Hey Panthers! We know many of you are working hard this summer taking courses and getting ahead or catching up. That’s why we wanted to take a moment to spotlight those teachers making it possible.

To kick off this month’s Teacher Spotlight series, we are featuring a summer school adjunct teacher who loves to bring the heat when it comes to the subject of social studies. Meet Heather Berlin (also known as the “Economics Guru”).

Heather Berlin, social studies adjunct instructor

Ms. Berlin has been teaching for eight years and has been with Primavera Online High School for three and a half of those. Her mom was a high school teacher and her father a businessman. Ms. Berlin says even though she went to college and majored in finance/business, she always knew she wanted to teach.

“When I graduated I worked in accounting but knew I had always wanted to become a teacher like my mom. Luckily, I was able to combine the two loves of business and teaching. For the last eight years, I’ve been teaching Business and Economics to my favorite age of students: high school,” says Ms. Berlin.

Shortly after graduating college, Ms. Berlin’s mother passed away. She says that even though her mother never got to see her teach, there was something special that made her even more passionate about pursuing that career path.

“I found letters from previous students of hers and it’s so fun to see that we have similar methods. I know she would be happy to see me following in her and my father’s footsteps,” says Ms. Berlin.

Ms. Berlin is no stranger to high school student teaching. Whether its during the summer courses at Primavera or another season, she says the energy High School students bring makes teaching worth while.

“I like the spunk and attitude of high school students, which makes teaching fun and funny. I also really love the content that I teach and seeing the impact of those lessons like learning about taxes and understanding how credit works. It brings great joy that I’m helping students to become responsible adults in “real-world” topics,” says Ms. Berlin.

And it’s those real-life lessons that inspire her to continue her path.

“I do a lesson on taxes; what are they, and what does that mean for them. I also do a lesson on credit; how to establish and keep good credit, what does bad credit and credit payments look like,” says Ms. Berlin.

Ms. Berlin says one of the most rewarding things about teaching is  seeing the students learn and retain something from her class and move towards graduation.

  • Join the conversation, leave us a comment and tell us what you think about Ms. Berlin’s story. Also, nominate your favorite Primavera teachers and you could help them be featured in our next spotlight post!