District lands two Kohl Fellowships

Cedar Grove-Belgium High School social studies teacher Jordan Hoeppner has heard of the Kohl Fellowship but had no idea how prestigious it was.

Supt. Claire Martin explained its importance at a school board meeting this spring.

“It’s really a distinguished honor,” she said.

The Kohl Teacher Fellowship program “recognizes and supports teaching excellence and innovation” across Wisconsin, according to its website.

The Herb Kohl Educational Foundation selects 100 teachers per year for the honor.

This year, the Cedar Grove-Belgium School District had two honorees, Hoeppner and middle school teacher Mary Anne Rogers.

Board President Chad Hoopman said he thinks the district has had two Kohl fellows in the past decade and said it’s an honor to have two in one year.

Hoeppner, who was nominated by Principal Josh Ketterhagen, had to fill out a packet of information to provide evidence of his teaching practice, deflects some of the credit.

“A big part of it just comes from how great the students are at Cedar Grove-Belgium. They’re what motivates me to always do my best. I’ve just had outstanding students every year,” he said, adding praise for his bosses.

“I’ve never felt restricted. I’ve always felt I could try to new ideas, creative ideas in the classroom,” he said.

It was a classroom on another continent that confirmed Hoeppner’s career plans.

Hoeppner taught and coached basketball for three years at an international school in Japan and made a special connection with a student who had special needs and was being verbally abused. In Japan, most parents try to hide their children’s disabilities and fight through them, Hoeppner said.

He was able to provide support for the child that nobody else was giving and helped the student reach a level of success that nobody thought was possible.

“That was probably the most rewarding experience I’ve ever had and it solidified that I wanted to go into education,” Hoeppner said.

Hoeppner had attended the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, planning to go into law or attend graduate school to become a history professor. He went back to college for a fifth year to get his teaching license and never looked back.

He has always been drawn to the unpopular students or those with disadvantages or special needs, he said.

“For me it was just being a positive role model for kids in school. With those students I’ve always been able to see they’re underdogs and form relationships with unpopular students,” he said.

Hoeppner said students, whether they’re in Japan or the U.S., have many similar qualities with one noticeable difference. In the U.S., there is more of an emphasis on individual creativity.

“Thinking outside the box is more promoted,” he said.

Japan focuses more on the collective culture and working as a team, which can stifle creativity.

“I taught them it was OK to think differently than their partners,” he said. “Respectable debate in history is hard to do there.”

The U.S., he added, does a good job in teaching collaboration as well, but it is not the sole focus.

At Cedar Grove-Belgium High School, Hoeppner is making a difference.

“Jordan brings in so many primary resource documents and dives into skills that students need to master in order to meet the standards. He engages every student and meets each student at their level, ultimately meeting their needs,” Ketterhagen said.

“Students have success in Jordan’s classes because of his ability to gather data from students, meet those needs, reflect on his lessons and teaching, and engage each and every student. Jordan plans so much variety in lessons with so many different avenues and resources. His ability to teach skills is second to none.”

In the past few months, Hoeppner realized how much work it takes to convert everything he taught in person to an online