Susan Owen, First Grade
Source/Author: Faculty Spotlight
August 05, 2014
Susan Owen’s approach to teaching her first graders stems from experiences with her own first and fourth grade teachers. “I remember both of those teachers because they were the ones who instilled a lot of confidence in me. And that’s my number one
goal with my students. I don’t like to give them the answers. I want to build their confidence so they know they can find the answers if they work hard. I tell them all the time to ‘trust their brains.’”
Growing up in Jacksonville, FL, Owen always knew she wanted to be a teacher. By the time she got to the University of North Florida, she veered slightly into criminal justice and considered working in juvenile justice. But her classroom internship experiences “hooked her,” and she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in elementary and early childhood education.
She married her high school sweetheart and they moved to Texas so he could attend law school. As the primary breadwinner, she says she came to the sad realization that she could make more money being a secretary at Price Waterhouse than she could as a teacher, so that’s what she did for the next seven years.
When Susan and her husband moved to Tampa and then to St. Petersburg, she continued working for Price Waterhouse, had three children, and kept her teaching certificate active. She started teaching part-time at Riviera Day School when her oldest child, Danny, was in kindergarten there. When she found that her middle child, Tara, was going to be bussed across town in 4th grade, Susan and her husband enrolled her in Shorecrest.
“Her Christmas letter was, ‘Please let me stay at Shorecrest,’” Susan recalls with a laugh. Susan started subbing at Shorecrest when Tara was there, and realized she wanted her own classroom.
Susan, Danny, ‘99, Tara, ’02, and Brooke, ‘09 all eventually ended up at Shorecrest on a full-time basis. “When we came as a family to our very first Spirit Night, my husband said, ‘It’s such a family atmosphere.’ And that’s the way I run my classroom. We’re a family, and we care about each other. First grade is such a huge year for the students and to see how far they go from the beginning to the end of the year is amazing and rewarding.”
She doesn’t have a favorite subject, but she does love the opportunity to partner with Upper School teacher Lisa Peck and some of her students on science units covering the human body and the ocean. “Those kinds of experiences really make science fun, and the kids are always so excited.”
She works very hard to get to know each child’s learning style so she can adapt her teaching style to them; constantly reinforcing the development of independence and confidence. “I tell them, ‘Never settle for less than your best. You are responsible for you.’” And her motto for herself says it all. “To love what you do and to feel that it matters—how could anything be more fun?”
