Lisa Walden is West Madison’s Teacher of the Year

Lisa Walden is Teacher of the Year at West Madison Elementary School. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – Few people can describe their jobs like Lisa Walden, Teacher of the Year at West Madison Elementary School.

“Even on my worst day, I would still rather be a teacher than anything else in the world. I truly love and enjoy my teaching career,” Walden said.

She teaches sixth-grade reading and language arts, chairs the scheduling and Accelerated Reader committees and serves on several school and district committees.

Walden takes pride in founding the West Madison Reading Fair this year. After enthusiastic support from principal Dr. Daphne Jah, Walden patterned the reading fair on ones in Mississippi and local science fairs.

“I wanted kids to get excited about reading. That’s exactly what I accomplished. I’m hoping other schools in our district (start) their own reading fair so we can have a citywide competition,” Walden said.

“The most rewarding part of my job is running into former students (who) tell me something they learned from me. Or, they tell me how much they’ve accomplished and then thank me for my encouragement,” Walden said.

“It’s during those times that my heart swells for being a part of their life,” she said.

She always will remember her third-grade teacher, Mrs. Miller at Lakewood Elementary School, who read to the class every day. While at Liberty, Walden had a fifth-grader who “could not read … not one word.”

The student was almost nine when he entered school. Walden and a parent volunteer worked with him every day. “He was reading by the end of that year,” Walden said.

Walden earned a bachelor’s degree at Athens State University. She first taught at Liberty Middle School in 1993, transferred to Discovery Middle School in 1996 and then moved to West Madison.

Her husband Jim is an automotive manager with Sears. “I couldn’t do this job without the support of my husband,” she said.

Their children are Chad Anderson and Brittany of Franklin, Tenn., Kristin Walden of Huntsville and granddaughter Ava, Jameson Walden and finance Sarah McClellan and Clay Anderson of Huntsville.