Lindsay Griffin of Greenbrier used to make her younger brother be the student while she pretended to be a teacher.
“I was very bossy. I liked to boss him around and play school,” she said, laughing.
Apparently, she’s pretty good at being a real teacher, too.
Griffin, sixth-grade literacy teacher at Greenbrier Middle School, was named Tuesday as one of four state finalists for 2015 Arkansas Teacher of the Year.
The 35-year-old Griffin went to the ceremony at the state Capitol as one of 15 regional finalists, and then she was announced as one of the four.
“I was shocked; I was. I was just really surprised. There were a lot of good teachers there. We got to have a meeting with everybody and talk about things,” she said.
As the four finalists were announced, Griffin said, “they just read a blurb about everybody.”
In her biography, it was noted that the Greenbrier High School graduate attended the Arkansas Teacher Academy’s Teacher Leader Institute and is a nationally board-certified teacher.
She received a $1,000 check Tuesday from Gov. Mike Beebe, and she will receive another $14,000 if she is selected as the 2015 Arkansas Teacher of the Year. An Arkansas Teacher of the Year committee will visit the four finalists’ schools and observe them in the classroom, Griffin said.
“Everybody is just telling me congratulations, they’re proud of me, and I’m doing a good job representing Greenbrier,” she said.
Griffin was the Greenbrier Middle School winner, which was voted on by her peers, and she found out in May that she was the Greenbrier School District’s Teacher of the Year.
“We have a lot of good teachers here — a lot of people who go above and beyond. For somebody to think you deserve that nomination, it’s a big thing,” Griffin said.
About three weeks ago, she got an email from the state Department of Education informing her of the regional honor.
Griffin said she didn’t tell many people, but then a press release made the news public.
“People were saying, ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’ It’s hard to brag on yourself,” she said.
That’s OK — her principal will.
Greenbrier Middle School Principal Kelli Martin said Griffin is a model teacher.
“If you just look at the big picture of teaching now, whether it’s relating to the new teacher evaluation and even beyond that, she is the model of professionalism in education,” Martin said.
“She’s a model of being a reflective teacher — she’s always looking for something better for her students. She’s the model of having high expectations for every child,” Martin said, regardless of their abilities.
“One of the biggest things that stands out is that she takes it upon herself, and she’s willing to impact teachers even outside the Greenbrier School District,” Martin said.
The principal said Griffin made a presentation on technology at an education conference at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. She also made a presentation on technology and parental involvement at the Arch Ford Education Service Cooperative in Plumerville.
Using technology — “it’s just a natural to her. She’s just always, always willing to share her expertise,” Martin said.
“Something else that sticks out in education right now, she’s really facilitating ways for kids to collaborate and connect with online tools,” Martin said. “It’s not just about the Internet resources; it’s about kids being engaged with technology.
“She is very humble about everything.”
When asked to guess, Griffin said, her original nomination and honor as the Greenbrier Teacher of the Year is “probably just because I’ve always been willing to come and do whatever it takes, just step up,” she said in a soft-spoken voice.
“They wanted to implement a reading program a couple of years ago, an intervention-type program, and it required me to move up to sixth grade,” she said. Griffin did that for about three years.
“The funds got cut for that, so then last year, they asked me to come back in and do sixth-grade literacy.”
Griffin has had a lifetime role model for becoming a teacher. Her mother, Loretta Burgess, is a business-education teacher at Greenbrier High School.
“At first I thought I wanted to do business, like Mom,” Griffin said. In high school, she worked at a preschool program in the district for 5-year-olds, a program that no longer exists.
“I fell in love with the little kids, and I decided to do elementary,” she said.
Griffin majored in elementary education at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway and never doubted her career choice.
“I loved my time at UCA,” she said.
She landed her first job 13 years ago in her hometown.
“I interviewed for a fifth-grade teacher here at the middle school, and I was kind of nervous because I wasn’t sure I wanted that old. I always thought I wanted the younger ones. It was one of those things; it was the first [job] open, and I got it, and I loved it.”
The first year, she taught it all – math, science, social studies and literacy.
Twelve years ago, she went back to UCA and earned a master’s degree in reading. Since then, she has taught literacy.
“I love reading and writing. I felt like that was my stronger area than the math and science,” she said. “I love reading books with the kids and talking about it — and writing.”
Griffin’s favorite book, and her favorite to teach, is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis.
It’s not part of the Common Core curriculum, the newest education initiative.
One of her favorite books to read with the students now is Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, by Mildred Taylor.
“It’s historical, so we can tie in a bunch of history,” Griffin said.
“We’ve started doing Common Core units. Our first one this year is about growing up. Everything we’re reading — we read poems and stories and books — all have to do with growing up.”
Her sixth-graders are in middle school for the first time, and they have more freedom, she said.
“We’ve just had to, as far as literacy goes — they gave us a book, a manual, of the standards and units and curriculum, so it’s taken a lot of time to get into these books and that curriculum and figure out what they want the students to do,” Griffin said.
The new Partnership for Assessment for Readiness for College and Careers testing “is the biggest stress, getting away from the Benchmark [exams] and going to the PARCC testing,” Griffin said.
“We’ve really, the past three or four years, had a big push at our middle school that every class has to have reading and writing in it. … That’s helped, too. I don’t feel quite so alone in it,” she said.
“You have to be flexible; there’s always going to be something new. I’ve only been doing this 13 years, and things come, and there’s a big push for it. You take the good out of everything you can and deal with the stuff you don’t like as well,” she said.
“I have a sixth-grader, so I think, what I would want someone to do for her?
“Sometimes, when you think about it that way, you’re more willing to do the extra stuff, go the extra mile, whether it’s time during your break … or spending your time researching things, or grading essays all night.”
The biggest change Griffin has seen in teaching literacy is that it’s harder to get children to read, and they read differently.
“They’re definitely busier, but they have found they like reading on their iPad or their tablet,” she said.
The students hold actual books in her classroom, but “as far as their own personal enjoyment,” it’s on a device, she said.
As long as they’re reading, that’s fine with her.
Even with all the changes in the field of education, Griffin said, she doesn’t doubt her career choice.
“I still love it; I think you have to love it to stick with it,” Griffin said. “To me, it’s a challenge, it really is, because it’s never the same. Every day is different. I’ve always been blessed to work here.
“I definitely feel like I’m working at my dream job because I went to school here, and I’m working with some of the same teachers I had in school — and now my kids are getting to grow up here.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.