Excellent Educator: Adam Leicht Of Forest Hills Elementary
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (WCCO) – Third graders can have a lot of energy. But one teacher in Eden Prairie has found a way to keep them from bouncing off the walls. Instead he lets them bounce in their seats.
The once mechanical engineer's ability to problem solve in the classroom and get kids to focus is what makes Mr. Adam Leicht of Forest Hills Elementary this week's Excellent Educator.
Adam Leicht may be getting accolades for teaching now, but eight years ago he had no clue what he wanted to do.
"I actually got my undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and I started out thinking that was the direction I wanted to go, but after a while decided that wasn't what made me happy," he said. "My mom really encouraged me to find something that made him happy in life and not just something you can make a good living at."
Leicht spent a year shadowing different professions and substitute taught to make ends meet.
"I found that the days I spent substitute teaching were the best days I was having," he said.
So, Leicht got his master's in education from the University of Minnesota and has been in the classroom ever since.
He finds his background in mechanical engineering helpful.
"The shift in education is really going a lot toward using data to drive instruction," he said. "With mechanical engineering, numbers are really important. And so for me data comes naturally. I'm used to looking at numbers, I'm used to analyzing information and trying to put together and problem solve and I'm using those skills every day in the classroom."
Creatively solving problems is his forte, demonstrated by how he gets third graders to focus.
"My kids sit on balls instead of sitting on chairs and I think that helps to get out some of the pent-up energy and allows kids to move a little bit more," he said.
The children are now excited to sit and listen in class.
"He's the only teacher in the whole school who's done it," Tamer Ibsais, one of Leicht's students, said. "And at first we thought it was a crazy idea because it didn't look like it was that easy to bounce on them, but we got use to them they're really fun."
Leicht is also known for figuring out how to connect with children who have behavioral challenges.
"I think the relationship is a big part of it," he said. "I think that kids, when you know that you care about them and they care about you, they're willing to work for that."
"He views himself as the children's friend. However, that friend is deeper in that he is a guide and a supporter of them," Connie Hytjan, Forest Hills Elementary Principal, said. "I think children trust him very much and so they are willing to be their true selves with him."
Leicht strives for friendship with each child and it's making a difference.
A parent who wrote WCCO about Leicht said her 9 year-old had behavior struggles, but when Leicht befriended him he all of a sudden began to care about the things his friend cared about, like schoolwork, helping other kids listen and being a good example.
In the same addictive way that a kid picks up smoking because his best friend does it, he caught a passion for learning because his teacher, his friend, did.
