Sara Bird loves her job. Spend any time with her at all and it’s easy to see why her fellow teachers nominated her as Colbert Elementary School “Teacher of the Year” in the spring.
And just before school started in August, Bird found out she had been named the system-wide “Teacher of the Year” for Madison County.
Bird is officially the media specialist at the school, but she’s just fine with the more old-fashioned term “librarian.”
“Most of what I do still deals with books and helping students find just the right book for them,” Bird says.
But of course, her job includes much more than that. Bird sees her role as working to supplement classroom teachers with special projects, as well as coming up with her own projects to broaden students’ educational opportunities.
She feels her time as a fourth grade teacher at Ila Elementary is a definite advantage, especially when offering supplementary support to teachers.
“That experience helps me to know where they are coming from and have a better understanding of what they might need,” she said.
Bird graduated from Madison County High School in 2004, then went on to UGA where she received her bachelor of of science degree in early childhood education. She received a Masters Degree in School Library Media from the University of West Georgia in 2011 and an Education Specialist Degree in School Library Media from West Georgia in 2013.
Bird taught at Ila from 2008 to 2013.
“I received the wonderful opportunity to become the media specialist at Colbert Elementary in 2013,” she said. And it was there that she came full circle, having attended Colbert Elementary herself as a child.
“It was like coming home,” she said.
One thing she said she has always been grateful for and have never taken advantage of is the fact that she’s blessed to live in a country that values education for all children.
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