Cobb teacher’s mission to make kids love reading earns special recognition

A Cobb County teacher who has spent more than two decades helping children discover a love of reading got a surprise of her own on Thursday.

Dr. Shawndella Roberts, a seventh-grade reading teacher at Lindley Middle School, was surprised by school and state education leaders who recognized her as the Elementary Literacy Leader of the Year.

Representatives from the Georgia Council on Literacy joined Cobb County Superintendent Chris Ragsdale for the surprise presentation.

Roberts received a $1,500 award, along with $500 to spend on her classroom.

“Yes, I was like, ‘What is going on?’” Roberts said. “I just had no idea. I’m still in shock.”

Roberts is in her first year at Lindley Middle School and her 10th year with Cobb County Schools. Overall, she has spent nearly 25 years in education.

She was selected for the literacy award based on her work last year at Birney Elementary School, where she taught third-grade reading and English language arts.

Roberts said some of her students began the year reading at a kindergarten level. Her goal was to help each of them improve by at least two grade levels.

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“I’m going to grow them at least two grade levels. That’s always my goal when I’m in elementary,” Roberts said.

By the end of the year, Roberts said most of those students had reached third-grade reading levels. Other students who began the year on grade level progressed to fifth-grade work.

Now teaching middle school, Roberts said her goal goes beyond improving test scores. She wants students to become readers even when no one is requiring them to pick up a book.

“My favorite part is when a student comes to me, and they say, ‘I never read before, but when you’re reading the stories to us, it’s so interesting, and now I read at home,’” Roberts said.

She said students will sometimes proudly show her books they picked out at a store or library on their own.

“I love it because that’s the goal,” Roberts said. “My goal as a reading teacher is to have students gain their own love of reading.”

Roberts recently earned her doctorate and said literacy remains fundamental to nearly everything students do in school, even subjects such as math.

“If students don’t know how to read and they can’t comprehend, how can they do word problems? How can they solve problems?” Roberts said. “It’s the foundation of everything.”

For Roberts, Thursday’s surprise carried additional meaning because she said teachers don’t always receive recognition for the work they do every day.

“It feels great being recognized for what you do every day, because for teachers it doesn’t happen a lot,” Roberts said. “I don’t take this for granted at all.”