Last week, Edina High School Chemistry and AP Environmental Science teacher Eric Burfeind was awarded the FOX 9 Top Teacher Award, an annual award given to nine teachers in the state ofMinnesotaorWisconsin.
Along with a plaque commending his achievement, Mr. Burfiend won a Subway party for 100 of his friends and nine hundred dollars to put towards the Edina Field Based Science Program, a summer program led by Mr. Burfiend that takes students up to Lake of the Woods to camp and make observations of the ecosystems that inhabitNorthern Minnesota.
What is your teaching philosophy?
B: I try to get kids excited about the topics that I teach and then try to keep them interested throughout the school year. I try to bring energy and excitement into my delivery of material and try to have cool in class demos to show them to really make class engaging. I really believe that it is my job get kids interested in learning. I figure that if I give them things that are exciting to learn about then they’ll want to explore the topic more and end up learning more.
In what way do you hope to make a lasting impact on your students?
B: I really just want my students to take what they do in class and relate it to what they see in the real world. Some of my past students, mostly those who took environmental science, have said that the course has opened their eyes to what’s truly going on around them.
How do you believe your classroom is run differently from other teachers?
B: I don’t think it is. I run class like I believe many teachers do; there are a lot of notes, especially in AP environmental science, lots of labs, homework checks and demos. It’s a pretty standard classroom setting.
In the Field Based Science Program, what specifically will the $900 won by the school go to funding?
B: Half of the money will be given to a student as a scholarship for the program and the other half will go towards purchasing new equipment.
Mr. Burfiend was nominated for the award by Pat Meyers, a paraprofessional that works with students in his 5th hour chemistry class.
According to the Fox 9 news site, winners were chosen based off of the teacher’s “impact on students’ lives, the teaching profession and community involvement detailed on the entry form.”