There’s a New Teacher at St. John’s Lutheran School

St. John’s Lutheran School in Caledonia, Minn., has a new 7/8 grade teacher. Welcome Daniel Zabel! 

St. John’s Lutheran School offers classes from Pre-K through eighth grade. The school’s mission is to provide quality education in the light of God’s truth. The school is operated by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) congregation in Caledonia.

Daniel’s parents are from the Midwest, and both are teachers. Daniel mentioned that there are eight children in his mother’s family, and they are all either teachers or pastors.

Daniel attended high school at Luther Preparatory school in Watertown, Wis. He graduated from Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minn. two years ago with a Bachelor of Science and a minor in communication, arts, and literature.

Daniel was hired to teach 7th and 8th grade. There are six 7th graders and nine 8th graders in his class. He teaches the basic subjects, as well as gym and art, and leads devotions at the beginning of each day in his classroom.

Hearing new teachers describe their teaching philosophy is a favorite interview question. Daniel described himself as a laid-back kind of guy, which aligns well with seventh and eighth graders, as they are getting to a stage where they can do things on their own. He wants to teach his students “the ability to learn for themselves… and not have things handed to them every single day.” He wants his students to dig for information and not rely on one-click access.

In his free time, Daniel spends a lot of time planning for the next day and correcting work. He also collects and plays a lot of board games, and online games with his brothers. He also likes analyzing and creating his own stories to tell. For example, when he was in college, he and his friends would get together and play Dungeons and Dragons explaining that he was the kind of leader who dictated the story, the dungeon master. He wrote stories the other people would play through.

“It’s always a great opportunity to teach young minds not only the academic side of things, math, reading and science, but also to teach them and lead them spiritually in the faith.” shared Daniel. 

In conclusion Daniel praised his colleagues, “The staff is great here. “They’ve been very welcoming to me, considering I may be the only guy on staff right now.”