LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Marisa Zavala was nominated by her colleague, Bob Williams.

Mrs. Zavala is a very caring first grade teacher. When school closed, she began Zoom meetings and engaged her students. She used her lessons to focus on reading and math. Her students enjoyed the instruction and continued to learn. Mrs. Zavala took the time to reteach concepts with students. She made sure that small group reading instruction was a part of every instructional day. She made certain that every parent was contacted once or twice every week. If she couldn't reach a parent, she contacted another teacher or made sure that a home visit was made. Remote learning did not keep the first graders in Mrs. Zavala's classroom from learning. She had two students with over 80 AR points and ten students with over 25 AR points. That's a lot of reading through remote learning!