Patrick Burke Special Ed Social Studies Teacher And Cross Country Coach at Elwood Middle School for Teen Ink Educator of the Year

Mr. Patrick Burke is one of the best coaches/teachers I have ever met. Mr. Burke teaches Special Ed Social Studies for grades six to eight and coaches the Elwood Middle School Cross Country team (both genders), and helps people in the Elwood Middle School.  I believe Mr. Burke should be featured in the Teen Ink Educator of The Year 2018 June edition not just as a teacher, but as a coach, person. As well as just being a respectful and kind person, Mr. Burke is one of those people who will help anyone who needs it.  And here's why I believe he should be in the Teen Ink magazine.
        

Mr. Burke is very respectful to his students and will always look out for them. For example, I and one of my friends on the cross country team were running in the hallway as part of the warm-up drill after school hours, and we were goofing off and I and ended up kicking him by accident. That friend of mine was hurt and he helped him stretch and help him feel better and then he made sure that I never goofed off roughly and ending up hurting anyone ever again, and I haven't since that. Also, every day when I walk by Mr. Burke, he always asks me how I'm doing and makes sure I'm feeling okay. Mr. Burke tries his hardest to help his students and make sure they are safe and will always support them.

Mr. Burke teaches kids daily and he helps them both run and to understand the topic of social studies. For example, Mr. Burke specifically taught me how to run and to lose less stamina and this was very important to my season of cross country. He also helped my friend understand why slavery is cruel and horrible in social studies. And that's what a teacher does, they teach a student what they need or would like to know. Mr. Burke does his job, has fun doing it, does it well and makes who is being taught have fun learning it. A few of my friends and classmates say that he is a great teacher and that he makes learning enjoyable. And that's great because there aren't a lot of teachers that make learning fun. I believe they should be more like him and when I have a job I want to help people and have fun doing it and that's what everyone should do their job.

Mr. Burke is a great leader and very good at directing people and showing people what they are doing wrong.If they are he will direct them to do the right thing so they do what they wanted or need to do. For example, Mr. Burke taught me that if you put your head down while you're stretching and face the floor, the stretch is more efficient and therefore you feel stretched more than before. He also taught us that when we run to pump our arms to help get the body moving and that helped everyone on the team for the whole season. Once I was doing the warm-up wrong and he showed me how to do it the right way and then everyone who ran with me kind of caught on because they didn't understand it either. Mr. Burke took charge and taught everyone something they didn’t actually know, and it was very helpful.

Mr. Burke helps all kinds of people in all kinds of ways. Mr. Burke teaches both boys and girls special ed and non-special ed kids social studies, stretching and styles of running. He affects many people in middle school in a very positive way teaching two completely different subjects and two different focuses. And this helps both the kids, teachers, and parents; the kids understand what they do and don't complain to the parent so the parent doesn't have to listen to the child's complaint and the teacher can give the student a better grade and that's how being a good teacher helps a lot of people. An only child has two parents so that ultimately means when one student learns it affects three people's lives, not including Mr. Burke’s. Let’s say one class he helps twenty-two kids that actually helps sixty-six people and that's what a teacher can and should do. And in cross country, he helps kids run faster and stretch out cramps. Improving kids’ lives daily is what Mr. Burke does and that's amazing to me. He is helping kids for four to seven hours a day (usually) five days a week. And at our age we need help with a lot and even if it's just a few hours a day it still helps a lot with whatever they need help with doing or understanding.

For all of the good things that Mr. Burke does and has done for all of us at Elwood Middle School, I personally want to thank Mr. Burke. And I wish almost all of us could be a bit more like Mr. Burke because he is an ordinary guy who just will help anyone, show support for them and Mr. Burke motivates us to do our best. That's what we should all do provide support and encourage and help each other. I just want to say “Thank you, Mr. Burke! We really appreciate what you do for us here at Elwood Middle School.”