Josh Dingeldein
PLYMOUTH — Josh Dingeldein is an English/ language arts teacher at Plymouth High School who was recently awarded the prestigious Milken Educator award.
Josh has been a teacher for nine years with five of those years being at Plymouth.
He first began teaching at Denver Public Schools Inner City after graduating from Taylor University in 2015. He spent four years there.
“That was a really unique experience. Our principal was Sean Kavanaugh and he really poured into trying to build young teachers. a lot of my early experience really comes from him. He actually created all these different play cards to go around and observe teachers with really specific plays. Every week there would be different plays. a lot of things I still use today in my classroom, honestly originates from a lot of his coaching early on,” Dingeldein said.
While there, he worked with sixth graders for three years and then eighth graders for his final year. While in Denver he was a senior team leader where he coached teachers on the best practices. He was the data facilitator of the STL.
“Basically, broke down data for our team and looked at what are our next steps to take as a department. How can we reteach a skill to the best level for students to succeed,” Dingeldein said.
In 2019 his family moved to Plymouth, and he’s now taught there for five years. When he first started at Plymouth, he was teaching freshman and juniors. after his first year he began teaching ap classes as well. at Plymouth, Dingeldein is able to use his skills from being the data facilitator of the Denver STL to help with data cycles and being a professional learning community.
“It’s just a blessing from God that I’ve received training in this a handful of years ago that I’m able to bring here and help our team and our department
kind of get a little bit of a quick start compared to everybody else,” Dingeldein said.
Dingeldein talked about how he loved teaching at Plymouth.
“Plymouth is so big with the whole concept of community. The community is so supportive of our schools, so I love that factor. I love going to the grocery store, seeing kids in the store and they come up and they say hi. Just being able to live where I teach is very important to me,” Dingeldein said.
He added that the school works to try to be one of the best schools in the State of Indiana. They want their students to receive top quality education.
Dingeldein knew he wanted to go into education in high school because of how much people poured into his life. Teachers and coaches invested in him, and he saw the difference that they could make. His mom was also a big impact. She taught him up until high school.
“I don’t think there’s a greater platform where every single day you have an opportunity to try to make a difference in a person's life,” Dingeldein said.
Dingeldein talked about how there are two sides to being a teacher. The content side where a teacher has to make sure a student is prepared and taught meaningful things. Then there is more than the content. If a student in his class does not like English, he has to find what the student likes and find a way to connect it to English to show them how reading and writing can help them reach what they want in life.
Choosing to go into the field of education as an English teacher came from Dingeldein’s love of reading.
“Growing up I always loved reading, like I loved reading. I loved the concept of a story to be able to captivate someone's attention and be able to transport someone to a whole different area. As I got older though, I quickly learned reading has the highest importance when you think about access to knowledge. So then thinking about access to knowledge and thinking about writing goes hand in hand with it,” Dingeldein said.
He added, “I think for me thats something that the Lords allowed me to be passionate about. I love reading. I read all the time. The Bible, God’s used it to shape and change my life. If people can read different content and material to really be able to learn and invest in what values they want to seek and what values they want to grow in. I think that's one of the higher levels of being able to keep growing as a person,” Dingeldein said.
Outside of the Bible, Dingeldein also likes fictional books like the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. He also reads other faith-based books. He also reads articles to learn about fitness, time management and feedback tips.
“What are the most effective ways to give feedback to students in a way that will help them grow in a way that will be kind of like bite size and actionable. I don’t want them to be overwhelmed, I don’t want them to be inundated. What's going to help them get to the next step,” Dingeldein said when talking about why he reads articles about feedback.
Since winning the Milken Educator Award Dingeldein’s life has changed a bit. This week he has spent a lot of time meeting with those that have come in to talk to him to learn more about his teaching. Dingeldein also said that many people have reached out to share support.
“I was surprised by how many people reached out that I hadn’t talked to in a handful of years. Students that I had taught that are currently in college are very kind in their words and congratulating me and also past professors I had at Taylor University reaching out. Past teachers from when I went to high school reaching out. Obviously, the whole staff here and everyone here in town has just been so encouraging so supportive,” Dingeldein said.
He also added that this experience has allowed him to see the side things that Lauren Lafaive, the Director of Communications and Marketing at Plymouth, does. He gets to interact with her more and he has been able to see the impact she has made on the school and the immense opportunities that she has for the school.
Getting this award has allowed Dingeldein to step back and look at the bigger changes and impacts that can happen. It has opened him up to be able to have more opportunities for change.
Josh loves to teach literature and speeches in his classes.
“I love the literature side of things naturally. So, any time we get to break down a plot line, character development, how a dialogue drives a story, I love looking at those details. I love breaking down speeches as well. Being able to pull speeches from leaders within the nation and then global leaders, I love being able to help students see some of these ideas that great leaders have been able to put to words and express in really intentional ways,” Dingeldein said.
Outside of teaching Dingeldein loves his church, the Plymouth Wesleyan Church, working out and being active, board games and card games and he loves his wife Jackie and his son Benaiah. He enjoys just being able to do the simple things with them.
While being active he enjoys sports. He likes football and basketball, and he enjoys going on hikes or walks. Dingeldein’s favorite card game is euchre, he could not decide on a favorite board game.
Dingeldein talked about how his family is very important to him.
“My family has always been a huge influence. My brothers are like my best friends. I think about being able to see the way they’ve gone through life and how they’re raising families. They’ve been a huge influence on who I am for sure. I often will think of my dad and his work ethic and work engine. He’s such a hard worker, but growing up he always, always made time for us so thats something I want to make sure, having a young son, that I don’t get too lopsided in life, try to balance things,” he said.
After sharing about his life Dingeldein wanted to make sure to say that everything he has, has come from the glory of God.