The journey from paraprofessional to certified teacher

Wife, mother, rancher, business owner, paraprofessional and college student—it’s not a life many would choose, but it’s the adventure Dani Stearns took on as a way to support the school she loves. 
After working as a paraprofessional at the Elk Mountain School for a few years, Stearns took advantage of the opportunity to go back to school to get her teacher certification. 
Stearns is originally from Watertown. She met her husband in high school and later attended a community college in Cheyenne, Wyo., where she got an associate’s degree in equine science. Later, Stearns and her husband got jobs at Lake Area Technical College in Watertown, where they taught in the agriculture and welding departments for seven years. 
“That’s where my teaching career began,” said Stearns. “I was considered an ag instructor, and I held a post-secondary certification.”
Since her husband’s family has been ranching near the South Dakota/Wyoming state line for over 100 years, they decided to change gears eight years ago and move to a small ranch in western South Dakota, just a mile away from Elk Mountain School. 
In 2022, Stearns took on a paraprofessional position at Elk Mountain School. Stearns said after the COVID-19 pandemic, the school experienced some changes and lost a couple of teachers. Her oldest son was attending school there at the time, and superintendent Lisa Pitts, familiar with Stearns’ teaching background, asked if she was interested in stepping into the position. Due to her family’s situation at the time, Stearns decided to take it on.
“My son was going to school here, so I knew the school really well. I love to teach, and so it was just the opportunity that God gave me, and I stuck with it,” said Stearns. 
Elk Mountain School has two classrooms for Kindergarten through eighth-grade students, averaging eight students to a room. There are also online high school classes for older students. As a paraprofessional, Stearns bounced between a variety of roles like making sure individualized education programs (IEPs) were met for all students, helping teachers where needed, supervising students as they completed projects and answering questions. 
Her favorite part is watching the students grow, including her own three children who are 10, 7 and 5 years old.
“They’re here the whole way through. It’s not like a normal big classroom where you only have one student one year. I’ve seen these kids from kindergarten through fourth grade, or from second grade through sixth grade now, watching them grow, and what they’ve learned and how they’ve changed,” said Stearns.
Initially, Stearns was not planning on pursuing a teacher certification since she is a busy mom, her family has an active ranch and she is involved in a few different businesses.
“I was not really interested in going back to school just because of the time commitment, but with this para to teacher program that they had through the state,” Stearns said, “it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up for something that I knew my heart was in.”
Stearns said Pitts had encouraged her to pursue getting her teacher certification even before she was a paraprofessional and kept her up to date with upcoming opportunities. At last, Stearns decided it was time. She applied in April of 2024, was accepted in July and started classes in August. 
Through a cohort of the South Dakota Department of Education, Elk Mountain School District and Dakota State University, Stearns was able to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and a teacher certification for only $2,000. 
“It was a great opportunity to further my education and stay with the district that I love,” said Stearns. “It was all online, which has been great.” 
Taking things over and above, Stearns decided to tackle 17 credits a semester and worked through the first summer to advance her education. Thankfully, all of her previous credits from her associate’s degree and continuing education were accepted as well. 
“That’s probably why I fast-tracked so fast, because I did not have to take every class,” said Stearns. 
To juggle it all, Stearns stuck to a very tight schedule. Her husband stepped up to help with their national goat business. Stearns still did the marketing, but he took over some of the paperwork. As for Stearns’ software company, her partner stepped up to help cover additional work. There were a lot of sleepless nights as well. 
“I wouldn’t say I was great at it all the time. A lot had to give,” said Stearns. “Every day after school, as long as I could anyway, I would stay and just do homework till about six at night, at least that’s my winter schedule. My husband is a wildland firefighter, so every fall when he’s gone—like last year, he was gone for almost three months—I would just have to juggle it, and my kids are great at understanding.”
Stearns also made sure to make plenty of time for her family throughout the process. 
In December, Stearns qualified for her teaching certification for kindergarten through eighth grade under the condition that she completed her degree within a year of qualifying.
Some of her class topics have included English language arts, math, teaching methods, grading and assessments, writing, technology and how to integrate it in the classroom, human relations, special education, social studies, American Indian culture and education, family systems, professional collaboration, classroom management, how to teach English as a new language and so much more. 
As she took each class, Stearns said she immediately began applying the concepts to her classroom. 
“That was really exciting, even for my co-workers. I tried my best to pass on everything that I was learning and am learning still, and they have even taken a lot of it and implemented it, because we work as a really good team, even all the way from high school down through kindergarten, just to keep it consistent for the kids,” said Stearns.
Stearns said it is hard to understand the depth and breadth of what one teacher has to cover to stay within the guidelines in a multi-grade classroom. 
“Teachers have to do a lot, a lot more than I even realized, and I can’t even imagine at a bigger school, having 20 to 30 kids, how much they have to do. So just as an outsider looking in, show some grace because they have to do a lot. It’s not just teaching.
“Teaching is the reward for all of the work, like lesson planning, communicating with parents, communicating with a community, communicating with the students and having them communicate with you and their parents in a way that they can get their point across. Then, you throw in all of the IEPs, assessments and figuring out what is the best next step for each kid. It’s a lot to keep that rolling every week, every day,” said Stearns. 
Stearns is scheduled to graduate May 9 and is looking forward to having more time at her disposal, spending more time with her family, renewing her focus on her businesses, planting her garden, continuing to utilize what she has learned and planning for the next school year, along with all that will entail.
“I want to keep the focus on the kids and where they’re at. Not the trends, just what each kid needs to grow, learn and be successful in life, and to make sure they have the tools to find the answers that they need,” said Stearns.