Karen Burnett

Sheridan science teacher named Secondary Teacher of the Year

Karen Burnett was recently named the Sheridan School District’s Secondary Teacher of the Year. Burnett, who received the award at the Grant County Chamber of Commerce Banquet on Feb. 10, has taught at Sheridan for the past six years. She said the award was “very humbling.”
Karen Burnett was recently named the Sheridan School District’s Secondary Teacher of the Year. Burnett, who received the award at the Grant County Chamber of Commerce Banquet on Feb. 10, has taught at Sheridan for the past six years. She said the award was “very humbling.”

Karen Burnett, the recipient of this year’s Sheridan School District’s Secondary Teacher of the Year award, never really considered becoming a teacher. The job just kind of fell into her lap.

“Growing up in Montana, I was constantly outside, as the natural world has always fascinated me,” Burnett said. “I wanted to do something that would be science-based. I wanted to do grasses, soil, etc.

“I wanted to do land recognition work.”

Her dad, Jack Losensky, was a fire ecologist. She worked for a number of years for a hazardous-waste consulting firm, but then she married her husband, David, and her focus shifted to being a stay-at-home mom and wife.

“When my kids were at home, we were doing all kinds of science things,” she said. “Elementary teachers are teaching so many different things; science is not always important.

“So I went to my son’s second-grade teacher and asked if they minded if I came in and taught a lesson.”

Burnett would go about once a month to teach the second-graders and give them something to do. That’s when the itch to become a teacher came in.

“We did a lot of lessons on sharing natural resources, on coloration and how animals use it to hide,” she said. “We learned about grass and different kinds of flowers, just basic types of things.”

After she was convinced that she wanted to become a substitute teacher, Burnett eventually began teaching in Oklahoma after receiving her certification. She has been a teacher for 11 years, with the last six at Sheridan High School.

She said receiving the Teacher of the Year award has been humbling.

“That my peers recognize what I do, it is sort of nice to receive that recognition for what I do in the classroom,” Burnett said.

She and her family moved to Sheridan after her husband relocated to Little Rock for his job as an engineer for CenterPoint Energy.

“We wanted to live in a smaller town, so we bought a house here, and they eventually hired me,” she said.

“Mrs. Burnett is a highly effective teacher and a leader on our high school campus,” said Jerrod Williams, Sheridan School District superintendent.

“Her students consistently score higher than both the state and global averages on annual Advanced Placement exams,” Williams said in a statement. “She is a major reason our high school AP program has been so successful in recent years.

“I am pleased to see her recognized. She is very deserving of this honor.”

Burnett received the award at the Grant County Chamber of Commerce Banquet on Feb. 10.

“I think I have a reputation that my kids learn a lot and do very well on the AP tests that they take,” she said. “I have a reputation for preparing the kids well for the next steps that they are going on.

“Other teachers become aware of what is going on in my class, and I guess that’s why I was nominated. I don’t really know.”

Burnett received a Bachelor of Science degree in range management from Montana State University in Bozeman in 1984 and a master’s degree from Texas A&M University in College Station in 1986.

She teaches Pre-AP Biology, AP Biology and AP Environmental Science for 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders at Sheridan.

“I try to make the lessons pertinent to them, activities that try to bring it home to what they are learning,” Burnett said. “I am constantly changing things up so that I am not constantly doing the same thing year after year because I get bored, too.”

She said one of her favorite assignments is having students write a story titled “As the Cell Turns,” centralizing on the cell cycle.

“It can also be a reality show or a game show, as long as they have characters that match the different stages of the cell cycle,” Burnett said. “It’s an activity that lets them be creative.

“I love reading their stories; I really do. I come back to that one quite often.”

She said she also has students come up with rap lyrics on biogeochemical cycles.

“It has been three years since I have done that one,” she said. “I try to do different ones like that. I try to get them to buy in to what I am trying to teach.”

She said the biggest difference she has seen in education is making students think more for themselves — “making our students into thinkers instead of just ‘sit and getters,’” she said.

Roy Wilson, the Gifted and Talented and AP coordinator for the Sheridan School District, said Burnett’s deep knowledge of environmental science and biology is one of the main reasons she received the award.

“I consider myself to be extremely fortunate to have enjoyed years of professional association with Karen,” he said. “Her success rate continues to grow, and in 2017, she was honored before the school board for helping her students achieve scores higher than both state and global averages, one of only two AP teachers to do so.”

Wilson said Burnett is consistently reliable in seeking additional avenues to help students earn college credit.

“Over the past five years, Karen has produced an astounding 68 qualifying scores on AP Biology and AP Environmental Science exams,” he said. “This has resulted in students receiving college credit of at least 204 hours, saving both time and thousands of dollars for students and parents.”

Wilson said Burnett’s successful parenting skills “have transferred to her students and those youngsters who enroll in her classes.”

“They are indeed fortunate to learn from this scientist,” he said. “She helps prepare students for whatever they want to do next.

“I just feel that we are fortunate at this school to have someone with the caliber of Mrs. Burnett.”

Wilson said that last May, graduates visited teachers who they believed had made a significant difference in their lives.

“Our school’s communication director taped a heartwarming salute to Mrs. Burnett from a student who voiced deep appreciation for her helping him earn college credit,” Wilson said.

“I get a lot of feedback [from students who] will come back and say how much what they learned in my class helped them in college,” Burnett said, “that I helped prepare them for their college classes and impacted them that way.

“It is very humbling to have students come back and say that to me.”

Burnett said she is constantly trying to push her students and make them think outside the box and outside their comfort zone.

“For the AP test questions, it is more applying the knowledge to a situation versus regurgitating a fact back on the test,” she said. “I love being with the kids and watching them get it.

“I love sharing my knowledge and pushing them and getting them to do things they didn’t think they could do.

“I love my job.”

Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.

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