Julie Burgess defines “teaching from the heart.” Originally involved in the field of immunological research, Julie came to teaching as a second career after her daughter with Down Syndrome was born. “Her entry into my life introduced me to the world of individuals living with a disability and I become a passionate advocate,” shared Julie.
“Fast forward ten years and I found myself at an Eanes ISD meeting advocating for more training of general education teachers to support inclusion of students with differing abilities,” continued Julie. There was a willingness to provide the training, but a shortage of substitute teachers who would fill in while classroom teachers were at trainings. “The obvious next step was for me to become approved as a sub. I loved the students and became passionate about teaching. I went through a program to become certified as a special education teacher, elementary general education teacher, and to provide support to English as a Second Language learners.”
Julie is now in her ninth year of teaching at Eanes Elementary as a special educator. “I feel fortunate to be both a special education teacher and a parent of a child with a disability,” said Julie. “My heart is to bridge differences that may occasionally occur between these roles. It’s important to know that we both want the best for a student, but may have differing perspectives, such as yearly goals versus lifelong goals. It’s important for us to reach out to understand each other’s perspective and to work together towards effective solutions.”
Julie finds deep reward in watching her students learn and have those “aha moments” when a concept finally clicks. Now that she is seeing the process as an educator rather than a parent, she has realized how much time teaching takes. “Behind every lesson is time planning instruction and student activities down to the detail. Behind every grade is time gathering information, revising instruction to address learning gaps, as well as providing individualized reteaching and retesting, as needed. Within special education, time is required in the processes of identifying appropriate educational goals, tracking data, and reporting student progress. This documentation is necessary but takes a significant amount of time. Thankfully my background in research and clinical data management helps me with the data tracking and reporting processes,” shared Julie.
Julie is thankful to have found a wonderful team of colleagues at Eanes Elementary. “I love the team spirit and collaboration amongst colleagues, specialists, and administrators at Eanes Elementary. Our speech therapists, occupational therapist, and physical therapist are all so incredibly supportive and generous with their time to support teachers in the classroom. The success of students is our shared priority, so the collaboration is respectful, creative, and very informative. I love our team!” enthused Julie.
Julie also expresses gratitude for the generous support of the Eanes community. “Groups like the Eanes Education Foundation (EEF) and Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) play a critical role in our success. We are incredibly grateful for all they do. If someone is not affiliated with one of those organizations, I would highly encourage him/her to check them out,” suggested Julie.
The Eanes Elementary PTO started a new tradition of having classrooms “adopt” teachers and therapists when homerooms provide seasonal teacher appreciation notes or gifts. The thoughtful tradition helps to provide recognition and care for those staff members who might otherwise fall through the cracks as they are not traditional classroom teachers. “This year I am a collaborative teacher (a special education teacher teaching collaboratively in a classroom along with a general education teacher), so I have a wonderful connection with students and families in a homeroom. However, there are educators and therapists providing specialized instruction to a variety of grade levels who can be overlooked during times of recognition. I have been in that role in the past, and may be again in the future, so the concept of ‘adopting’ staff is amazing,” shared Julie. She encourages everyone to keep in mind those teachers who might not traditionally receive recognition or acknowledgement.
When not dedicating her time, heart, and energy to her students, Julie loves spending time with her family – husband Bill and three children, all graduates of Westlake High School. The family loves skiing, hiking, cooking, eating out, and enjoying downtime together. In her own free time, Julie loves listening to music, podcasts, and audible books, and participating in activities related to her faith.
