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Middle school can be a brutal new world for children as they begin navigating new social groups, more challenging studies and burgeoning puberty but most people agree that having a good teacher make a world of difference.

For many students at WF Burns Middle School, that teacher is Susan Grizzard, a 6th grade history teacher. Grizzard was recognized as the districtwide Secondary Teacher of the Year at a recent Chambers County School board meeting. 

Grizzard said she was honored and surprised by the recognition. 

“Teaching is one of those areas where without collaboration, you’re not getting anywhere,” Grizzard said. “So I wouldn’t be able to call myself a Teacher of the Year or be able to have that honor without my co-workers. Because we work together every single day over everything.”

Grizzard highlighted the team effort with the other educators and administration at WF Burns. 

She started at the school in the 2019-2020 school year. Though her first choice was high school U.S. History, Grizzard said she ended up finding her place at the middle school. 

“I think middle school kind of finds you, especially if you’re one of those people that when you get in middle school, you kind of find a place and everything just seems to go well for you,” she said. 

Whatever the grade, Grizzard always hoped she would be teaching in some form. 

“I always thought that I would end up in a classroom,” she recalled. Though she explored other opportunities, all roads seemed to lead back to teaching. “… But it didn’t matter what career path I chose. It just always came back to, ‘I really want to be a teacher.’”

Grizzard got her first teaching job in Opelika at the Lee County Youth Development Center. She worked there for about three years, while completing her schooling. 

Soon after she and her husband moved to LaGrange, she applied for the position at WF Burns, and she said, “The rest is history. It’s just been awesome to be in a public school. I honestly just feel like I’m at home at WF Burns.”

Grizzard said she has enjoyed getting to relate to her middle school students and be a sounding board for them, though she joked that those conversations can swing wildly from day to day in maturity. 

“It could be that a kid is struggling with their sexuality, or it could be that there’s a cuss word on the bathroom stall, and they don’t know what it means,” Grizzard said. “… So when I say that, it sounds like I’m offering the sage life advice, but it could be anything from ‘here’s a better way to tie your shoes’ to ‘Let’s not step in the mud puddle.’”

As a history teacher, Grizzard volunteers time on the SGA. She also encourages her students to be active in the house system at WF Burns. Introduced by Principal Andrew Leak, the Ron Clark Academy House System. The goal is to create a positive and engaging learning environment.

Grizzard said you can’t always avoid the cliches and hopes that she can impart a lesson from that old adage, “learn from your past or you’re doomed to repeat it.” She always endeavors to make things relevant to the students and show them why history matters. 

“As far as the content goes, I think the biggest thing that I could teach them is to really understand and empathize with situations that have happened in the past, and understand that it’s always a possibility that it could happen again,” Grizzard said. 

“It’s not just a box you check to graduate,” she added.

One of the class standards at the end of the school year is to teach the kids about the evolution of technology since World War Two, Grizzard explained. 

“So basically, everything that’s modern technology,” she said. 

The students pick a technological advancement that came about from World War 2, research it and then build a model. Then they display their project for an end-of-the-year fair. 

“It’s kind of like a museum, kind of like a science fair,” she said. 

“They get very, very creative. I have had some incredible projects over the years,” Grizzard said. “… They get into it. They buy into it. They go all out on these projects. So you end up with some really, really cool pieces. So that project is one thing that really makes me proud of them.”

Even on the hard days, Grizzard said she is motivated by the successes she gets to see, knowing that she put everything into helping her students succeed. 

“I guess it’s knowing that you did your part to try to have a kid find their best outcome,” she said.