Name: Shannon DuBose
School: Ocean Bay Elementary
Subject(s) taught: Kindergarten
Age: 40
Hometown: Carolina Forest
Birthplace: Sumter
College: College of Charleston, Coastal Carolina University
Number of years teaching: 18
Favorite memory: “My first year teaching I taught a little boy who’d just moved here from Puerto Rico and spoke no English. I formed a relationship with this boy and his family and he was always so sweet. I just loved him and thought about him often over the years. I found out he’s 21 now and living in Las Vegas. But he found me and friended me on Facebook. I asked him ‘How did you ever remember me?’ and he said, ‘How could I forget you?’ It was so touching. I cried for an hour. You don’t realize the impact you have.”

GrandStrand Magazine: When did you decide you wanted to be a teacher?

Shannon DuBose: “It was a Sunday School teacher in my hometown that inspired me to be a teacher. I knew by 11 years old what I wanted to do.”

GSM: What makes a great teacher?

SD: “Making connections with students and their families early on is a key to success. I always say a good sense of humor is important. I laugh at myself. I laugh with the children. I try not to be too serious. I’ve found that serious situations can be made a lot less serious with a little humor. And there’s nothing like self-deprecation. My 5- and 6-year-olds find it hilarious when the teacher talks about herself in a negative way. I tell stories all the time; personal stories about my family. They love to hear about my own kids who are 7 and 10, who they know, because they’ve been in the classroom.”

GSM: Are kids different today than kids of 5, 10 or 25 years ago?

SD: “Oh, yes. Most children these days are exposed to pre-school. Going back 18 years, you didn’t have as many working moms. Now so many more kids—but not all—are exposed to pre-school. It’s not daycare anymore. They’re now pre-schools, and even the stay-at-home moms recognize the importance of early childhood development and work with their kids at home. They come to kindergarten knowing so much more now than they did when I started teaching. They’ve been exposed to iPods and iPads and computers. We hardly need any instructional time on acclimating them with keyboards and touch screens. I have around 24 students and we can sign out a cart with enough iPads for the entire classroom. ... These kids have a real head start, and they come to school knowing so much more.”

GSM: Were you a good student?

SD: “I was. I was always a rule follower. There was never any doubt that my sister and I would go to college. [Doing poorly in school] was never an option. I did what was expected.”

GSM: Teachers burn out; especially new teachers. What causes this? How do you stay motivated?

SD: “New teachers sometimes don’t find the job that’s right for them right out of college, so they take what they can get. I remember in college doing an internship with a 6th grade and that was the greatest experience ever because it showed me right then and there that I did not want to teach middle school. But not everybody gets those [experiential] options, so they end up taking a job in the wrong place, and that can be disheartening. But you have to love kids and have that passion. If you don’t, then maybe teaching was not right for you to begin with.”

GSM: What motivates you to teach?

SD: “I just love being around those kids. By Sunday I’m ready to go back to school. I’m fortunate in that I get to bring my own kids to school, and I’m with them all the time, but with each class at the end of the school year I think, ‘How am I going to let them go?’ When they come into kindergarten we’re teaching them their letters and their sounds and by the time they leave they’re writing paragraphs and reading stories to me.”

GSM: Words of advice to teachers?

SD: “Engage [students] right away. Find out if they love Superman or Barbies or whatever, and work with that. And love your kids.”

Ocean Bay Elementary Principal Ben Prince:

“Shannon does a fantastic job. She’s instructionally sound, knows the curriculum, every student benefits. She connects with the kids, she builds tremendous relationships, and the environment is very comfortable and homey. ”