Schools

Kennedy math teacher named county's best

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When Kennedy High School math teacher Allen Ma discusses his instructional methodology and educational philosophy, he does not speak of equations and theorems. He doesn’t even mention solutions.

In fact, he doesn’t speak about math at all. Rather, he talks at length about trust.

Education, he said, “is about building relationships with the kids, with the parents, with the Kennedy community, with Bellmore-Merrick kids.”
When students trust their teacher, he said, they’ll want to work for him or her. Then magic can happen.

“I don’t necessarily think about the math curriculum,” he said. “Whatever you’re trying to sell [students], they have to buy."

Such a seemingly unorthodox approach to math has allowed Ma’s students to soar to heights that they previously had not imagined. A number of his students described how math was once a mystery for them. Ma, they said, gave them the keys to unlock it.

That goes a long way toward explaining how and why Ma was recently named the Nassau County Math Tea- chers Association’s Mathematics Teacher of the Year.

David Gunder, Kennedy’s math chairman, said, “It’s a prestigious award on Long Island. I felt it was Allen’s time to be recognized for his efforts inside and outside the classroom.”

Gunder recommended Ma to a selection committee, which chose him as a finalist for the honor. Ma then had to submit a formal application that included his résumé and three letters of recommendation, including one from Gunder, Kennedy Principal Lorraine Poppe and Board of Education Trustee Dr. Nancy Kaplan.

Over his 18 years at Kennedy, Ma has taught algebra, geometry, trigonometry and pre-calculus to grades nine to 12, while for many years he coached the boys’ and girls’ varsity volleyball teams to a string of championships.

Ma dreamed of becoming a teacher while still a student at Syosset High School. “I was always interested in becoming a teacher,” he said. “That was always a passion of mine.”

The students, he said, must know that their teacher is there to support them. “Whatever [they] need, you will be there to provide for them,” he said. “You succeed together and you fail together. If you are successful, you’re there together.”

Cassie Livingston, a ninth-grader from Merrick, said Ma’s lessons are always clear. “He explains a lot,” she said. “He answers every question. He makes it fun. He makes everyone laugh.”

And Sarina Covelli, a ninth-grader from Bellmore, said, “He’s easy to understand … He brings math into real life and gives us examples from math games.”

For Ma, though, it always comes back to the students. For him, the best part of teaching, he said, is watching them “grow as people.”