Possessing a knack for teaching

A Long Island high school’s first nationwide science competition semifinalist who helped create a summer program for high school students is now applying his love for learning as chair of the Math and Science departments at Lawrence Middle School.

Bill Moss joined the Lawrence School District this school year and seeks to have an impact. Moss will lead a diversity committee comprised of employees throughout the district — from teachers to janitors — that will examine data from New York State test results while recommending solutions for troubled student populations and assess school and district policies, practices and environments for isolation or discrimination.

“We will also reflect personally and professionally on issues of diversity and character to become and remain good stewards of leadership and humanism in our schools,” Moss said. “We’re also committed to personal development. I would really like to see staff members connect with students in a more humane way because education is a science and an art but most importantly, education is really a matter of the heart and unless we address some of these emotional and psychological beliefs about an individual and their backgrounds, we can’t be truly successful.”

Moss, 34, broke new ground as Brentwood High School’s first semifinalist in the 1995 Westinghouse Science Talent Search. It is now the Intel Science Talent Search. “It was very exciting and pretty cool to be a trailblazer back then,” Moss said. “I was self-motivated and always the impetus behind getting things started for myself.”

That motivation propelled him to Harvard College for his undergraduate in math education and child development before receiving his master’s in social and moral development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Moss is now a doctorial candidate and expected to graduate in May 2013 from St. John’s University in Oakdale.

When asked what sparked his interest for teaching, Moss said, his fourth-grade teacher. “She let me take papers home and grade them for her,” he said. “As a kid I did private tutoring so I got a knack for instructing.”

He returned home to the Brentwood School District and taught at the high school for eight years and then at the middle school for four years. “Helping someone realize his or her own potential is the most rewarding thing about teaching,” he said. “(The most challenging) is when you want to do something powerful for the students but bureaucracy or personalities get in the way.”

Moss has also implemented what is called “ formative testing” math and science to improve the quality of instruction at the middle school. “In this process I identify class, teacher and department strengths and weaknesses to recommend areas for professional growth and system attention and to champion models of outstanding teaching and instruction,” he said.

Maddy Gunn, Ph.D., a college administrator at Molloy College in Rockville Centre, has known Moss for more than 10 years and said he is a great educator because he’s great with kids and loves the teaching and learning process. “We formulated this idea at Molloy College for a summer program for children from high needs school districts so he formulated that vision,” she said. “He was in charge of it all.” The summer program, now known as Rising Stars summer camp, still operates at Molloy College.

Gunn said she hopes Moss continues to grow. “I hope he finds himself in a place where all of his talents and all of his passions and vision for children is realized,” she said. “Whether its as a superintendent, senior level position in the Department of Education, I hope he finds himself because it’s our future and he can help realize this vision for all of the terrific children out there.”