"The secret in education lies in respecting the student."
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
― Nelson Mandela
"When educating the minds of our youth, we must not forget to educate their hearts."
― Dalai Lama
About Me:
Hello, my name is Mitchell Burdick and I am a professional mathematics educator for the State of Michigan. In December 2014, I graduated from Grand Valley State University with my Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Biology for Secondary Education. I have my Michigan Standard Teaching Certificate in Secondary Mathematics (EX) and currently renewed my teaching certificate in 2021. I am currently the Beach Middle School Premier Building Substitute Teacher for Chelsea School District, which I have had this role for the last 3 years and concluding my 6th year in education profession.
During my undergraduate, I completed my Teacher Assistant role at Muskegon High School in the Winter 2013. I taught Algebra to freshmen in Mr. Mike Dodge's classroom. I became a substitute teacher for Kent and Ottawa counties to gain more experiences as an educator for Winter/Spring 2014. During Fall 2014, I completed my Student Teaching in Mrs. Kathy Rocky’s 7th and 8th grade classroom in Jenison Jr. High. I taught 7th grade Pre-Algebra, 8th grade Algebra, and High School Geometry. After graduating in December 2014, I continued to substitute teach in both Calhoun and Ottawa counties with EDUStaff, LLC to gain more experience in the classroom before looking for my first full time teaching position.
I have taught High School Mathematics in the state of Michigan for 2.5 years and have subbed 3.5 years in classrooms. During my first year (2015-2016 school year) at Dream Academy, which was in Benton Harbor, MI, I taught Trigonometry and Geometry to 10th, 11th and 12th graders. During this time, I was inducted into the Leona's Group Teaching Hall of Fame: Class of 2015-2016, for recognition of my effectiveness and positive influence of my student’s educational experience during my first year of teaching in Benton Harbor, MI. I was nominated by building's administration team, which included Mr. Lacey James, Mr. Thomas James and Mr. Glenn Woodley. In my 2nd year at Dream Academy, I taught Trigonometry/Pre-Calculus, Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry and Consumer's Math. I also was a member of the buildings school improvement and leadership team during both years at Dream Academy. I taught at Dream Academy for 2 years before moving to Ann Arbor, MI to pursue a new teaching career at Ida High School.
During my undergraduate, I completed my Teacher Assistant role at Muskegon High School in the Winter 2013. I taught Algebra to freshmen in Mr. Mike Dodge's classroom. I became a substitute teacher for Kent and Ottawa counties to gain more experiences as an educator for Winter/Spring 2014. During Fall 2014, I completed my Student Teaching in Mrs. Kathy Rocky’s 7th and 8th grade classroom in Jenison Jr. High. I taught 7th grade Pre-Algebra, 8th grade Algebra, and High School Geometry. After graduating in December 2014, I continued to substitute teach in both Calhoun and Ottawa counties with EDUStaff, LLC to gain more experience in the classroom before looking for my first full time teaching position.
I have taught High School Mathematics in the state of Michigan for 2.5 years and have subbed 3.5 years in classrooms. During my first year (2015-2016 school year) at Dream Academy, which was in Benton Harbor, MI, I taught Trigonometry and Geometry to 10th, 11th and 12th graders. During this time, I was inducted into the Leona's Group Teaching Hall of Fame: Class of 2015-2016, for recognition of my effectiveness and positive influence of my student’s educational experience during my first year of teaching in Benton Harbor, MI. I was nominated by building's administration team, which included Mr. Lacey James, Mr. Thomas James and Mr. Glenn Woodley. In my 2nd year at Dream Academy, I taught Trigonometry/Pre-Calculus, Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry and Consumer's Math. I also was a member of the buildings school improvement and leadership team during both years at Dream Academy. I taught at Dream Academy for 2 years before moving to Ann Arbor, MI to pursue a new teaching career at Ida High School.
After teaching two years in Benton Harbor, I moved to Ann Arbor, MI and taught one semester at Ida High School in Fall 2018. I taught Pre-Calculus, Algebra 2 and Math Lab. After my teaching experience at Ida High School, I returned to work for EDUStaff, LLC as a substitute teacher in Washtenaw County. The following school districts are where I have substitute taught from Winter 2018 to Fall 2019: Saline Area Schools, Chelsea School District, Ann Arbor Public School, Dexter Community Schools, Milan Area Schools, Manchester Community Schools, and Ypsilanti Community Schools. During the 2018-2019 school year, I was awarded the "Making the Difference" award from being highly effective substitute teacher for EDUStaff and being recognized for my hard working during my subbing in Saline Area Schools. For the 2019-2020 school year, I am a Premier Substitute Teacher at Beach Middle School in Chelsea School District. I am subbing in various classrooms in their district to fill in the missing gaps and filling in their positions that need to fill in their district each school day. I have been in the premier substitute teacher role for Beach Middle School for the last 1.5 years, where I am a co-teacher for every teacher in my building and have access to their PowerSchool Learning pages whenever they are absent from teaching. Recently, I was award Beach Middle School Staff Appreciation Award for my flexibility this school year since I have fulfilled many different hats this school to help our building run smoothly when teacher and paraprofessional absences arise. Also, Beach Middle School gave positive feedback to EDUStaff, LLC about my work performance this school and how influential I am with my fellow educators and students as well as my flexibility. My principal explained to my employer that I am his most valuable teacher this school year and I am an integral their success during this challenging school year. I am actively searching for a full-time mathematics position in either a middle school or high school in Michigan as well as working towards my Master’s degree from Eastern Michigan University.
