Norwood Educator Honored for Teaching Excellence

A Norwood, Ohio educator, Leila Kubesch, is one of five recipients of the 2021 Horace Mann Awards for Teaching Excellence, which makes Amy Gallaway a finalist for The NEA Foundation's NEA Member Benefits Award for Teaching Excellence and a $25,000 award. Gallaway will find out if she's the nation's top honoree when The NEA Foundation continues its tradition of honoring outstanding public school educators with the Salute to Excellence in Education Gala, a virtual event on Friday, February 12 at 8 p.m. EST.

Known as "the Academy Awards of Education," the Gala will be especially meaningful this year, during a time when education professionals, students, and parents have faced unique challenges from the pandemic and when the urgency of equity in public education has never been more apparent. In addition to honoring exceptional educators, the event will include performances, a tribute to an advocate for educational justice, and the screening of inspired mini-documentary films about the top awardees.

When it comes to supporting her students, Kubesch is focused on the whole child. Kubesch makes a point to send a postcard to each family at the beginning of the year in order to welcome the student and their family to her classroom.

English as a Second Language and Spanish educator, Señora Kubesch works with many students who have experienced emotional trauma. In the interest of better serving these students, she studied to earn a yoga teacher certification and, prior to the pandemic, she would hold after-school yoga classes to support her students’ social-emotional needs. She has had to come up with different projects, for example with her third-year Spanish students, she is doing mindful crafting.

When Kubesch noticed that many of her students “often [felt] marginalized with no voice or visibility,” she asked them to explore different solutions to the way they were feeling. In response, they decided to start their own television talk show where the students could report on different topics of interest to members of the community and local leaders. This initiative to promote equitable and excellent learning experiences in her school led Kubesch and her students to win the 2019 Ohio Education Association Media for Public Service Award.

Kubesch received her undergraduate degree from Universidad de Salamanca in Spain and holds a Masters of Art in Secondary Education from Ball State University and a Masters of Science in Educational Leadership and Administration from Purdue University.