The Wilmot Rd Primary School teacher came to education later in life, returning to university in her 40s after selling the free-range chicken farm she ran with her husband.
Libby said after they sold the farm, she was lucky enough to have a moment to sit back and think about where she wanted to go from there.
After studying and even completing her honors in primary school education with La Trobe University in Bendigo, Libby took on a position at Lake Boga Primary School in Swan Hill.
A year later she made the move to Wilmot Rd Primary and has now taught there for two years.
Libby said she had carried a passion for educating with her for a long time and to her it was a privilege to be a teacher and have the opportunity to teach wonderful students.
“I really jumped in with both feet,” she said.
“I like to create a classroom family where we belong with each other.
“I tell the kids we've got to take care of each other and it's my job to model that for the kids, it's how they learn to interact with each other.”
In response to the praise from parents about her efforts to go above and beyond Libby grew modest.
“Teaching is only effective if it's in partnership with the family,” she said.
“It's really important I go that extra mile and have that relationship with the families.
“Through that I can get to know the children even more and help them.”
To Libby, if every one of her students was excited to come to school each day and learn, she had succeeded in her job.
“I want them to love coming to school, to love learning,” she said.
“I want them to be resilient and know it's okay to make mistakes because that's how we learn.
“We celebrate mistakes because it means they've learnt something.
“So, really it's about building resilience as young learners.”
Libby said there were children at the beginning of the year who would burst into tears when mistakes were made, who now celebrate when they've learnt something new.
Currently, Libby teaches a split Grade 1/2 class, which was a difficult transition to make to online learning during coronavirus lockdowns.
“We realised early on we just had to take the good with the bad,” she said.
“The kids at that age are lacking a bit of computer literacy and we have a large community of families that don't speak English, which made things trickier.”
Libby said it was important for her in that situation to be able to touch base with the kids, and while it took more effort she would make a lot of calls home to check-in.
“I'd make calls if you didn't see a child to encourage them to keep showing up,” she said.
“Some students I called the same time every day to talk them through their learning.
“It was time-consuming and challenging but was worth it because they engaged with their learning.”
Hearing the praise from parents, Libby said she was brought to tears.
“You really try your hardest to do the right thing and when someone sees it and goes out of their way to note that it is so rewarding and lovely and brings tears to the eyes." she said.
24°C