Dec 21, 2021

Teacher of the Month: Teacher inspired by his students to learn more

Posted Dec 21, 2021 12:01 PM
Jerry Braun, Hays Post Teacher of the Month, with some of his sixth-grade gifted students at Hays Middle School.<br>
Jerry Braun, Hays Post Teacher of the Month, with some of his sixth-grade gifted students at Hays Middle School.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Jerry Braun said his biggest challenge as a teacher is finding ways to challenge the kids he works with.

Braun, 49, a 25-year veteran teacher, works with gifted students in grades six through 12 at Hays Middle School and Hays High School.

"In this particular setting, [the challenge] is to stay a step ahead of the kids," he said, "because they learn things so fast and they're so eager to continue to push me in a good way.

"I'm almost scrambling to stay ahead of them. They just keep me moving."

Gifted students are part of the special education program. They have been identified through testing, just as other special education students. They also have individual education plans.

He said his job is to feed his students' curiosity — something that regular classroom teachers don't always have the time to do.

His eighth-grade students recently took a field trip to the Holocaust exhibit at Union Station in Kansas City.

"That was such a moving experience for all of us," he said. "It was pretty silent for a big part of the drive home because it really soaked in the vastness of what that was about. It led to some really good conversations, as well."

Braun said his students also have special social and emotional needs.

"They have different needs as far as creating a community that gets them — what's different about the way they think and the experiences they have and the kinds of topics they want to talk about and the maturity level," he said.

"It creates an environment in which they can feel comfortable to share and explore all of the things that are going on in their heads."

Some of his students are highly intelligent but have autistic tendencies.

"To figure out they can balance that and still maintain some social regularity and still get pushed in an academic setting has been an interesting challenge," he said, "but one that I accept with open arms."

Some of his best lesson plans fall flat, because the kids take the topics so much further than he expected.

"That's the cool part," he said. "It's a learning process for me. It never gets old. It's always something different. It's always something new. I'm taking the kids where they want to go or I think they want to go."

Jeff Baczkowski, who nominated Braun for the Hays Post Teacher of the Month award, said "Jerry just really cares about the kids and where they are heading. He is accessible to both his students and their parents. ...

"Overall, I just feel that he is a great teacher and has made a difference in my son's and our family's lives."

Braun said he was humbled by the nomination.

"I just feel like I'm doing my job, and then you find out that it really does have an impact on kids and families and it makes a difference," he said. "It makes you feel good. It makes you feel what you're doing is actually worth it."

Braun has been a gifted teacher for seven years. He is a Victoria native and a Fort Hays State University graduate. He taught briefly at Thomas More Prep-Marian, but has taught the bulk of his 25 years in USD 489.

Braun said he was inspired to be a teacher by other teachers. He wanted to be a teacher since he was a little kid. Knowing teachers don't get paid much, Braun tried accounting in college, but that only lasted a semester.

He said he was inspired by his high school math teacher Lisa Colwell and Susie Stark, who was his high school accounting teacher. He said he also had two amazing mentors when he came to work at HMS — Lori Dreiling and Janet Ottaway.

He said those teachers always had a sense of excitement in their classes.

"You wanted to go," he said. "You wanted to learn. You wanted to be engaged with them. You wanted to be around them."

He learned that he didn't have to know all of the answers, but he could work with his teachers to find them — something he tries to do with his students.

He said success breeds success.

"Use mistakes, use errors as learning opportunities to build, and then celebrate when you've done a great job," he said.