Celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week with Jason Rude

Editor’s note: As part of our celebration of National Teacher Appreciation Week, we are highlighting a few outstanding educators from classrooms across the state. We thank all of our extraordinary teachers for their focus on evidence-based instruction and providing students what they need to meet high expectations and realize their incredible potential.

Today’s Q&A spotlight features Jason Rude. Rude is an 18-year veteran social studies teacher, currently at New Hampton Middle School where he provides valuable learning experiences for students in seventh and eighth grade. For Teacher Appreciation Week, Rude shared his thoughts on his favorite moment as a teacher and what things are the key to student success.

What is your favorite memory or teaching moment in the classroom? 
In education we don't often get instant gratification for the work that we do. However, I found it back when I led our eighth grade class trip to Washington, D.C. It was always incredible to see the students' eyes light up when they saw, with their very own eyes, that thing I have been talking about a few months ago. All of the sudden, the students' eyes would light up and you could see that it clicked. It was always fun when they would come up and start speed talking about how excited they were about something that we saw, especially if it was something that we had talked about in class previously.

Why are you passionate about teaching? What things do you love about working with students? 
In middle school, especially in the upper grades, the students are old enough to tackle some more advanced concepts but young enough that they still have that wonder about the world. We take on current topics in a speech project each year, and when I see the students get excited about something that they've never shown a passion for before, it gets me very excited. When a student feels like they have the power to change the world with their words, it’s pretty amazing.

What do you think are the keys to a student’s success and how do you help foster continued learning? 
Students need to know that you care. If they don't believe that anybody else cares, they begin to believe that they don't need to care. That applies across-the-board, whether in school, sports, parenting or anywhere in which we're trying to teach students new skills. When we show a student that we care about what they're doing and that what they're doing has value, by the end of it, it clicks that they should care as well.

How have you grown as an educator? What advice would you give to a new teacher starting out in the field?
In the same way that our students have to mature, I had to mature. When I was a young teacher, I didn't get it. It took some extremely good leadership, a few hard conversations and just a little bit of re-teaching of what we do to get me to where I am today. I owe that to good mentors and a heck of a supportive administrator. My biggest area of growth has been staying focused on what it is that we do and how we do it. Additionally, I was introduced to project-based learning, which I have embraced fully and have a run with it. I've also learned to take chances, meaning I'm willing to try something, let it fail and learn from it rather than just do what we've always done and hope that maybe it will be engaging.

My number one piece of advice for young and new teachers is to never assume you know everything and spend time reflecting on what worked and what didn't. Toss aside the stuff that doesn't work and use what does. If you believe that something that didn't work could, spend a lot of time figuring out what made it fail and fix it. Lastly, feedback will come from many places. Respect feedback and use what is useful.

Who was a teacher that made a positive impact in your life? What things did they do to make learning meaningful? 
There are two people I have to recognize. One is Mark Rhodes. He was my 11th grade American History teacher at Decorah High School. I already had an interest in American history, and he fostered it by allowing us to explore it as deeply as we wanted. He also found ways to make it experiential, and if I'm being honest, I've stolen some of those lessons!

The second is Susan Anderson, who was my principal from 2012-16. I needed a reset in my teaching, and I didn't know it. She recognized it and helped me make improvements. Although it was hard at first, she stood by me and helped me make positive changes. I owe my career to Susan Anderson.