for teachers

&

for students

About Me

Teacher

Roosevelt High School (Sioux Falls, SD) 2000-present

Leadership

- - - Highly Effective Instruction Team 2021 - 2025
    - Collaboration Team Leader 2021 - 2025
    - District Grading Policy Review Committee Fall 2019 (changed grading periods and grading scale)
    - ACT Committee Team Leader 2015-2020
    - AP Program Director 2013-2017
    - School Improvement Team Leader 2010-present
    - Accreditation Team Leader 2010-2019

Classes

- - - Sheltered English III (English Learners) 2021-present
    - English III 2021-present
    - Sheltered English II (English Learners) 2018-2021
    - Teacher Pathway (exploring a career in education) 2018-present
      - (Radio Story from SDPB & YouTube Video from SFSD)
    - AP English Language and Composition 2003-2025
    - Advanced ELL (English Learners) English 2017-2018
    - Intermediate ELL (English Learners) English 2016-2018
    - Advanced Composition (College Prep English) 2015-2018
    - Foundations of American Literature (remedial) 2003-2013
    - Foundations of Composition (remedial) 2003-2013
    - Composition 2000-2003
    - Modern Literature 2000-2003
    - American Literature 2000-2001
    - English I 2000-2001

University of Sioux Falls (Sioux Falls, SD) 2023-present

Adjunct Instructor

- - - EDU 240: Technology in Education

Augustana University (Sioux Falls, SD) 2024-2025

Adjunct Instructor

- - - EDUC 219: Technology in Education

Learner

South Dakota State University (Brookings, SD) 2003-2009

M.A. in English

- - Thesis: The Silenced Women in Jean Stafford’s Western Fiction
  - ELL (English Language Learners) Endorsement

University of Sioux Falls (Sioux Falls, SD) 1996-2000

B.A. in English and Secondary Education

Speaker

Teacher Talk on SDPB (South Dakota Public Broadcasting)

- - Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Podcasts

Teacher Pathway and Teacher Recruitment

2023 Milken Educator Facebook Chat Leader
2022 Milken Educator Awards Forum (Los Angeles) - LINK to recorded speech

GradeLess

- - Jefferson High School Freshman Academy 2023
  - National Council of Teachers of English (Anaheim, CA) Roundtable Leader 2022
  - Teachers on Fire Podcast 2021
  - SD DOE Mentor Conference (virtual) 2020, 2021
  - TeachOutLoud Podcast 2020
  - SD DOE Title Conference (virtual) 2020
  - Sioux Falls School District High School Teachers 2019
  - SD DOE Mentor Conference (Sioux Falls) 2018, 2019
  - Roosevelt High School 2018
  - Lennox High School 2018

Including EL Students in AP Classes 2017

- - Sioux Falls High School Teachers

Singleton Collaboration: Writing & Reading 2010-2011

- - Roosevelt Teachers

Classroom Instruction That Works (Marzano) 2002-2010

- - Sioux Falls Public MS & HS teachers
  - Roosevelt’s Entire Staff
  - Roosevelt’s New Staff
  - Bridgewater, SD
  - Northwest SD Teachers Conference

Vibrant Vocabulary (based on Marzano) 2006-2008

- - Sioux Falls English Teachers
  - Sioux Falls Social Studies Teachers
  - Joe Foss Staff (Sioux Falls’s Alternative School)

Writer

SDPB Teacher Talk Blog

https://ginabenz.blogspot.com/

Going Gradeless: A Liberation from Anxiety TG2 2019

"On Leaving Church" Oakwood 2019

I Never Wanted to Be a Teacher But Now I #LoveTeaching Education Post 2019

Quoted in Reader’s Digest Online 2018

“Growing Our Own Teachers in South Dakota” Milken Family Foundation 2018

“Teaching Storytelling: Helping Immigrant Students Cope with Uncertainty” Milken Family Foundation 2017

“Awards Do Inspire People” Milken Family Foundation 2016

Awards, etc.

Included in Teen Vogue Article about Grading 2020

Featured in University of Sioux Falls Magazine 2016

Milken Educator Award 2015

Featured in Sioux Falls Woman Magazine 2013

Presidential Scholar Program Teacher Recognition Award 2012

Roosevelt HS Excellence in Instruction 2012

Education Foundation Grant Recipient 2010-2014

Coca-Cola Educator of Distinction Award 2007

Report abuse