About

Teacher, Coach, Author, Boxer

Mike Burke grew up in Skokie, Illinois, and graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BA in English. He taught at five different high schools in the Chicago suburbs and coached multiple men’s and women’s sports and activities. Since retiring as a full-time teacher in June of 2018, he has done the typical sexagenarian things such as bucket-list traveling with his wife, highlighted by a trip to the Galapagos Islands and a cruise around the Sea of Japan, and spending quality time with his children and grandchildren. He continues to announce high school basketball games, teach SAT and ACT Prep classes, and proctor AP exams. He also runs a monthly Writers’ Workshop in his building and volunteers in the iMentor program in Chicago Public Schools. He is experienced as a professional speaker, having presented at state and local conferences on athletics, classroom pedagogy, and leadership.

This website is dedicated to three passions he’s been able to indulge since retiring: Books, Boxing, and Philosophy.

Books

When I retired, I wanted to try writing (every English teacher’s dream). I’ve always been intrigued by Socrates’ dictum, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” so I decided to start there: an examined life. I focused on what helped me be a better teacher, as in a person who teaches, not just the professional educator. I zeroed in on anecdotes and people and lessons over a lifetime. What did I learn and from whom? My two books, Lessons Learned and Run, are the result of that introspection. 

Boxing

This section of the website focuses on boxing technique and learning how to both hit and hold mitts/paddles. I am an individual who needs to work continuously on his physical and mental health. Over the past forty years, the exercise I’ve found most cathartic is boxing. Please note: I haven’t actually fought a boxing match in forty years. However, my favorite two workouts every week involve hitting mitts with my amazing partner Kayla and pounding away on my buddy BOB. The content I’m sharing in this section is intended to help individuals who do any type of boxing get a better physical and mental workout by improving their technique, adding more movement, and being ambidextrous. I also want to help individuals learn to hit and hold mitts/paddles so they can be more intentional and social (holding for a partner requires that you become both coach and encourager). My dream is to run a mitts/paddles class for seniors seeking to either stave off or slow down the progress of Parkinson’s and/or dementia.

Philosophy

I have never taken my mental health for granted. There is no need to be obsessive, but there is need for purposeful reflection on my mindset and my philosophic perspective on life. Now that I am retired, I have more time to live that examined life. I have more time to think. This section includes a hodgepodge of pedagogy (applying the 4 Level Analysis to Literature, Art, and Life), creative writing and nonfiction, and philosophic musings. Some of this has been written recently. Some was done decades ago and stuffed into a now overflowing accordion folder. My goal here is to share these thoughts and practices, to invite constructive criticism, and to stimulate healthy debate.