She's got a big voice in a small body.
"I'm from New York. It comes with the territory," said Orly Mondell, who tops out at 4 feet 10 inches, but who manages to keep her American government class to a controlled chaos.
At least, that's what it looks like to a visitor to New Town High School, in Owings Mills, where Mondell, who teaches ninth- to 12th-graders, recently was named Baltimore County Public Schools 2015-16 Teacher of the Year.
On a balmy spring day, Mondell paces among the 35 students in her ninth-grade class. They are reviewing material they've covered in preparation for year-end tests. One wall is plastered with charts of important U.S. Supreme Court cases; another wall, with diagrams of the branches of the federal government and what they do.
Mondell calls attention to stacks of study guides that sit on a table. As she walks around the room, she fields questions from students and highlights the important parts of a section.
"I like to challenge the students. I make the material relatable," said Mondell, who goes to great, creative lengths to achieve that goal.
She has students write rhyming raps about current events, then recite them before the class in "rap contests." She asks students to evaluate political cartoons. She has them discuss current events. In talking about the Supreme Court, she asks them to apply past groundbreaking cases to modern times.
Apparently, her teaching method succeeds.
Said Minyara Carver, a Randallstown resident and student in Mondell's ninth-grade class, "The American Constitution, the government and its policies — it's interesting but at the same time, she makes sure we understand the work. She's better than most teachers."
Quinton McNeil, a ninth-grader from Owings Mills, put it another way. "She is the first teacher who makes the class interesting and fun. I knew I had to take the [American government] class but after I got there, I wanted to be there," he said.
"You can fool around with Mrs. Mondell but she knows when to get serious," McNeil said.
Mondell, 35, a Pikesville resident, is married to Joseph Mondell, who works in business development. They have two children, ages 6 and 3. Joseph is a Baltimore native and the couple, who are Orthodox Jews, moved here from New York City in 2008 for the close-knit Jewish community. Mondell began teaching at New Town High the same year.
Mondell is a native of New Jersey. "I always knew I wanted to be a teacher," said Mondell, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. "I like to help people. It's part of the way I was raised."
Mondell earned her bachelor's degree from Yeshiva University's Stern College for Women and her master's degree from New York University before beginning her teaching career in the Bronx, one of the five boroughs that comprise New York City.
She taught United States history and constitutional law at a middle school in the south Bronx, which has the reputation of being one tough neighborhood.
The school was divided between two major racial groups, African-Americans and Hispanics, which sounds more homogenous than it was.
"It was very mixed," she said of the student population. "The Hispanics were mainly from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Even among the black students, their origins were diverse, including some from West Africa."
With such divergent backgrounds, Mondell said, "You have to appreciate the differences. There are cultural differences, parental involvement differences, expectation differences. This may be the first child in the family who is expected to go to college."
New Town High School, at 4931 New Town Boulevard, opened in 2003. Its nearly 1,000 students are classified as 92 percent African-American/black, 3 percent each Hispanic and white, and 1 percent Asian, according to BCPS demographics.
The biggest difference between her Bronx and New Town teaching experiences is not racial but urban versus suburban.
"You have to think where the kids are coming from before teaching them," Mondell said. "You're not going to teach the same way in an urban setting as you do in suburban. The tone, the delivery is very different."
Whatever the demographic or setting, though, Mondell has a philosophy of teaching that stays constant. It's really very simple, she says. "I do whatever kids need for me to reach them. Every kid learns differently. You have to acknowledge that and teach them in a way that reaches them," she said.
"I love them, I care about them," Mondell continued. "Every student has something special. Every student has something good about them, and I will find it, come hell or high water."
Besides her teaching, Mondell volunteers for a host of activities at New Town High, from 2014-2015 senior class adviser and member of the advanced placement committee to the school leadership team and ninth-grade coordinator whose role, she says, "is to make parents feel part of the school."
According to Kevin Whatley, New Town High principal, "Mondell's passion comes through in everything she does, whether in the classroom or working individually with students. She's always about the students."
The BCPS Teacher of the Year award process begins several months in advance of the annual May ceremony. Each school, elementary though high school, has a committee of students, parents and teachers who nominate a candidate from its school. Interviews and visits to the school follow.
Mychael Dickerson, BCPS chief communications officer, said BCPS judges the nominations based on criteria such as student engagement, use of technology and community involvement.
For the 2015-2016 Teacher of the Year, BCPS narrowed down the more than 150 recommendations to seven finalists before ultimately selecting Mondell.
"The comments we got about her were 'The kids are like her family' and 'She treats them the way she treats her kids,' " Dickerson said. "Her personal connection to her students set her apart."
Whatley, New Town's principal, couldn't be happier for Mondell. "She's a great teacher," he said. "Every decision she makes, she wants it to be right for the students. She is very pro-active."
In her personal life, Mondell mainly spends time with her children. She used to run three times a week but hasn't done so lately. She also likes to cook. "My kids eat a home-cooked meal every night," she said.
Mondell says she was "incredibly surprised" to be named Teacher of the Year. "I do what I do for the students," she said. "I wasn't expecting this kind of acknowledgment."