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player ready...Janet Burke always loved school, isn’t afraid to try new things, and promotes diversity among her students — who are nicknamed “Burkenators,” in a nod to their unity.
These are some of the factors that led to the Flossmoor School District 161 teacher being named a 2015 Golden Apple Award finalist.
Burke, 57, a third-grade teacher at Serena Hills Elementary School in Chicago Heights, is one of 30 finalists for the 2015 Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching. The finalists were chosen from among 600 nominees representing preschool through third-grade teachers in the Chicago area, according to the Golden Apple website. The winners are to be notified later this spring.
Burke was nominated by Serena Hills Elementary School Principal Shari Demitrowicz for placing her students “at the center of their learning.” Demitrowicz said Burke both challenges her students and instills leadership skills in them while celebrating and embracing diversity in the classroom.
Burke, who feels honored by the nomination, said she has School District 161 to thank for the success she has had over the past 10 years of her 35-year teaching career. Learning how to use Apple TV, incorporating iPads into classroom instruction and measuring student growth by “looking at your data” were not teaching practices Burke had used in previous public and parochial school jobs, she said.
“I was just at first overwhelmed with all the professional development (at District 161),” Burke said.
But she embraced the opportunities.
“I was like a sponge,” Burke said. “I took (in) everything they taught me. I was excited about it. I’m not afraid to try new things.”
Burke said she used the new technology and strategies with traditional subjects, approached classroom management by investing the students in their own productive and responsible behavior, and incorporated the all-important putting “students at the center of their learning” with an eye to their futures.
“The bottom line is I am preparing these kids for jobs that aren’t even out there yet,” she said.
Burke’s classroom is set up for group work, where making kids creative and innovative through the use of a higher level of questioning is of prime importance.
“I do a lot of engaged learning in here and a lot of teamwork and a lot of assessing on the standards,” she said. “It’s always based on the new Illinois state standards.”
Burke said she is free to be creative in how she guides students to learn in general, and to meet and exceed state standards, all the while using the district’s curriculum and resources to achieve goals for future leaders.
“Our district is very into 21st century learning,” Burke said.
But she hasn’t replaced traditional teaching methods and tools. Rather, she incorporates the best of the old and the new. Her students use books as well as iPads, and she said they listen respectfully to classroom instructions and fellow students’ presentations with a nod to old-fashioned manners. They turn in assignment notebooks on a daily basis, and she also employs other teaching strategies she has used for years.
Students sometimes choose the more traditional over the state-of-the-art, Burke said, and she accepts it when a student does a presentation using poster board rather than making an iMovie, for example, for “Genius Hour,” which is a daily program that calls for students to answer a question they find compelling, research it and present it to the class.
Burke said diversity is best taught in her classroom as students learn that they have to work as a team even as they allow for individual differences. They are, after all, the “Burkenators,” a nickname that gives them a sense of unity, she said. The moniker was given to Burke’s students by Michael Lawton, a former Serena Hills School music teacher and Golden Apple Scholar, Burke said.
“We love the name,” she said.
Burke’s love of teaching began in childhood, she said. Her neighbor in Sauk Village, Bonnie Wilson, was an elementary school teacher who allowed Burke to help her set up her classroom.
“I just couldn’t wait to go there,” Burke said.
Burke’s mother, Sally McGuire, also was an influence, Burke said, teaching her with a chalkboard at home instead of sending her to kindergarten, where her mother felt it was all “milk and cookies” instead of an opportunity for real learning.
Burke said she would often play the role of teacher with neighborhood children.
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“I was always the teacher, so I was probably a little bossy,” Burke said. “I just always loved school. I loved learning.”
Burke lives in Monee, where she and her husband Terry raised their son Danny and daughter Sally. She has no immediate plans to retire. In 2010, she earned a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from National Louis University and has a gifted endorsement, an area of great interest to her, she said.
She is open to new challenges.
“I am so grateful that I got all of this training to make me a better teacher,” Burke said. “Everything (District 161) taught me, I took it and I ran with it.”
Ginger Brashinger is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.