You can still see a scar that bears evidence of a broken collarbone.  Her leg is still on the mend after severe injuries.

But the first thing you notice upon seeing Amy King is her smile, which reveals her gratitude to return to teaching fifth grade at Bryan Elementary School in Kimberly.

"I was just extremely happy to be back," King said during a lunch break with students on the first day of school Wednesday.  "I'm glad to be back in my classroom with a new group of students.  I love the beginning of the year."

The Jefferson County teacher was hailed a hero for keeping a charter bus from careening into a ravine full of trees along Interstate 59 near Springville March 28.  The bus driver had passed out.  And when King saw where the bus was headed, she grabbed the wheel and changed the course.  While the bus did overturn, experts agreed King's action kept the crash from being much worse.

King, who was thrown from the bus during the crash, suffered nine fractured vertebrae, a shattered kneecap, a broken clavicle, broken ribs and more.  She had to miss the rest of the school year as she recovered.

"I feel blessed to live in a place where we have the medical knowledge to be able to take Humpty Dumpty and put him back together again, because that's how I felt," King said.  She also noted prayers and support from friends, family, colleagues and her community in her recovery.

The students who were on the trip in March have moved up to sixth grade over at North Jefferson Middle School.  King has stayed in contact with the children, and she welcomes the prospects of her new class at Bryan this year.

"She has just done miracles with herself," Bryan Principal Debra Campbell said.  "She is just on the ball and ready to go and is very excited about being back."

More than 40 passengers were on the bus, including students and teachers.  Several were hurt in the crash.  But miraculously, no one was killed.

While friends, colleagues and the media quickly dubbed her a hero, King has remained humble about her role in preventing more serious injuries.

"I don't like the hero word," King said during an interview at her home April 7.  "I just think we all do the best we can in whatever situation we're given."

"The fact that I was able to get up and do what I needed to do that day just tells me I was not the one in control at all there," she said then.  "We were meant to survive that day.  We were meant to go off the road in just that particular place we did."

Now that she is back in the classroom, the teacher wants to put the attention from the crash behind her.  She would not mind slipping out of the limelight, though she wants people to know how grateful she is for the outpouring of support she has seen since March.

"My friends and my family and this community and the community that I live in, Pinson, everyone has been so good to me," King said Wednesday.  "I certainly appreciate everything that they have done."

"I told my teachers that we were going to have a very calm year this year," the principal said.  "I knew it in my heart."

As King achieves her goal of returning to teaching, her focus is back where it was before the crash.  "I'm concerned about test scores and getting my course studies taught," King said.  "Just the normal, mundane things that a teacher would be concerned with."