At Andersen Open School in Minneapolis, MN, Martha Spriggs is changing the face of the school day in more ways than one. Spriggs staunchly supported the recent merging of two schools (Andersen Complex), and took part in the National Middle School Conference. An instructional coach with TAP™: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement and a TAP math teacher since 2004, Spriggs now works with students and teachers across various grade levels.
Spriggs is known as a master of classroom management, a skill she carried over and further developed after her previous career as American Express client services manager for 10 years. In her classroom, 82 percent of eighth-grade students made more than a year's growth. This is the highest percentage of any teacher at Andersen Open School, where 97 percent of students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch.
Spriggs also devotes much of her time as a teacher and mentor of enrichment activities for students; for example, chaperoning a group of students to a robotics competition. She teaches summer enrichment programs, teaches an after-school boys science program, takes students to open houses at local high schools, and invites students to have lunch with her for extra tutoring…just a few examples of how Spriggs always goes the extra mile for Minneapolis youth.
1997 Augsburg College, B.A.
