This year, in his 14th year of teaching and 4th year at BHS, Mr. Blane Burge was named Bixby High School’s Teacher of the Year! Mr. Burge teaches AP Precalculus, AP Calculus AB, and AP Calculus BC, and has the highest AP pass rate in the AP math department. Mr. Burge prefers coffee over tea, winter over summer, and dogs over cats.
Mr. Burge was led to teaching at the end of his sophomore year of college by the director of the tutoring center he worked at. This director, who was also head of the math department at Mr. Burge’s college, made a comment about his outstanding way of breaking down complex problems, and asked if he had ever considered education. He thought back to when he and his brothers “played school” when they were younger and realized that the “passion was always there.” He then changed his major and “[hasn’t] looked back.”
As it becomes harder to be a teacher, Mr. Burge stays because of his passion, and values the importance of teaching despite it being undervalued by those who don’t see all the work that goes into the profession. Through its difficulties, Mr. Burge enjoys teaching, and doesn’t think of it as work; he always calls it school.
As reported by his students (a.k.a. “smarticle particles”), his passion shines through his dedication to his students, and his frequent tutoring sessions both in the morning and after school are just one example of how he shows it. One of his students, Nora, notes that Mr. Burge “invests in your success.”
Among the many complex calculus concepts Mr. Burge has carefully taught his students, they appreciate other important lessons he has taught them. Genevieve has learned to “enjoy learning” in his class. Nora says, “he’s taught me determination,” and that failure is “not the end of the road.” Nathan has learned “to be curious,” and notes that Mr. Burge always inspires him to “test it out” when he has a question, despite knowing the answer.
When asked about Mr. Burge’s teaching style, Nathan said that he “goes through material step by step,” and “doesn’t judge anyone for being incorrect.” Genevieve reports many examples within notes. Nora says he keeps a balanced ratio of math problems to real world problems. The thoroughness of his teaching is particularly inspiring because of his busy schedule.
Mr. Burge not only teaches 6 classes a day and is the math department lead, but is also a doctoral student at OSU. Even further, he participates in many professional development pursuits, which he would recommend to other AP teachers. Such pursuits include College Board’s AP Summer Institutes and AP exam reading in the summer. Mr. Burge believes his best quality is organization, and has his many undertakings to show for it.
Mr. Burge is an excellent example of patience, passion, and structure in the classroom, and BPS is lucky to have him. If you ever step into his classroom, take notice of the plants, which he believes are calming in a room where equations are often solved. Congratulations Mr. Burge!