{"id":1720,"date":"2021-08-12T10:22:24","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T14:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/?p=1720"},"modified":"2021-08-13T10:36:44","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T14:36:44","slug":"teaching-beyond-the-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/teaching-beyond-the-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Beyond the Classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"MCPS
Provided by Joseph Bostic Jr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A man who rose from poverty to become an electrical engineer before transitioning to teaching as a second career is the 2021-2022 Montgomery County Public Schools Teacher of the Year. Joseph Bostic Jr., the mathematics content specialist at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Germantown, teaches Algebra 1 and Honors Geometry, often incorporating STEM concepts to get his students interested in math.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome students say, \u2018Math is hard, math is boring. I don\u2019t want to be a part of it.\u2019 But I can take mathematics and make it into a class [where] the students are taking a journey or a ride,\u201d says Bostic. \u201cThey\u2019re getting that chance to explore mathematics from a real estate perspective or financial literacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bostic\u2019s transformation from engineer to educator began with a conversation he had with his grandmother. At the time, Bostic, who has a bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s in engineering, was doing some grass roots teaching for a nonprofit organization. When she pushed him to look at his experiences from a different perspective, Bostic realized that part of his purpose was to be a teacher, a mentor or a coach.<\/p>\n

In addition to teaching math at King Middle School, Bostic coaches football at James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring. He is the junior varsity defensive coordinator and one of the varsity team\u2019s assistant defensive coaches. \u201cOur goal this year as coaches is to help our kids become better men,\u201d says Bostic.<\/p>\n

School officials credit Bostic with creating an action plan that helped reduce student absenteeism from more than 33% to less than 25% at King Middle School. They also praise him for his collaboration with human resources to help recruit teacher candidates from diverse backgrounds for MCPS.<\/p>\n

Bostic, who begins his 14th year of teaching this fall \u2014 his seventh in Montgomery County \u2014 is humbled and grateful to be named MCPS Teacher of the Year. \u201cIt\u2019ll be something that I\u2019ll never forget,\u201d he says. He is now a candidate for Maryland Teacher of the Year, which will be announced in October.<\/p>\n

Montgomery Magazine spoke to Bostic about this recognition by MCPS as well as his difficult childhood and the challenges and rewards of teaching.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph
Provided by Joseph Bostic Jr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Montgomery Magazine:<\/strong> What does your selection as MCPS Teacher of the Year mean to you?<\/p>\n

Joseph Bostic Jr.:<\/strong> It\u2019s been a blessing, especially when I get the opportunity to represent a county of educators that is continuing to do phenomenal work every day in the classroom, especially during virtual-learning season.<\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> What has it been like teaching during the pandemic?<\/p>\n

JB:<\/strong> It\u2019s been challenging, and it can be discouraging in some ways. Some days, I would have my students\u2019 sister or brother in the classroom. And they\u2019re sitting there \u2026 and they\u2019re waving. I didn\u2019t want my student to feel bad, so I said, \u201cHey, what\u2019s your brother or sister\u2019s name?\u201d It\u2019s building that family environment virtually and making people feel comfortable being themselves or turning on their video. And I think that was important to build that confidence into the students that we\u2019re all in this together.<\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> What do you find fulfilling about teaching?<\/p>\n

JB:<\/strong> I feel like teaching provides us the opportunity to mold or shape the whole child. Meaning that it\u2019s not just about academics. It\u2019s not just a kid sitting at a desk every day. It\u2019s the opportunity to take them outside of the classroom, helping their imagination so they can kind of see a preview of life\u2019s coming attractions. And you get to do that with curriculum.<\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> What is your style of teaching, and how do students respond to it?<\/p>\n

JB:<\/strong> My style of teaching is innovative. It requires students to be critical thinkers, problem solvers. One time [when] I was working with my co-teachers, we said, \u201cYou\u2019re starting your own business. How much money will you start with? How much money will you be making per month or per week?\u201d And we were doing all of this so we could teach them about slope intercept form. At the end of it, you get a chance to see your students say, \u201cYou know, math is fun, math is all right.\u201d And that\u2019s fulfilling for me.<\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> Can you talk about your challenging childhood?<\/p>\n

JB:<\/strong> Growing up in a gang-infested environment filled with poverty, experiencing the side of things where I was homeless for a while, all of those things help me be the man that I am today and who I will continue to become. I can share those experiences with all of my students. It helps me to understand [that] it doesn\u2019t matter where you come from or what you experience. You can be whoever you want to be.<\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> Why do you make home visits to help combat student absenteeism?<\/p>\n

JB:<\/strong> Those home visits are important. It tells you a lot about the student, and it helps you educate a lot better because now you truly have the root of what this student needs.
\nYou cannot fail a kid academically if you haven\u2019t assured that they have attended school and have access to all of their learning. A great example is one of my students [who] struggled with attendance this year. I had to do some home visits virtually. He pretty much did not do well the entire quarter, but he was able to take the progress check and get a B on it.<\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> Can you describe your efforts to help MCPS recruit more diverse teachers?<\/p>\n

JB:<\/strong> How do we get more people, specifically black male teachers? That\u2019s been a real big push. And then how do we get teachers who are diverse in their background? Like, for example, cybersecurity or engineering, or we could have a doctor who\u2019s a teacher.<\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> What are your plans?<\/p>\n

JB:<\/strong> I think for my career, just continue teaching and just see what happens next. Of course, I don\u2019t want to move anywhere or do anything that\u2019s going to be a major shift. So, I\u2019m just going to take it day by day and continue to do what I\u2019m doing. I love my job. I love it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former engineer Joseph Bostic Jr., a math content specialist at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, named MCPS Teacher of the Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":1721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[25,71],"yoast_head":"\nTeaching Beyond the Classroom - Montgomery Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former engineer Joseph Bostic Jr., a math content specialist at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, named MCPS Teacher of the Year.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/teaching-beyond-the-classroom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teaching Beyond the Classroom - 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