My Education Story                                                  

By Shelia F. Burlock

December 6, 2022

 

I remember as a little girl playing rock teacher and baking mud pies and oh my, jumping Double Dutch Rope all day long! Little did I know at the time that these childhood interests would make a lifetime imprint on my life and in some ways define what I love today.

I love teaching. I love baking and I love exercising.

However, my love for education really started with my parents. My mother dear Ethel Lee and my daddy Johnny B. were natural born teachers. They taught me what they loved. My mother loved baking. My father was good with working with his hands. They both used direct instruction. They modeled and used shared learning, essential vocabulary, scaffolding content with guided and independent practice. Although they never realized it; they were my best teachers. My dad had his favorite saying- “Now you’re thinking like a Harris!” (Meaning now you have it!) This was the highest paid compliment one could have gotten from him. 

I also had two older cousins who were superb educators and who piqued my interest in teaching- Their names-Mae Alice Tucker a high school home economics teacher and Pauline Kelley, an elementary school teacher. They were both my childhood heroes. I often thought to myself that when I grow up, I want to be just like them. 

But what clenched it for me to fall in love with education was my fifth grade Chicago Public Schools teacher, Mrs. Pitts. 

Mrs. Pitts always said to me, “Shelia you’re going to be something when you grow up!” 

She liked to have me recite poetry in class especially Langston Hughes- our favorite. And my favorite poem was “I TOO ".   Mrs. Pitts' belief in me that I too could do anything THAT I set my mind to along with the dynamic expression of teaching I saw her do, made me fall in love with education. 

As a child growing up in Chicago and attending Chicago Public Schools, I never imagined that my career journey would take me from working as a home schooler, pre-school teacher, day care director, public school elementary and middle school teacher, and finally as a licensed administrator within three school districts and in two states.  My career is pretty eclectic spanning from working in diverse educational settings-in Private Schools, Christian Schools, traditional Public Schools, Urban and Rural schools and in Charter Schools. 

My family has been my inspiration through each stage of my Edu- journey. My family are my heroes especially my husband of 41 years Donald Burlock Sr. He has been my lion- always with me to provide, protect and promote me. My son, Donald; daughter-in-law, Debbie; and my two daughters, Melissa and Sylvia are my ongoing encouragers- always seeing the best in me. To be a successful educator you need a support system, and this is who my family is.

I love to approach learning as an adventure or a discovery for students to explore learning tasks according to their interests. I used to have my own children work on authentic real world projects related to what we now call STEM and STEAM because I knew that if they investigated and created solutions to problems that arose then they would acquire and attain their learning for a lifetime. I still have the ant farm that my own kids navigated and explored when I homeschooled them. This kind of sustained learning has stayed with them and even shaped the trajectory of career choices they do now.  It inspires me to see kids loving learning and taking ownership of their learning. This is exciting for me to see because when a child loves to learn and asks questions and explores, and builds, models and evaluates and explains what they learn- then the sky's the limit. This gives me chill bumps to see kids excited to learn. 

Within all the school settings I’ve worked, I always want students to know that they Belong here. That this is a safe place for them to be inquisitive, to research, to explore and to create.  It’s important for kids to have a sense of belonging because then they believe that they can achieve, succeed and excel because they work from a place of safety. 

One of my goals for students is to cultivate and maintain a growth mindset, which means that they have the frame of thinking that they can try any challenge and get good at anything they desire if they put in the effort, practice and perseverance. And that their talents and skills can be developed with grit which is learning how to push past obstacles and how to gain from the pain. Yes, it’ll be hard even difficult and challenging but don’t quit because in the end, you will gain and grow and improve and succeed!

This all leads to sustainability. 

So, my goals are 

Growth +Skill + Grit=Sustainability

 

 

What’s Your Edu-Story?

 

 

Quote for the minute: I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do. by Helen Keller

 March-April , 2022

What is a Lifesaver?

 This question will come to mind often when you’re working to serve others in any field or sphere of influence. And it’s another way of asking, “What can I do now to make a difference?”

The revival begins with the individual. Do not allow your creative energy and your plethora of ideas to lie dormant beneath a fallow heart. Instead cultivate a rigorous attitude and break through the hard crust of doubt and fear to see what a difference you can make!

Allow your words to ring out with prosody as you help to institute even a ripple of change.

We Are All Needed.  We all can make a difference. There is no room on the side lines.  There is only space on the Team.

So, realize the opportunity you have in materializing a desire for lifelong learning in others. Contemplate and reflect on what you can do now. The revival begins with the individual, and then the reward will come.

by Shelia F. Burlock

 

 JANUARY -FEBRUARY 2022

“Positioning ourselves to make a difference in the lives of children is the

“Energized Paradigm” of thinking we should have as we move forward this school year.  Education is all about moving forward. Education is all about positioning ourselves to make a difference in students’ lives.” 

S..F  BURLOCK

 

Positioning ourselves to make a difference in the lives of children is the “Energized Paradigm” of thinking we should have as we move forward this school year.  We must reframe, refocus, and recharge our performance and position ourselves to prepare through professional development in order to give the best for our students.  We must position ourselves in creating possibilities; in building new relationships with staff, students and parents; in anticipating positive and productive change.  We must position ourselves in hoping for progress, with a new attitude to persevere; to collaborate; to grow and to empower the world around us. Education is all about moving forward. Education is all about positioning ourselves to make a difference in students’ lives.

Educators as we move forward this school year, proceed with the expectancy that we will make a difference in the lives of our children. Let’s move forward with intensity and intentionality that our input is a significant and integral part of the whole.  We all need one another like the rungs in a ladder, in order to climb and move forward toward increasing the productivity of our school’s learning community.  Let’s continue to move forward this school year, looking ahead and positioning ourselves to make a difference in each child’s life.                                                           ~Mrs. Shelia F. Burlock~

Martin Luther King, Jr. QUOTES

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

 “Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service...You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.”

“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.”

 

“Today, is a great day to make a difference for someone. 'I have a dream'.

 

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”