By Madeline Bailey
Staff Writer

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]inusoids. Paul Darnell. Flipping the whip. These are inside jokes that only students who have had this year’s Teacher of the Year would understand.

Meet math teacher Brandon Harris. For him, what started out as a temporary experiment ended up as a new passion. After graduating from Virginia Tech with an engineering degree, Harris pursued his initial profession. Two years later he was asked to teach math at a high school in Gloucester, Va. and he fell in love with it that first year.

[accordion title=”Why did you continue teaching instead of going back to engineering?”]After a short amount of time, I realized how powerful the teaching profession is and the idea that one person can make a difference and instill a passion for learning in someone. This caused me to stay.[/accordion][accordion title=”Do you think you’ll ever teach engineering at the college level?”]No. The idea of teaching in college isn’t going to happen because I found so much reward in (my) current position. At the high school level, I can help on a larger scale. I am teaching and interacting with students that aren’t just going to be engineers … these students have a blank slate in front of them and I feel responsible for challenging and helping them take the route that makes them happy.[/accordion][accordion title=”What makes a good teacher?”]The most important thing is being passionate about what you do and seeing each student for the intelligent and important individual they are. Being able to put yourself in each student’s shoes is a powerful tool in creating a relationship that will bring that student to their fullest potential in class and in life, in general.[/accordion]

[accordion title=”Describe your first day teaching.”]I was scared (24 at the time). I started to form relationships immediately and it didn’t take long for teaching to feel like second nature. One student was not even in my class but found me during lunch on the first day to just talk about life. He came and ate lunch with me everyday for the rest of the year. I ended up convincing him to try out for track, which I was coaching at the time, and he lettered that year. That one student established my passion for teaching day one.[/accordion][accordion title=”What are you doing in your classes this year to improve your teaching?”]This year I want to bring more relevance to the classroom with a partnership with NASA and getting students to apply the skills they learn in my class.[/accordion][accordion title=”What is your plan for the graduation speech this year?”]I think about it all the time. I think I’m going to keep a notebook with ideas. I want students to realize the importance of being an innovator, a problem solver and being generally happy. I want to give the graduating class the tools to be successful. This my first large-scale speech so I’m a little nervous, which is a sign of the importance of the message to convey to seniors.[/accordion][accordion title=”Tell me about one of your best moments as a teacher.”]Well, I am always excited when AP scores come back. What makes a really good day is when one of my students gets really excited about getting into a certain college or when they find a certain passion. Seeing that turns my whole day around. Taylor Bancroft is interested in NC State’s engineering program which was a good day for me when she told me. In general, it’s hard to pick just one best day.[/accordion][accordion title=”Tell me about one of your worst moments as a teacher.”]In Gloucester, people would be on this road and die when I was there. When I went to school there, someone I was supposed to graduate with died on that road. Three students died the short time that I was working at Gloucester High School which had an impact on the community. Helping people cope with loss of a friend or parent is hard. You can try to go by the house and talk to the student . It’s tough seeing students go through such a tragedy at a young age.[/accordion][accordion title=”What teacher has made the biggest impact on your life? How?”]I think that it is easy to look back and think of several teachers that really stand out in your mind as having a significant impact on your education and your life.  There are definitely several that stand out in my mind, but the one teacher that I feel had the biggest impact on my life at a critical time in my education was Dr. Cox at Virginia Tech.  At a time when I was unsure which direction to go in life and considering leaving Virginia Tech, Dr. Cox helped me to regain my passion for learning and for problem solving.  He even hired me on the weekends to work on construction projects with him and he constantly applied engineering ideas from my classes to projects that we would work on outside of school.  Dr. Cox saw potential in me and took it upon himself to keep me interested in engineering and to keep me pursuing my passion.[/accordion][accordion title=”Can you explain to students who have not had you what a sinusoid is, who Paul Darnell is and what flipping the whip is?”]I try to always incorporate experiences from my own life that have a message that will be uplifting or motivational for students. Messages ranging from pursuing your dreams to finding ways to brighten your day are constant elements that I incorporate in my classroom to form strong relationships that enhance the learning process, and hopefully have a strong positive impact on my students.[/accordion]

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