THE 3-MINUTE INTERVIEW: Brian Freiss

Freiss is the 2011 Teacher of the Year for Montgomery County. In his 10th year as a math teacher at Silver Spring’s Highland Elementary School, Freiss sponsors the student council, organizes a basketball program and created Dinner for Dads to get fathers more involved in their children’s schooling. You obviously don’t have a 9-to-5 mentality. Why did you start Dinner for Dads?

I noticed I mainly worked with mothers, and I know that my own father had such a positive influence on me growing up. I wanted to empower the dads to be a factor in their kids’ educations. We started with four or five dads seven years ago, and it doubled every year. The first year we talked about strategies to help with homework, emphasizing “tools.” Recently, we had dads come in with their kids and do math games, and eat pizza and salad. It’s time for them to hang out together, and it makes the kid really proud to be there. I think we’re close to 70 dads now.

Is it harder to feed students fractions than pizza?

It’s a challenge sometimes because they don’t see the big picture, like how they’ll use it when they grow up or how to use math in the real world. It could be estimating where they have to go or how to get to the grocery market — which is difficult when you’re 8, 9, 10 years old. It’s up to me to help them make that connection.

What advice would you give to new teachers?

Realize what a difference you can make as a teacher. One of the most important things you can do is take the time to get to know the children inside and outside the classroom. Forging a connection between the parents and the kids and yourself can make a tremendous difference.

Lisa Gartner

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