Murfreesboro Teacher Receives $25,000 Award

A teacher from Murfreesboro has won a $25 thousand cash prize as an outstanding educator. Siegel High’s Matt Marlatt learned of the award from the Milken Family Foundation today.

Marlatt teaches college-level American literature to about a hundred students. He says he strives to be challenging, but also fun and engaging.

Marlatt has taught for more than a decade, but says he never stops looking for ways to improve.

“I always am under the premise that if there’s something for me to learn, I want to learn how to do it and bring that to the classroom and make it the best I can, because when I stop learning how to be a good teacher I don’t want to be in a classroom anymore.”

Marlatt says he’s not sure how he’ll spend the $25 thousand award – only that he’s confident his wife and two girls will help.

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The assembly announcing the award came as a complete surprise, Marlatt says, because the reason for it wasn’t specified beforehand. He says he never would have guessed it’d be to honor him.

Marlatt teaches advanced English, which means a lot of reading and writing. He says that can bog students down.

“So I try to give them an opportunity where they can to collaborate together and bounce ideas off of each other and be in a safe environment where they can feel like they can risk things and learn things where they’re not having to be put necessarily on the spot and they have room to grow.”

Marlatt was reluctant to take full credit for the award, saying much of his success is really his students’ accomplishment.