She's the ball of sunshine in room D125

Bright, cheerful, and a fun woman to have as an English teacher. Always beaming with happiness; making her classroom a comfortable, positive environment. Some might even say she’s the “light” in the classroom. During class hours, if you’re near her classroom, you’d hear her always mostly speaking into her microphone as she teaches. She’s always enthusiastic and energetic when she teaches but also leads with genuine concern and care.

But don’t think that just because she’s kind, you can take advantage of her. Because she knows when to put you in your place when she has to.  Yes, she may be a kindhearted woman, but she takes her job very seriously. And her job is to make sure her students are learning the right materials on time before her students go off on their own in life.

If you couldn’t guess who she is, she is Dr. Burns. An English teacher that works in room D125. A brilliant teacher to have as a person you can look up to and talk to her about anything on your mind.

One of the most enjoyable things about teaching is that she gets to meet all her students and get to know them a little better. Whether it is either by talking to them or simply observing them. But mostly talking to them to really know the student.

“Having that kind of relationship with them, seeing where they’re going, and their education, and what their future holds is the most enjoyable thing.” She said, “And then the second most enjoyable thing is that it also helps me to remember my subject area and the things that I enjoy reading about and writing about. So it helps me strengthen my own education”.

Dr. Burns is a determined woman who is dedicated to her teaching. Always happy to help students and making sure to make her lessons fun yet challenging at the same time. And for students who are less motivated than most; she makes sure to have a plan B for them. And if that doesn’t work, then she goes onto plan C.

“I would describe my teaching style as organized and chaotic”. She said, “So I organized lots of things and made a plan A, plan B, and plan C. And people can kinda pick and choose how they get there”. 

Paige Mcfadden, a sophomore student in her English class, said that her class helped her with her writing skills. Having a fantastic score on an essay about one of the lessons that was taught by Dr. Burns.

“ I would describe her as a ball of sunshine”. She said, “It feels like she's happy a lot of the time. And she assigns a lot of work. But it’s not super difficult. Just a lot.”

Some students, even teachers, who really know Dr. Burns would agree that there's a lot of interesting facts about her. She has a  PHD in education, a master degree in children literature, and an international scholarship to study in London. She also grew up in Oklahoma and was a teacher in a modeling school. She was even a model herself.

“Some more facts about me is that I got married after I finished 10th grade. I married my high school sweetheart. I have two kids. My daughter is an actress and my son is a musician. I was married 16 years and got a divorce when I turned just 32”. She said,

 “In my graduating class in high school, I had about 25 people. So I started kindergarten with those same people and graduated in the 12th grade. It was a tight-nit community; very small town. So Konawaena is like an enormous school to me compared to what I experienced.”

Lexie Sasaki-Lindsey, a junior student at Konaweana who had her for 2 years as a teacher, said that one fun fact she knew about Dr. Burns is that her daughter was in a short film that she got to watch in her English class. She said it was really well-filmed and that her daughter’s acting was pretty good.

“ I’d describe her teaching methods as challenging, but in a good way.” She said, “ she is a very up beat and energetic teacher. She likes to challenge her students but also in a way that she is lenient with them and kind. Because she understands her students have other work and I like that she’s that kind of teacher”.

Dr. Burns enjoys collaborating with other teachers. But it is the best when she gets to just hang out with them since most teachers are busy most of the time. She loves it when she gets to have small talk with other teachers whether it is before school, after school, or even on breaks.

And before this school year ends, she has a goal that she wishes will be accomplished successfully. 

“My goal this school year was to really get this whole 20 weeks instead of 40 weeks of teaching organized. So I was used to having a lot more time with my students, a whole year. And I get to know them better and we can work and get to know each other”. She said, 

“But in half the time, there's less time for some of the social stuff that would happen or even some of the activities and assignments that made my classes a little more social. We've had to cut those a little bit because we just don’t have a whole year. You just can’t do the same amount of stuff in 20 weeks that you did in 40 weeks. So, I think my goal for this year was just to figure out how to still make my curriculum engaging and social and still cover material that we needed to learn.”