Greenville ISD teacher Chelsie Griffiths, a Life Choice teacher at the Greenville Sixth Grade Education Center, was honored for her work recently by a statewide group of superintendents, principals, teachers and curriculum directors.

Griffiths was one of three Texas teachers to earn a Texas Educators Achieving Classroom Honors (T.E.A.C.H.) Award from the Texas Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).  The awards were presented at the organization’s recent annual conference.

Texas ASCD is a state affiliate of International ASCD.  Griffiths earned the award along with Lindsay Lisman of Frisco ISD and Roland Ruvalcaba of San Antonio ISD.

Griffiths was nominated by Greenville Middle School Principal David Gish, previously the principal at the Sixth Grade Center.  Gish called Griffiths “an inspiration” to the ones she works with daily.

“She is very dedicated to her students and profession.  It is truly a pleasure to see her work with her students,” said Gish.  “I am continuously amazed at the results that are produced from this high risk classroom.  Life Choice is a program for emotionally disturbed students.  It is a very structured class and the challenges are sometimes unbelievable.  These students are not successful in a regular setting so Greenville has adopted this program to help teach classroom readiness and social skills.”

Griffiths teaches the middle school section, which is actually fourth through sixth grades.

“This particular age student is challenging enough but given their disabilities, it makes for an even tougher classroom.  Chelsie has done an unbelievable job with her students,” said Gish.  “She has been able to establish procedures and routines with consistent reinforcement to make her students successful.”

The T.E.A.C.H. Award is aimed at recognizing an educator for his or her pioneering efforts in the classroom that strongly affect the learning of the students they teach.

The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) is an international educational organization consisting of over 170,000 members worldwide. Texas ASCD is one of the largest of ASCD's 61 affiliates.