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Good to Great Teachers

Are you an early-career teacher who's starting to feel more confident in the classroom and ready to take those next steps in growing as a professional?

The South Dakota Department of Education is launching Good to Great Teachers, a mentoring program aimed at empowering teachers in years 3-5 of their career by increasing teacher effectiveness and fostering self-efficacy.

Experienced educators will guide small cohorts of participants through reflective practices to increase confidence in four key areas:

  1. Communication skills
  2. Reflective practice
  3. Classroom management
  4. Student engagement
Teachers who successfully complete the program will earn three graduate credits.

2022 Regional Teachers of the Year
2022 Regional Teachers of the Year

Program Details

Participants will be placed in one of five regional cohorts of 20-25 teachers. The program will consist of workshops, classroom observations, and reflection. Participants will be reimbursed travel expenses as well as substitute reimbursement for all in-person workshops.

Workshops (21 hours) Classroom Observations
(6 hours)
Video & Reflection (6 hours) Webinars (8 hours)

Oct. 27, Chamberlain
Topic: Communication
Feb. 23, Chamberlain
Topic: Classroom management, student engagement
June 8, Pierre
Topic: Reflection and celebration

Workshops will be held from
9 a.m. - 4 p.m. (CT)
Participants will use provided observation forms to conduct four one-hour in-person observations of other classroom teachers.
Observations can be made in-district or outside of district.
Observations and reflections due by March 15.
Participants will be provided Swivl devices to record three videos of their teaching.
November: The first video will focus on the teacher, for reflection on words, directions, guiding questions, etc.
January: The second video will focus on students for reflection on student engagement - who was on task/who wasn't, at what times in the lesson students were engaged.
April: Participants can choose the focus of the third video (self or students).
Recordings are for self-reflection only. They will not be shared with program facilitators or other participants.
Regional Teachers of the Year will facilitate virtual small group discussion/reflection webinars (2 hours each):
November: Reflect on first video
January: Reflect on second video
March: Discuss classroom observations
April: Discuss and reevaluate participant goals
Throughout the program participants must complete 30 minutes per month of reflection time (up to 4 hours).


Questions? Email Kelly.Royer@state.sd.us, Hope.Paulson@state.sd.us, or Amanda.Hargreaves@state.sd.us.