Ross M. Burkhardt
1998 Inductee

Shoreham-Wading River, New York
Retired
Total years as classroom teacher: 35

He helped found the Shoreham-Wading River Middle School, a national model of middle level excellence. "Mr. B’s" classroom is a cacophony of visual stimuli -- movie posters, laminated front pages, magazine covers, sports heroes, music groups, quotation, and faces of the famous and not-so-famous. All decorated by the outgoing eighth grade for the next class to come. Couches and easy chairs, plus a fridge, microwave, CD player and radio add creature comforts. Students "strike the set" at the close of the year to help them understand their middle school career was all but over. 

His teams begin the year with a three-day field trip to the Poconos for canoeing, orienteering, square dancing, hiking, and bonding. In June the team visits Boston for three days of celebration and closure.  His students are noted for their multi-media historical creations like "What Does it Mean. . .To Be Fourteen." 

"To have a son that has learned some Distinctions and Lessons Learned about himself and others is, in many ways, far more important than knowing an equation or academic facts. Facts can be looked up in a book. Being a sensitive human being cannot. Teamwork, cooperation, caring and sharing will take these kids much farther than any one piece of information ever will." -- "Colin’s mom"

"Mr. Burkhardt’s classroom was like none I had ever been in. There were posters and pictures all over the walls, and not a single desk. Every picture, poster, and sign that hung on the walls of his room carried a story or saying, and every story carried something to make us smile, something to help us learn. . .Because of this approach on learning, I still haven’t forgotten anything I was taught in room 505." -- Jessica Cepelak, former student

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