Meet the Team – Suzanne Turner

Suzanne Turner has been a part of the Best Practices team for 15 years, beginning as a part-time trainer while she was still a classroom teacher.  Her current role as Associate Project Director makes her the go-to person in the office for anything related to PreK.  According to her, it “comes from being old as the hills”.  We disagree.  She’s not old, just well seasoned!  After all, she’s been working with PreK students and teachers since 1980.  Additionally, she teaches a methods course in the Birth-to-Five program at Georgia State University and was selected as Georgia Association for Young Children (GAYC) Trainer of the Year in 2011.  If you have a question, Suzanne can answer it!

This year, you may meet Suzanne at Returning Lead Teacher – Second Year Training where she helps teachers tweak and improve their lesson planning and assessment practices.  She loves meeting teachers all over the State and being a part of their journey and continues to keep in touch with many that she met when she first started at Best Practices.

What is your favorite children’s book?  What makes it most appealing to you?  
My third grade teacher gave me the first book in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series, Little House in the Big Woods, and I was hooked! The experiences the author shares in her books are so vivid: both familiar and strange at the same time! I spent many hours imagining that I lived on the banks of Plum Creek and that Laura and Mary were my best friends.

What would you do if you won the lottery?  
Believe it or not, I’ve spent quite a bit of time dreaming about this, and it usually involves extravagant purchases, like houses or cars for my whole family and large donations to several favorite charities. One thing on the list just for me would be a fancy motor home so my husband and I could travel all across the US. However, I guess for those things to come true, at some point I would have to actually buy a lottery ticket!

What is something most people don’t know about you?  
During my college years I made spending money by performing as a folk singer.  It was the late 1960’s, and every coffee house or pizza joint had someone who performed for a small salary and tips. On most weekends you’d find me singing songs by Peter, Paul and Mary or Bob Dylan with my husband and our two best friends. And I totally looked the part: think tambourine, fringed vest, and hair down to my waist!

Ever had a nickname? What was it?
Aside from some unfortunate references to my wearing glasses in 7th grade, I’ve only had one nickname. I’ve been called “Suzie” by two people in my past. My mamma called me Suzie when she was especially exasperated or when she was particularly pleased.  And when I first came to Georgia State to the Child Development Center, I was dubbed “Mama Suzie” by one of the teachers, probably because of my tendency to be a mother hen to everyone.

What is one thing you will never do again?
I will never again get in the contraption that takes you to the top of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis!  It is this tiny, little, egg-shaped container that holds you and seven, other people. You can’t even sit up straight; you’re all hunched over because the walls are curved. As it goes up the curved part of the Arch it bangs and clangs and jerks. And every time it jerked I sort of screamed – very embarrassing. The worst part was knowing that once I got to the top, I would have to get in it again to go back down. Nope…no way…never again.

Do you like or dislike surprises? Why or why not?
I absolutely LOVE surprises.  They keep you young!