By Diane Gasper-O’Brien

University Relations and Marketing

HAYS, Kan. – Tyra Hayden grew up in Ulysses in the southwestern corner of the state and hopes to teach in a rural Kansas community someday.

But first, she wants to student teach in a city school to get the feel of a larger classroom setting. Having the choice of where to student teach is attractive to Hayden, a senior elementary major at Fort Hays State University.

FHSU’s program allows students to test their career path with internships anywhere in the state or even in another state or another country if they so choose. Some institutions are more restrictive about where their students do their student teaching.

Flexibility is just one reason that FHSU has the largest teacher’s education program in the state, says Dr. Chris Jochum, chair of the Department of Teacher Education

Fort Hays State is listening to public schools’ suggestions about what they think are some main areas to focus on these days, such as real-life classroom management and knowledge of the social needs of children.

Students in the classroom management class have gotten some real-world exposure to both those issues this semester while visiting classrooms large and small in different cities.

Two different classes traveled to Dodge City and Russell, while Jochum accompanied a group to Houston. The school visits are a way to reinforce and make Kansas teachers better, Jochum said.

“The more we get students out into classrooms, the better,” he said. “In Dodge, they get to see a lot of diversity. In Houston, it’s a different culture altogether. Our students need to work with people who think and work differently than we do.”

The Houston group was the first to benefit from the Dr. Janet and Dean Stramel Teacher Education Travel Fund. The fund was established by Janet, associate professor of teacher education, and her husband to give FHSU students the opportunity to experience a variety of cultures before entering the real world of teaching. The Stramels’ gift of $5,000 to create the fund was made earlier this semester.

At Russell, Hayden and her classmates got to hear about responsibility-centered discipline, part of a classroom management curriculum started at FHSU by Principal Shawn Henderson when he worked at Fort Hays State from 2015-19.

It’s a method that teaches students to take responsibility for their own behavior. Henderson, in his first year at Russell, has incorporated the program into his new school and even has a refocus room where students can go to do just that.

“Sometimes students just needs to get their thermostat down, and we help them see that it’s important to get themselves back where they need to be,” he said. “We play every card we have to play to help kids get through everything they go through these days.”

Hayden said she originally chose Fort Hays State because of its small class size and affordability. Once on campus, she saw that FHSU had so much more to offer. She is particularly impressed with the opportunity to take part in school visits.

“Learning that curriculum makes so much sense, approaching situations from a supportive position,” said Hayden, who wants to teach kindergarten for a few years while working on a degree in special education.

“But I believe that every single class I’ve taken – whether general education or degree courses – has prepared me for the real world,” she said. “I’m confident walking into a classroom now.”