OUTSTANDING TEACHERS OF THE TREASURE COAST
112
The ENGLISH TEACHER
BY GREG GARDNER
Greg Squier’s prep school experience and
growing up in a family of teachers gave
him the foundation for a 21-year career as
a prep school teacher in Connecticut and
at The Pine School Upper School in Hobe Sound.
“I went to prep school in Connecticut and I have
always taught at prep schools,” says Squier, who
credits his lifelong interest in learning to his Loomis
Chafee headmaster Dr. John Ratte and many other
teachers along the way. Squier loves the small
classes, interaction, freedom to encourage creative
expression and “flexibility of curriculum to be
inventive. As an independent school, we put a lot
of trust in our teachers,” he says. “We have great
confidence they will make the right choices.”
Squier has been named an Indian River Magazine
Outstanding Teacher of the Treasure Coast. He was
nominated by Leslie Herlin, parent of a Pine School
student. “Mr Squier is a true scholar,’’ Herlin writes
in the nomination. “His approach to teaching is so
effective and engaging and understands every type
of learner. I can guarantee that if you asked any one
of his students they would have nothing but positive
things to say about him as an educator. Our school is
blessed to have him as a mentor for the kids.”
Squier is chairman of the English Department
where he teaches advanced placement language,
composition and rhetoric to juniors and AP literature,
fiction, drama and poetry to seniors. The
past two years he has been chairman of the World
Languages Department, overseeing instruction in
French, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.
Like college professors, Squier keeps after-school
office hours for individual and group tutoring. “It’s
a steady stream,” he says. “We meet one-on-one.
That is the model. We reinforce things, whatever they
want. Sometimes, they just want to continue the debate.
We build relationships outside the classroom. I
work with seniors, helping them craft resumes, write
college essays for admissions and ACT and SAT test
prep. Luckily, we are immune from FCAT.”
“He is not only a fantastic teacher of English but he
plays an important role for our upperclassmen in particular
as they get ready for college, the next step in
their lives,” says Nathan Washer, head of the Upper
School. “He has always made great connections with
our older students. They respect him and his opinion.
He has a strong, varied experience working in independent
schools. He develops a real love and interest
for literature and the use of the English language.”
Squier’s four classes have from 11 to 18 students.
“The great luxury at a small, independent school
is you can teach around a seminar-style table,” he
says. “It is pretty good for the exchange of ideas,
the Socratic Method. We do a lot of daily reading >>
GREG GARDNER
English teacher Greg Squier says he has read most of the hundreds of books on the
four large shelves in his Pine School classroom. Some books are for teaching, some are
from his personal collection and some are gifts in the queue for future reading.
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