Karen Erwin, Math Teacher
Beaufort High School
photos by CHARLOTTE BERKELEY
Family: Karen Erwin has been married to her husband, Blane, for 28 years. They have three daughters: Lexi (27) is married to Kwam, and they have two daughters, Zara (4 years) and Marley (5 months) and live in Atlanta. Taylor (26) also lives in Atlanta and Hannah (23) lives in Denver.
Education: University of Maryland – College Park
BS Finance and BS Economics
Number of Years Teaching: 18 years, 13 years in Texas and 5 years in South Carolina
What Do You Teach: High School Math Beaufort High School
Prior Grades Or Subjects You’ve Taught: I’ve only taught High School Math
Current School Activities/Clubs: Fellowship of Christian Athletes, EAST Tutoring program; Varsity Volleyball Coach
Why did you become a teacher?
I wanted to be more involved in my kids’ lives, needed to work but not corporate (that I had been doing); coached junior high and high school – LOVED IT; substituted for high school math and fell in love…with teaching and the thought of having the same schedule as my kiddos.
What Do You Like Most About Teaching?
I LOVE seeing kids succeed. I teach a pretty hard subject. I love seeing kids learn how to work hard, push through the hard, and succeed. I love seeing the struggle. I love challenging kids and seeing light bulbs come on. I love the relationships that are formed in teaching. I love hearing back from kids that the next class they take isn’t quite as hard as it was cracked up to be.
What Do You Like Least About Teaching?
COVID! It’s imperative to be able to form relationships with kids to teach. Only seeing kids twice a week … with a mask covering half of our faces … isn’t conducive to that. I also don’t like anything that doesn’t help my kids. So … any “extra” stuff teachers do that doesn’t directly impact my students or help my students is kind of frustrating.
What do you do to keep your students engaged in learning?
I love doing cooperative learning. I like doing cooperative structures with non-academic subjects.
If you weren’t a teacher, what do you think you’d be doing?
There are SO many things I’d like to do still. I’d like to be certified in ASL. I’d like to get a masters in brain study and how everyone’s brains work differently…especially academically. I’d like to own my own craft store. I’d love to get a masters in Greek and Hebrew Bible study.
Funny Teacher Story
Within the first days I do a 4 truths and a lie. The kids ALWAYS pick that I worked in the Pentagon and their faces are priceless when they find out that it’s true. Also, I was having a hard time with problems that involved perfect squares. I couldn’t figure out why so I had each kid write down the perfect squares that they knew. MORE THAN half the kids drew little tiny squares on their piece of paper and handed them in. It was then that I realized I had a bit of a bigger problem! LOL.
