Griffith teacher one of nine to receive leader impact award
From Page 1
When Marisa Specht found out she won a 2021 Teacher Leader Impact Award, she was speechless.
Specht, a third grade teacher from Griffith Public Schools, was one of two teachers in the state and one of nine in the country to win the award presented by Edthena, a classroom observation platform for using teaching videos as part of professional development.
“No teacher does what they do with any anticipation of ever being acknowledged or put on a pedestal. It was such a tough year for every teacher and I just feel like everybody sort of deserves this award, not just me,” Specht said. “But of course I was honored that somebody would take the time to recognize what I did and how I handled it this year.”
All nine of the educators who received the award were nominated by an administrator in their district for “making a measurable impact on others and creating a positive lasting change” a release from Edthena says.
And that’s exactly what Specht has always aimed to do.
“My father was an educator and to this day when I run into people they will ask about my dad and they share stories about how impactful my father was on their life and how he changed them, as well as my fifth grade teacher who I was able to honor in high school,” Specht said about the teacher who inspired her. “I just always said that I hope that just maybe one student would feel as strongly about what I’ve done for them as those two people did in my life.”
As difficult as things were with the COVID-19 pandemic, Specht said she did her best to keep students engaged and help them have fun. She said she had costume days and would decorate her classroom in different themes, like camping or construction, and students would participate by dressing the part.
The room transformations were exciting for students, she said, noting
that she hopes to be a teacher who students will remember in the future.
“I received a lot of very sweet letters about, ‘Best teacher ever’ and ‘I’ll never forget you,’ and what every teacher hopes,” Specht said. “We do it for the kids, not necessarily for the parents or for any outside acknowledgment.”
Adam Geller, founder and CEO of Edthena, said the organization is focused on teacher and professional learning and growth, which can happen through a plethora of different ways. He said they saw a lot of awards and celebrations for the work teachers are doing daily, and Edthena wanted to recognize teachers who influence their colleagues to continue to grow and have a larger impact on students.
While this year was the first year for the Teacher Leader Impact Awards, Geller said he believes Edthena will continue with it.
“We think that teachers are important, but also teacher leaders are very important,” Geller said. “The job of being a teacher is so complex and so hard and so many people are really going above and beyond in various ways, so if we can create this additional avenue to celebrate teacher leaders and the impact they’re having, we think it’s well worth the investment from a time and energy perspective for us as an organization to seek out and recognize these teacher leaders.”