Charlotte Mohling
South Dakota Teacher of the Year
Wessington Springs High School, Wessington Springs
Grades 8-12, Family and Consumer Sciences, Technology, Economics

My teaching philosophy
If you love your job, you will never work a day in your life! That is how I feel about teaching. Going to work each day is fun! Seeing young adults achieve goals, develop positive self images, interact with peers and community members, and become actively involved in the educational process is personally rewarding and motivating. In what other profession do you have the opportunity to impact the future on a daily basis?

My philosophy and approach to teaching and learning can be summarized in this quote, “Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. But, involve me and I will understand.” Learning is the process all people use to acquire knowledge and apply that knowledge to a variety of situations. I believe that my role, as a teacher, is to serve as the facilitator of that learning and not as a giver of knowledge. I want to instill in my students the desire to explore, to create, and to learn. I want to actively involve them in their education and get them excited about learning.

I believe that people work to the expectations that are set for them. I set high expectations for completion of coursework, similar to expectations that students will encounter in their future career. Quality work is essential to future success.

I believe that to involve students in learning I need to know them personally. I believe that it is important to treat and respect each of my students as an individual and to believe that each individual has the desire to learn something.

Learning needs to be a positive experience for students. I believe that, as a teacher, I need to provide a welcoming, positive atmosphere for learning to occur. Personally, I possess a positive attitude and share a welcoming smile each day with every student who walks into my classroom. I share concern for their educational achievement, involvement in extracurricular activities, and their personal life outside the classroom.

I believe that I must serve as a positive role model for students; I must demonstrate that learning is a life-long process and that we all need to learn.

I believe that we must prepare all students for the future. We must equip them with 21st century skills and challenge them to think, explore, and apply learning. Through relevant, interactive, engaging instruction, we can prepare students for this future.

My philosophy in action
I make learning in my classroom relevant, fun, rewarding and challenging. Students demonstrate 21 century skills in decision making, problem solving, critical thinking, responsibility, and leadership as they complete interactive, engaging projects and activities to demonstrate their attainment of knowledge, skills and understanding.

My goal, as a teacher, is to push students out of their comfort zone – to explore, question and find that “something.” Students are given the chance to prove themselves in my classroom; there are no preconceived ideas of what they can and cannot accomplish. I work to lead, guide, and motivate students of all walks of life by adapting curriculum to accentuate students’ needs and abilities and to enable them to develop as a total person.

I expect quality work, just as an employer would. If expectations are not met on the first attempt, I expect students to revise their work in a second attempt to reach the set expectations. Education is a learning experience and students may not learn on their first attempt, so they need to understand that revision and re-learning may be necessary.
I participate in professional development opportunities and share that learning with students. I also learn from students; I am open to their ideas. I encourage them to question me, so both of us may learn. I reinforce their curiosity, so they will continue to improve, ask questions, and seek new knowledge.

My greatest teaching accomplishment
During my 31 years of teaching, I have had the opportunity to make numerous contributions to the career I love and to accomplish several personal and professional goals that have impacted my program, my school and my profession. As I reflect on these, I believe one of my greatest contributions and accomplishments is my ability and desire to help students become self-motivated, responsible learners and challenge them to be all that they can be. Through my work with students, I have seen them set and achieve personal goals, improve their educational achievement, and become excited about learning. Through the integration of career and technical education student organization activities, I have helped them become state and national officers, advance to state and national competitions, win state recognition for volunteer service in their local community, and receive recognition and scholarships for educational achievement. The greatest complement to me is that special “thank you” statement from a student, such as “When we first walked into your room, no one in our lives had really believed in us and gave us a chance to prove ourselves. But you did. You overlooked our flaws and made us step-up and take charge.” To me teaching is all about students – making a difference in their lives, establishing relationships that go beyond the classroom and the four years of high school, and helping them accomplish their dreams.

