she needs to get extra work done.

“That’s nice because even though I’m working, my family’s still there with me,” she said.

She was first awarded Teacher of the Year at the local level this spring, which “felt amazing to me that my co-workers saw me in that capacity.”

A month later, Schaefer was again in for a surprise when she was named one of the Regional Teachers of the Year.

“I certainly did not imagine that happening, and I certainly did not imagine it happening at the state level,” she said. “So, when (South Dakota Secretary of Education) Dr. (Melody) Schopp said my name, my mom said my jaw dropped. I think I’m still in shock and awe of everything, but it is sinking in and I am excited and humbled by all of this.”

Contact Eric Sandbulte at esandbulte@brookingsregister.com.