Teacher of the Year in Cypress Texas

Franklin Burns is a Rockstar Teacher!

Here’s what Cindy, a colleague of Mr Burns at Saint Tower Academy had to say about him. Truly amazing!

Franklin L. Burns is an exceptional teacher and person. He opened up his own school in 2007 to aid the community and those families in need. He did not even take a paycheck the first 12 months because he believed in the cause and saw the vision of the school. He is dubbed the “child whisperer” by his peers because he can take a child that every other person has had difficulty disciplining and educating and make that child thrive in all academia. He holds seminars regarding child behavior and positive discipline in the community. He has undoubtedly the most positive attitude and has done many hours of community service. He deserves Quickschools Teacher of the Year Award.

Mr Burns – you rock!

We then asked Mr Burns a few questions…

How did you get into teaching?

When I was in high school, I was in a special education class for my behavior. I was a very smart child but the typical teacher was not able to help me reach my potential. Due to the circumstances, this lead to a lot of frustration and very low grades in high school. Once I was placed in the special education classroom I had a teacher named Mrs. Cross that saw the potential in me. She was able to help me improve my grades and my behavior. I always wanted to pay this forward to other students and instill her passion that she gave me for education into students with special needs. I finished my degree through University of Houston Downtown and went through the alternative certification process to become a teacher in special education. After my second year of teaching, I wanted to improve my teaching skills and went back to college to obtain a master’s degree in special education. When I received my master’s degree in special education, I opened a school for students with special needs. The goal of the school is to give the students with special needs the educational experiences that they would not receive in the self-contained classroom. I have learned a lot since opening the school such as leadership skills, chemistry, astronomy, biology, and the hardships of opening a school. I have truly enjoyed working with all the students and parents at the school.

What do you hope for your students?

The educational goal for my students is for them to no longer have the intellectual disability label. Many of the students have intelligence quotient (IQ) below 70 and I would like the students to become more educationally intelligent. I would love to see my students improve in all subject areas but especially in reading. I believe reading is the most important subject and teaching the students to have reading as recreation is an important skill for learning. Another goal for my students is for them to become contributors to the community and society.

Anything you’d like to share with us? e.g. favorite moments, etc.

I have five dogs, four cats, two goats, two ducks, one amazon parrot, and one horse. I have a tutoring and a health and beauty business that helps fund the school. I am currently being tutored by the founder of Morning Glory Ranch, a hippo-therapy facility for students with autism. I’m also in the process on working on my second master’s degree in Board Certified & Behavior Analyst (BCBA). My wife is the preschool programs for children’s with disabilities (PPCD) curriculum coach for a large school district near Houston Texas. During my free time I like to ride my bicycle, weight lift, and read books.