When the COVID-19 Pandemic interrupted our educational learning last year, I was laid off from both of my jobs since EDU Staff was not going to pay me during this time. During this time, I thought I was never going to be stepping into another classroom since I was a premier substitute teacher for Chelsea School District. At first, this was a challenging time for me since there was a lot of unknowns for me. The greatest challenge for me during the start of the pandemic was not knowing if I was ever going to steeping foot in another building. I missed teaching my middle school students.
During August 2020, the assistant superintendent of Chelsea School Districts, Marcus Kaemming, and Beach Middle School principal, Mr. Angel, reached out to be to see if I was interested returning to their staff as a building substitute teacher for the 2020-2021 school year. Even through the 2020-2021 school year was one of most challenging school years for educators and students as well as facing many unknowns in what type of format we will be teaching to our students, I found myself reconnected with my passion of teaching to the youth and why I decided to become an educator in the first place. During the 2020-2021 school year, the most difficult part of me teaching virtual, hybrid and face to face, was to fully engage with my virtual students through zoom. I feel at times I was just teaching to myself since many of them did not have their camera on and/or they wouldn't respond to my questions when I directed the question to them. Over the course of the 2020-2021 school year, I feel I become a better educator teaching to my students to any format since both students, and I adapted our practices with new teaching and learning norms through Zoom, PowerSchool Learning, Google Applications, and Showbie. I become more familiar with implementing new technologies and questions style in the new teaching norm during a pandemic. The 2020-2021 school was a long marathon, and I am extremely thankful to have had wonderful teaching support system from my building as well as from my friends and family. Most importantly, being able to teach to my students once again in person/online has helped me rekindle my passion for teaching since I know my students look up to as a role model and as a lifelong learner. During Summer 2021, I renewed my mathematics teaching certification for the state of Michigan in hopes of finding a prefect teaching position for me.
During the 2021-2022 school year, I continued my Premier Substitute Teacher role for Chelsea School District as well was a long-term mathematics substitute teacher for Algebra 1, 8th grade Mathematics and Real-World Mathematics, where I took over the classroom for two months to cover a teacher’s medical absence and followed daily lessons plan with the other the math teacher on the other 8th grade team. This was a great experience for me to refresh my daily teaching routines, teaching expectations/practice, and actively communicating to parents about their child’s academic work and behavior in the classroom as a full-time long-term substitute teacher during a leave of absence for a teacher. I exceeded the expectations for the building under my leadership in each mathematics course and was acknowledged for my hard work and dedication to the role from my building’s administration and co-teacher for planning the 8th grade math courses for our students at Beach Middle School. For the remaining of the 2021-2022 school year, I have continued to fill in for teacher absences on the daily for my building with high and clear expectations for my students as well as following the teacher’s materials and lessons to the exact detail they left for me. I am looking forward to having my own middle and/or high school mathematics and science classroom in the near future. My teaching experiences have shaped me who I am as an educator for our 21st century students to become active learners in our communities as global citizens.
In my educational folio, you will find my example lessons, unit plans, various assessments tools and other assignments that I was able to use in my classroom at Muskegon High School, Jenison Jr. High and from my College of Education courses. My folio also includes my classroom management plan and unit plans for my Biology minor as well.
Please spend some time browsing my site, looking at my teaching philosophies for mathematics and biology as well as several lessons, activities and reflections I have done during my teaching assisting, student teaching and full-time teaching. Thanks for stopping in!
In my educational folio, you will find my example lessons, unit plans, various assessments tools and other assignments that I was able to use in my classroom at Muskegon High School, Jenison Jr. High and from my College of Education courses. My folio also includes my classroom management plan and unit plans for my Biology minor as well.
Please spend some time browsing my site, looking at my teaching philosophies for mathematics and biology as well as several lessons, activities and reflections I have done during my teaching assisting, student teaching and full-time teaching. Thanks for stopping in!