When Susan Clinton was younger, her mother gave her a book, “All about Me,” by Dr. Seuss. The book was filled with questions about herself that she answered. On the page that asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Clinton wrote, “A teacher.” She was 8 years old.

Now in her second year teaching sixth grade English and language arts at J. Larry Newton in Fairhope, Clinton moved from teaching the same subject at Mary B. Austin in Mobile for five years.

“I love when I see my students, especially the ones who say they don’t like reading, get into a book and find they really like it,” Clinton says.

Planting the seed is her favorite aspect of teaching.

“I frequent the public library weekly, looking for books I think certain students of mine would enjoy reading,” Clinton says. “Last school year, I got a little boy hooked on Jordan Sonnenblick’s books. This young man told me he had never been to a public library and that he’d never read a book at home before. I was so shocked and proud, I emailed my awesome principal, Patrice Krueger; our reading coach and teacher of the year, Heather Bowman; and our librarian, Alison Hollingsworth. I was so excited!”

Clinton admits she had a lot of great teachers, but it wasn’t a particular teacher that inspired her.

“It was children that inspired me,” she says. “Growing up, I loved to babysit, be a camp counselor and hangout in the nursery at church. I got my first tutoring job when I was in the sixth grade, tutoring a neighbor’s little boy in math after school.”

Clinton hopes her students take away one main lesson from her classroom.

“I hope my students learn that being in school is so important because it gives them choices later in life,” she says. “They may not realize now how important that is, but if they stay in school, they will at least have options when life gives them a choice.”

TEACHER: Susan Clinton

SCHOOL: J. Larry Newton School

SUBJECT(S) TAUGHT: English and language arts

SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT YOURSELF: I worked at Baskin Robbins when I was attending college at the University of Mississippi. I love ice cream, and I loved serving ice cream to all the "regulars" that would come in. My customers were always happy and easy to please!