The most critical issues facing educators today
According to the media, public education faces several major issues – lack of adequate funding, gaps in student achievement, an antiquated high school system, low literacy skills, ineffective teacher recruitment and retention, high dropout rate, impact of class size. The list seems to continue to grow. Many of the issues are inter-related and it is difficult to discuss one without addressing other issues, but a major issue of concern to me is the high school dropout rate.

The high school dropout rate in the United States has continued to increase, even with the continued efforts of high school reform. The alarming reality, though, is that more students are dropping out at the 9th and 10th grade rather than the 11th and 12th grade. What are some of the possible causes for this trend?

Causes might be personal or they might be related to the educational system. When we consider the student and the possible causes, they might include low academic achievement over a number of years; long-term disengagement from school; poor attendance; limited parental support; family and personal issues; negative attitude toward school; failure to get along with teachers, other students and/or administration; and, discipline problems. When we consider the student and the educational system, possible causes might include learning strategies and materials that aren’t relevant to the needs of the student; a lack of an effective transition plan from middle school to high school; a lack of extra help to increase student achievement; and, a lack of help for the student in planning for the future.

One effect of the increased number of high school dropouts is a large group of students who are not prepared for the job market. Many of them will encounter unemployment or sporadic employment and low wages. High school dropouts may affect society as a whole. As a result of inadequate funds to support themselves or their families, they may enter the welfare system. Or, they may turn to illegal methods of earning a living and end up in the prison system. This would result in increased welfare costs and growing prison populations.

Ways to resolve these issues
Many of the current high school reform movements focus on increasing student achievement, but it is difficult to increase achievement if students are not in school. We need to implement strategies to lower or eliminate dropouts and keep students in school.

First, I believe that we need to create an environment that motivates students to make an effort to succeed. This environment needs to consider the student as an individual and create a person-to-environment fit instead of a one-size-fits-all environment. Two of the current high school reform movements (Southern Regional Educational Board’s High Schools That Work Initiative and the International Center for Educational Leadership Rigor and Relevance Framework) encourage the implementation of the new 3 R’s – rigor, relevance and relationships – to create this environment. Each of the 3 R’s could help decrease the dropout rate.

A rigorous academic core is important to all students, no matter what their plans are after graduation. But, I believe it is extremely important for potential dropouts to see the usefulness or relevance of their academic core. They need to understand how they will use this in a “real-world” setting.

Even though rigor and relevance are important for all students, I believe that the relationships segment of the 3 R’s has the highest potential for helping to decrease the number of high school dropouts. Many of these students have had negative experiences with the present school system, so there needs to be an extra effort to create a supportive relationship between the adults in the school system and these students. When developing this relationship, I believe school districts need to consider the following strategies.

• School districts need to provide extra help for these students to help them meet the rigorous expectations. This extra help needs to fit the needs of the individual student.
• School districts need to provide support for a successful transition from middle school to high school.
• School districts need to help students set goals and develop plans for these goals. This may require small steps as you work with these students; their primary goal may be daily survival.

One thought to inspire teachers to succeed
Education is at a crossroads – an exciting crossroads. The teaching profession is facing many challenges, but these challenges offer a window of opportunity for our profession. We can open that window and take the initiative to improve teaching and learning in our country in the 21 century or we can remain on the same road that we have been on in the last century and become stagnant. Which opportunity will you take?

As an educator and trainer of young people, you can fulfill dreams. You lead, guide and motivate students of all walks of life and prepare them for their future.

One lesson every student should learn
As stated in “The Real Game,” I think every student should learn these 5 principles.

• Change is constant – Don’t get too comfortable with the status quo, things could, and will, change tomorrow.
• Follow your heart – Dream, set goals and work to achieve those goals.
• Focus on the journey – Remember, life is a journey. On that journey you will encounter barriers, setbacks, and successes.
• Access your allies – Get to know people who can help you on your journey to success.
• Learning is ongoing – Prepare yourself for the 21st century – continue to learn.