As Liberty’s top teacher, Breeden emphasizes student empowerment

MADISON – Michelle Breeden believes Liberty Middle School is the best school in Alabama, and she has the best colleagues. Her coworkers have honored her as “Teacher of the Year.”

“I’m humbled beyond belief that my peers, who I look to for guidance regularly, selected me for this honor,” Breeden said. “I had to ask Mr. Terrell to repeat himself because I kept thinking I wasn’t hearing him correctly.”

Having worked at Liberty since 2006, Breeden now is Social Studies Department Head and assistant athletic director and teaches eighth-grade world history/pre-advanced placement. As Beta Club sponsor, she arranges community outreach, like honoring essential workers or ‘Ding Dong Ditching’ goodies around neighborhoods.

A teacher mentor, Breeden also is a cooperative teacher with the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She has served with the Middle School Schedule Committee and ESL Strategies Team.

Her teaching philosophy emphasizes student engagement and empowerment. “All students (can) learn facts but, to truly empathize with individuals of the past, we have to walk in ‘their’ respective shoes,” Breeden said. “We don’t just talk about World War II rationing. My students live it for a week with nothing in my classroom, strategizing how to best use rations, just as families did in the 1940s.”

Her classroom nurtures a true space for academic and social conversations. “I want students to learn to use their voice to change the world” in a ‘safe’ classroom without fear of punishment or judgment. “This trust I built with my students is what I believed motivated them to embrace virtual learning. My students showed up and never missed a beat,” Breeden said.

This year, a student group nicknamed “The Breakfast Club,” impressed Breeden. Accepting her challenge, they focused on personal academic growth, not grades. The club “created a community that showed how the student/teacher relationship is a partnership, capable of achieving all goals. Whether the group realized it or not, they pushed me to continue to grow as an educator to make sure I continue to create a welcoming space for growth and acceptance,” she said.

Breeden earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Alabama and a master’s degree at Arkansas State University. She gained National Board Certification in early adolescence social studies in 2017. Currently pursuing her second master’s degree, Breeden is studying differentiation history at UAH.

Her husband David Breeden works as a senior analyst at Sierra Nevada Corporation. Their son Liam, 2.5 years old, is “living his best life in daycare,” she said.