Entering the 2025-2026 school year, Highlands faculty and students welcomed multiple new teachers to the nest. One of these was Maddie Griffith, a first-year English teacher. Griffith teaches both on-level English I & pre-AP English I.
Griffith originally planned on getting her PhD in both microbiology and macrobiology. However, shortly into her first semester at Western she made a critical realization: “I realized that maybe I’m just not good at science… it was a really harsh wake up call,” Griffith said.
This prompted Griffith to reflect on her values and figure out where her heart truly was. “I had a vision one day… When I was a kid, I would do my homework with my stuffed animals and I would, like, teach them my homework. I knew I wanted to be a teacher from that moment on,” she said.
Griffith switched her major to secondary English education, moved back home, and enrolled at Northern Kentucky University, where she later got her Bachelor’s in secondary English education.
Griffith has adopted a few unique policies to keep things upbeat and running smoothly. One of these is her “fidget not phones” system, which she put in place following the passing of HB 208, which banned the use of cell phones during instructional time.
“I am a victim to being addicted to my phone,” Griffith explained, “I’m like uncomfortable if I’m not doing something with my hands, and I feel like a lot of students feel that same way.”
To combat this, when students come into her classroom they exchange their phone for a fidget toy. This system gives the students an incentive to turn in their phones, but also gives students a way to stay occupied and attentive during class.
Additionally, as a lover of music herself, Griffith finds a way to implement music into her classroom routine. Using QR codes, she created a suggestion box for students in each of her classes to suggest songs for their class playlist.
“There’s music playing in this classroom all the time,” Griffith remarked, “every class period has a different Spotify playlist, even legacy. I usually just play it when they are doing like their bell ringer in the morning or when they walk in.”
The music livens the classroom, and students get excited to hear their songs playing when they walk in.
“It’s very calm, and it’s like music that we like so it’s not like stuff that’s going to make me sleep,” described English I student Myles Lovell (9). He enjoys the calm environment and believes it helps him focus on his work.
Within her classroom, Griffith works hard to create a warm, welcoming environment for all of her students. She prioritizes making sure students know they are always welcome to be themselves and nothing else.
Griffith sympathizes with her students, determined to teach them that it’s okay to learn and to grow, and that they should never have to hide who they are.
“That’s kind of the impact that I want to have on the freshmen coming in because, you know, when you’re a freshman, it sets up how your high school career is going to be, basically.”
As a freshman English teacher, Griffith has a unique opportunity to not only teach her students grammar and writing, but also to teach them values they can carry with them throughout their lives.
Whether inside or outside of the classroom, there’s one lesson that means the most to her:
