Profile Information
Ben Owens
North Carolina, United States
Roles
Educator
Levels
Grade 9 (ages 13-14), Grade 10 (ages 14-15), Grade 11 (ages 15-16), Grade 12 (ages 16-17)
Subjects
Mathematics, Science, Educational Support
About me
After earning degrees in physics and mechanical engineering, respectively, from North Georgia University and Georgia Tech, I spent a 20-year engineering career in manufacturing and R&D locations across the country. Doing so allowed him to see first-hand the significant need to improve our approaches to education and is what ultimately led me to leave the corporate world, get my MAT from Marshall University, and become a public school teacher in the rural mountains of Western North Carolina.
I then taught physics and mathematics at Tri-County Early College for 11 years, where I was able to not only hone my teaching craft and lead the school's efforts to implement innovative systems for personalized, experiential learning; competency-based learning; and school-wide, cross-grade/cross-curricular project based learning. This unique experience allowed me to do rather well* as a teacher for 11 years and now I want to help others do the same as a freelance ed consultant and author of the book, "Ope Up, Education!" (to be published in the Fall of 2018).
Ben was a 2014 National Teacher Fellow for Hope Street Group, the 2016 North Carolina Science Technology & Mathematics Center’s 9-16 Outstanding Educator, the 2017 Bridging the Gap Distinguished Teacher in STEM Education, a Center for Teaching Quality Virtual Community Organizer, and a member of the Teacher Advisory Council for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.