Mark Macyk is a 2024-2025 Teach Plus Pennsylvania Policy Fellow.. He is a middle school English language arts teacher at Edward Steel Elementary in North Philadelphia. Mark uses a student-centered approach to literacy and is a bright spot for his students, with his classroom often used as a model to train new teachers. He started his professional life as a journalist and began teaching in 2019. Mark received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teachers (2024) and won Steel’s GRIT Award (2023). He presented on the importance of professional learning communities at the 2023 Carnegie Foundation Summit in San Diego. Mark earned his BA in English from Binghamton University and his master’s in education from Saint Joseph’s University.
