Two years ago, River Hill High School student Max Storey was filling out a form for Who's Who Among America's High School Students. When he came to a question about which teacher had been an important influence on him, Storey knew the answer was Brian McDonald, his eighth-grade math teacher.
"I never told him. ... He's definitely been my favorite teacher throughout my entire education," the 18-year-old said.
It was not until this year that McDonald found out what an impression he had made on his former pupil. The educator, who teaches at Burleigh Manor Middle School in Ellicott City, was recognized this fall for educational excellence in Who's Who Among America's Teachers 2002.
"I think I was one of the teachers he [Storey] connected with even if he was outwardly quiet about it," McDonald said. "It was kind of a shock to me."
McDonald, who is married and has three children, is a 17-year veteran of Howard County schools. After graduating from Virginia Tech with a degree in math education, he spent six years teaching at Dunloggin Middle School. Then he moved to Burleigh Manor, where he teaches geometry, algebra and prealgebra to eighth-graders.
The 38-year-old said that an aptitude for math was only part of what made him want to teach. "I had awesome teachers. I went to Baltimore County schools. From sixth, seventh grade all the way through 12th grade, I probably didn't have a bad math teacher," he said.
"The community talks about Brian a lot," said Barbara Hoffman, Burleigh Manor's principal. "He spends time with kids individually after school. He has a very nice rapport, so kids feel safe and comfortable to ask questions. It's lighthearted for a math class."
The lighthearted tone was evident during Friday's math class. The lesson began with a game called "Buzz." It's a math version of hot potato. Everyone stands in a circle, counting off numbers. If your number has a seven in it, is a multiple of seven or a multiple of 11, you say "buzz" instead of the number. The game was fun for the youngsters, but it also sent a message: It's time to concentrate.
"He gets the concept through without just making us purely memorize it. He makes us do activities like Buzz, which gets the energy out," said Sharon Kusiak, 13.
"The main focus with me is you try to provide a nonthreatening environment and use a lot of humor, especially at the middle school level," said McDonald.
After the game, children were ready to focus on their work. Even though they were reviewing geometry problems in groups, the room was quiet - not to McDonald's liking.
"I actually expect to hear you talking, guys," he said. "These [problems] are going to require you to work together for sure." McDonald gave help, hints and encouragement.
He said it is OK for a teacher to talk about interests such as music and sports. "Once you get them roped in, they can pay attention at little bit more to the math."
Those techniques worked with Storey, who said that he struggled to do well in McDonald's class. "Without the way that he taught, I wouldn't have been prepared for the calculus and statistics" he is taking at River Hill as an advanced placement student.
Burleigh Manor eighth-grader Kathleen Lavendusky agreed that McDonald's teaching style is key to schoolchildren's positive attitudes in his class. "He made us feel welcome at the beginning of the year. He made a lot of jokes. He made us feel sort of less tense about being in eighth grade," she said.
Who's Who Among America's Teachers was first published by Educational Communications Inc. in 1990. Every other year, the listing of teachers' biographical sketches is updated. Educators are nominated by students, like Storey, who are listed in the publisher's other books: Who's Who Among America's High School Students and The National Dean's List. Once McDonald was nominated, he provided the information for his listing, which is one of 114,000 in the 2002 edition.
"It's definitely a nice feeling," McDonald said, but "it's more important to me to be valued and respected by the kids and the teachers than to get an award."
Storey said that if he could speak to his former teacher, he would like to catch up and tell McDonald what he is up to now. "It was ... the basic mathematical procedures that he tattooed in my brain that's carrying me through now."