9th Grade Teacher of the Year
Dallas Koehn – Social Studies
2012-2013 Teacher of the Year
Dallas Koehn, a social studies teacher at the Union 9th Grade center, was named the school’s Teacher of the Year for 2012-2013 by his peers.
Koehn said, “Originally I returned to school to pursue history education because I thought I could “set people straight” on how this country was supposed to work and the truth of our collective past. I quickly learned that the past is almost as complicated to sort out as the future, and that the mindset of questioning and challenging and learning is in the end just as important as the details discovered along the way. Over time I’ve come to believe that while I’m unlikely to personally change the world, I have a hundred kids in front of me every day with the very legitimate potential to dramatically improve their country and their world. This sounds like feel-good hyperbole, but I’m fortunate to have some of the best young people in the state walk through my doors, and I have a certain desperate compulsion to do whatever I can to get them ready for whatever their futures hold.”
Koehn does not have a favorite teaching method.
“Different things work for different teachers and for different students. The point is to stimulate thought and understanding where none existed before. This sounds easier than it is, because we’ve trained students to mimic back to us what they think we want to hear. Whether it’s something relatively old-school like an interactive lecture or something clever and group-y, the “favorite” part is when you see the connections being made as a student “gets” something they didn’t before, or realizes their efforts at developing a skill are starting to pay off. Sometimes you can almost see the light bulb over their heads,” he said.
What is the most important issue facing students today? According to Koehn is it mediocrity.
“Mediocrity—especially among the most potentially gifted,” Koehn explained. “Culturally, we talk a good game about being all you can be, but what we most often reward is staying in the pack and following the rules. There’s value to that in some situations, but students are genuinely confused when asked to find their own path to a result or to try something they don’t already know the results of. We recognize as educated grown-ups that many of our greatest learning moments came as a result of struggle, confusion, and even failure, and we slather these things on motivational posters, but we rarely let our students struggle, or be confused, or fail productively because we can’t stand to have the pack disrupted. Our intentions are basically good, but we’re still in danger of worrying so much about bringing up the bottom and maintaining our own comfort zones that we fail to push our best and brightest to the levels necessary for true success.”
Koehn started at Union in 2000 and hopes to never leave. “Union is one of the few districts in the region grappling with something everyone in education knows but few let change their paradigm—different students have different needs, and the centuries-old way of school doesn’t meet all or even most of those needs. We don’t have all of the answers, but there’s a willingness to try things that others won’t—innovative alternative education both at the Alt Ed and in FOCUS programs, the changes at the UCA in terms of collegiate schedules and mindsets, giving teachers the challenge of reaching kids other districts write off and the freedom to try things that might accomplish this, and a refusal to tolerate mediocrity in leadership or in the classroom. It’s not like no one else could do what we’re doing—they just don’t, or maybe they just don’t know how. We may not win over every kid, but we’re sure going to go down fighting for their academic soul.”
Koehn hopes to stay in the classroom full time, but to continue to work with other teachers to sharpen reading instruction, writing instruction, and other Pre-AP / Common Core-type skills in students. “ I fully expect to keel over one day in the middle of making a particularly insightful point about something, although I hope this is a few years away,” he joked.
Koehn has a dual major in American History and Secondary Education from the University of Tulsa (1999, B.A.) He is National Board Certified, and regularly leads workshops for the College Board or individual school districts helping teachers increase their understanding and productive implementation of Social Studies Skills, Vertical Teaming, or Common Core Standards.
Koehn has a dual major in American History and Secondary Education from the University of Tulsa (1999, B.A.) He is National Board Certified, and regularly leads workshops for the College Board or individual school districts helping teachers increase their understanding and productive implementation of Social Studies Skills, Vertical Teaming, or Common Core Standards.
