The best teachers are the passionate ones and Owasso High School’s Madison Brown fits that to a T. Brown teaches ninth grade English, Reading for Pleasure (an elective for freshmen-seniors), and sponsors the student activity Youth Alive. Brown first began teaching in 2016 and had always wanted to teach.
“I come from a long line of teachers,” Brown said. “So it’s in my blood.”
Brown recalled her sophomore year high school English teacher, Kim Turner, making an impact on her life.
“She taught To Kill a Mockingbird in such a way that it came to life in the classroom,” Brown said. “I want to do that for my own students.”
Now in her fifth year teaching at Owasso, Brown couldn’t be happier to be giving back to the community that raised her.
“There are a lot of opportunities given to students here that are not available in every school. I didn’t realize that until I was in college,” Brown said. “I hope to pass those opportunities on to my students, and I try to show them how lucky they are to get them.”
One thing Brown appreciates about teaching in the same school district that she grew up in is working with her former teachers as colleagues – including Mrs. Turner.
“I also have a team of extremely supportive teachers who will go above and beyond to help,” Brown said. “Having amazing coworkers like that makes OHS a very special place to work.”
Every day Brown loves seeing her students learn and come to appreciate reading, critical thinking, and being creative with their writing skills. However, she always appreciates the opportunity to introduce her students to Romeo and Juliet.
“It’s fun to give students their first taste of Shakespeare,” Brown said. “Even though it’s a tragedy, there is still plenty of comedy in there. It is always great to see students realize they are capable of reading and understanding Shakespeare. It’s always daunting to them at first.”
The most important skill that Brown wants her students to take away from her class is the ability to support their opinions and beliefs with reasoning and evidence from credible sources.
“They have to learn that they can’t convince someone to think like them just because it is what they think,” Brown said. “They have to be able to explain why they hold that opinion or belief and use experts to support themselves.”
Outside of the classroom Brown likes to spend time with friends and family. She can often be found reading, baking, or binging Netflix. Brown and her husband are also big fans of the Oklahoma City Thunder and go to as many games as they can and are active members of the church DestinyLife.
