Mom, art teacher inspired Triton’s Teacher of the Year

Jill Dallenbach has been an art teacher at Triton for 30 years, 28 spent at the elementary school.
This year, co-workers honored Dallenbach by naming her Triton’s Teacher of the Year.
Dallenbach’s teaching career began after she graduated from Mankato State University and headed to Madelia, where she taught half-time art and half-time kindergarten. But art was her passion, she said, and that is what she wanted to teach full-time. That opportunity came at Triton, where she was hired as a full-time art teacher.
The district had not yet moved to one building in Dodge Center, so she taught high school art in the morning in Dodge Center, then went to West Concord in the afternoon to teach middle school students.
Two years later, she began teaching elementary students full-time. That was her schedule until this year, when she began teaching half-time high school and half-time elementary school. She has third through fifth graders in the first semester and kindergarten through second grade during the second semester.
Dallenbach grew up in St. Cloud, where her passion for art was ignited. Her mother was a professional artist and had a studio in their home. In addition to her mother, a big influence in her early life was her high school art teacher Dennis Hummel.
“My high school art teacher was amazing,” she said, “and inspired me.”
When it came time to choose a college, she said, she chose Mankato partly because her older sister went to St. Cloud State.
At Mankato, she said, she gained experience in all types of art, including weaving, baskets, pottery, and graphic design, which is now done very differently than it was back then.
This year, her high school students can take Ceramics 1 and 2, Painting 1, Intro to Art and Draw and Design.
“I love to display the students’ works,” she said, from her classroom to the hallways. Students from all grade levels have also displayed their works at the Zumbro Education District (ZED) Traveling Art Show.
Student ceramics are currently on display in her classroom. When the piece has been created, she said, it is moved to the kiln, which reaches a temperature of 2,000 degrees. After this first firing, which can take all night, she said, the pieces are allowed to cool down before being taken out and glazed. They are then returned to the kiln for a second time.
Ceramic pieces created by the elementary students are allowed to air dry.
While there are no art classes available for seventh and eighth graders, Marit Lange is teaching one section of sixth grade art.
The elementary and high school classes are taught in different rooms, she said, but the good thing is they are close to each other.
Art classes at the high school level are electives, she said, and although students have to take “creative” classes, they can choose band, choir, or art.
When she has time away from her teaching duties, Dallenbach said that painting is her favorite medium. She likes all types, she said, including watercolor, acrylics and oils.
“I love weaving,” she said, adding she got a very good background in that in college.
Dallenbach said she met her husband, Joel, in Mankato. He works at the prison in Waseca, she said, so they live in Owatonna, which is about halfway between their work places.
They have three children: twins Julia and Jaden, and daughter Jenna. The twins, she said, will turn 24 on Nov. 28, while Jenna 
is two years younger. Jaden graduated from Mankato in May, and Julia is studying in Wisconsin. Jenna is a student at Mankato State.
“The kids like art,” she said, “but not to the extent I do.”
Dallenbach said the Teacher of the Year award came as a complete surprise.
“I had no inkling,” she said. “I didn’t think that would ever happen.”
Shelly Bungum made the announcement on a teacher work day, when they were all in the auditorium.
“I’m so honored and so grateful for the recognition,” Dallenbach said. Her family, she added, “are all really excited and happy for me.”
Although she doesn’t know all the details yet, the next step is to fill out the paperwork to be eligible for the Minnesota Teacher of the Year. From that group, semifinalists and finalists will be chosen, with the state Teacher of the Year selected in the spring.
The Teacher of the Year selection and the process moving forward is a “once in a lifetime opportunity,” she said. “There’s so many amazing and talented teachers.”