JEFCOED Teacher of the Year finalist Erin Reid is passionate about helping students find their voice. As a reading interventionist at Grantswood Community School, Ms. Reid often encounters students who have the skills needed to reach their goals, but lack the confidence to trust their abilities.
Through positive affirmations and mindset changes, Ms. Reid helps students break through their fears of failure and embrace imperfection.
“We have two sayings that we say often,” Reid said. “The first one is mistakes help me improve.”
Reid believes that if you’re not making mistakes, you’re not learning.
“And they know that, and when they make a mistake, another child will sometimes yell out, ‘mistakes help me improve,” Reid said.
Helping students overcome these challenges isn’t always easy, but that isn’t a problem for Reid.
“I love the challenge. I think that if something's easy, it's really not worth doing,” Reid said. “And this is not easy, and we're doing the hard every day. And these kids are doing the hard things every day.”
As Ms. Reid and her students accomplish the “hard things,” they’re not alone. Ms. Reid said that with the help of her students’ teachers, they’re able to “make magic happen.”
“We take a child who has very little confidence, who is, you know, crying when she's asked to read, and together, we create a plan so that that child can be successful and confident,” Reid said.
Throughout Grantswood Community School, Ms. Reid is known as someone who has a true passion for education.
“If you think about her work ethic, it is the definition of above and beyond,” said Grantswood Community School Principal Darlene Douglas. “Not many will say that they can come in and love their job. She doesn't have to say it, we can see it.”
JEFCOED’s Elementary and Secondary Teacher of the Year winners will be announced on Thursday, March 19, 2026. To hear more from Ms. Reid, and to meet additional finalists, click here.