National award affirmational for 'Berg education professor

Education professor Dr. Nichole Griffin served as a reviewer for proposals for the 104th National Council for Social Studies conference. At the time she did not anticipate she would attend the conference as the winner of the Award for Global Understanding given in honor of James M. Becker.

“When I looked at the criteria for the award, I thought, ‘I’ve done these things in my teaching practice.’ So I threw my hat into the ring,” Nichole said.

Receiving the award, she said, affirms that her work is not only meaningful but impactful.

On Nov. 22-24, she traveled to Boston to receive the award at the Council’s annual conference. While there, she also gave a presentation about her teaching strategies and initiatives that drew interest from conference participants.

Nichole’s colleague and department chair, Dr. Dawn Henry, had this to say about why the Council chose the perfect recipient for the award: “Nichole builds authentic, supportive, and grace-filled relationships. I have witnessed her listening attentively to custodians sharing their concern, laughing with students at bad jokes (maybe her own), and reaching out to faculty to share ideas and support their efforts. In each of these interactions, she demonstrates humility, compassion, and utmost respect. It is an honor to teach with and learn from her every day.”

Being selected for the award put the wind in the sails of an already energetic and dynamic Nichole. It’s also confirmation that her peers “see the value in advancing global education.

“I’m grateful for the things I’m able to do. I still get excited about the things God has blessed me to do,” she said.

The nomination included the demonstration of excellence in teaching social studies for global understanding. In addition to writing about her teaching philosophy and letters of support from colleagues and a student, a vitae and course syllabi, Nichole had to describe classroom activities that exemplify the pursuit of global understanding among her students across the spectrum of her teaching career. There are plenty of examples.

Making an impact

Last semester, she and her Social Studies Methods students researched Tiffin's history to look for “patterns of impact” – local events that radiated outward and impacted the world and vice versa, international events that filtered back to Tiffin. Multiple visits to the Seneca County Museum helped shed light on these connections.

Additionally, Nichole built on connections she made as a Fulbright scholar to co-write a successful U.S. State Department Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund grant in 2023 with a colleague in Botswana. The grant funded an international reading support program that paired Heidelberg undergrad teacher candidates with Botswana high school students. During Saturday morning Zoom sessions, six ‘Berg future teachers led small groups of 22 high school students learning English.

Dawn added, “Prior to the start of the tutoring portion of the program, Nichole provided specialized reading pedagogy and culturally relevant teacher training to the candidates, both of which were critical to the success of the program.”

On campus, Nichole has led several impactful activities. She created the School of Education Ice Cream Social to help introduce first-year students to upper-level students. That spring, she started an annual campus read-aloud event in celebration of World Read Aloud Day. She also has coordinated community Juneteenth celebrations the past two years and has been a presenter during Heidelbergs MLK Jr. Day ON! and the Lichtman-Behm Genocide Lecture Series.

It’s all in a day’s work for Nichole, who believes passionately in her work and her students, whether those at Heidelberg or the K-12 students she taught previously.

She was humbled by the award. “Just thinking of the other nominees who do great work is a reminder that I’m one of many. I’m not alone in this work,” she said.

Conference bonuses

The conference fueled Nichole to keep pursuing the work she’s doing in the classroom. It also reinforced the power of collaboration and networking and encouraged her to continue to be innovative and explore research ideas presented at the conference.

While there, she enjoyed a chance encounter with ‘Berg alum Beth (Goodenow) Corrigan ’08 and she had an opportunity to travel across town to catch current ‘Berg students Lexi Cheek and Makenna Finnegan, who were accompanied by their professor, Dr. Michele Castleman, as they presented at the National Council for Teachers of English conference.

Nichole encourages educators – especially pre-service teachers and colleagues – to stay connected to some sort of professional development “where ideas are flowing and camaraderie is there, on campus and off.”

“It’s just really important to make time for that,” she added.