Jessi Dykstra

A picture of Jessi Dykstra in her fun classroom

English teacher and Theatre director Jessi Dykstra knew she wanted to become a teacher in seventh grade.

Dykstra started off as a so-so student, not excelling in math or science. She didn’t believe in herself until her seventh-grade English teacher believed in her first. 

“I had a really good English teacher,” Dykstra said. “I wasn’t necessarily the best student; I did not think I was very smart because I struggled a lot with math. I took [my English teacher’s] class and she made me realize how much I really love English and that I am actually really good at it, and then, I finally felt competent because someone had made me feel like I could do something. I realized in that seventh-grade classroom that I wanted to do that for someone else because it is really important. And then, I never lost the idea of being a teacher.” 

While her seventh-grade teacher is the one who began Dykstra’s love of English—and even though they are still friends today—it is her high school teacher that Dykstra tries to emulate whilst teaching. 

Dykstra took away from her high school teacher that she should be down to earth and real with her students to forge better connections with them. 

“I just try to be real,” Dykstra said. “I don’t try to fake my personality, let myself ask goofy attendance questions, and let myself be silly. [I try to] talk to students like they are humans, not like I’m their teacher and they are [only] a student. [I let them know they can] talk about their personal lives and just have fun and be silly in [my] classroom.” 

Dykstra also believes in the importance of creativity in the classroom, which is taken from her years in theatre. She started her theatre journey in elementary school and never stopped. She did Odyssey of the Mind in middle school, tried out for all the plays in high school, and, during her college years, was an assistant director.

Theatre is a huge part of Dykstra’s life, and she was absolutely thrilled to see a job open up in the district she was hoping to work in for theatre and English, which combines both of her passions. She uses the lessons she learned from her theatre days in her classroom every day. 

“I would not be confident talking in front of people if I didn’t have a theatre background,” Dykstra said. “[I also use theatre when my students are] acting out scenes or reading plays, which students tend to dislike, but it is visually important. Something I found in theatre and when I read stories is that you have to make it engaging.”

Dykstra also believes theatre and English have one more important lesson in common. 

“[English and theatre] are all about telling stories,” Dykstra said. “And I think that the biggest thing is getting meaning from it and more importantly, your own personal meaning. I feel like we are so driven at school to find the right answer, but when you are watching a play or reading a book, what is it telling you? Or, what is it showing you about your own life? It’s a reflection. [English and theatre] are both reflections of humanity in the world, and they get you to question yourself, and that’s all that I can ask students to do because I think you grow the most when you question yourself.” 

Dykstra can’t wait to watch her students grow not only in their academics but as people as well. Dykstra hopes to impart her wisdom on growing to her students by sharing her own experiences. 

“Don’t be afraid to fail,” Dykstra said. “I was never very good at science or math all throughout high school, but I never gave up, and I did my best, and I wasn’t afraid to fail. I just hope [my students] know it’s okay to fail [because] that is how they grow.”