While getting his masters in history, Matthew Hanlon happened to substitute for a French teacher. Over a decade later, he’s been recognized as FCPS Region 2 Outstanding Secondary Teacher.
Hanlon, who teaches African American History this year along with Spanish and French classes, said he was honored to have been selected.
“It feels weird,” he said, “I think because I’m surrounded by so many amazing teachers at Marshall.”
With the effects of COVID-19 still evident, Hanlon also said teaching this year has been tricky.
“This year was anything but a normal school year,” Hanlon said. “I definitely felt like I’ve been trying to find my footing as a teacher. It’s a challenging year, and I haven’t always felt successful, so that’s the other reason I was surprised to not only be recognized by Marshall, but then Region 2.”
Though Hanlon was surprised by his achievement, his colleagues–who nominated him for the award–were not.
COLLEAGUES
“I have never met someone so universally fitted to be Region 2 Outstanding Secondary Teacher,” Spanish teacher Alicia Escribano said. “This is my first year at this school, [and] he has supported my adaptation to grading, school culture, technology and IB expectations with endless good nature and patience.”
As a teacher, Hanlon is always trying new things.
“He is constantly on the cutting edge of teaching practices,” French teacher Mary Cobb Wittrock said. “His actions essentially demand, ‘how can we ask our students to take risks with their learning if we do not do likewise?’”
Still, Hanlon said he worries about the impacts of this ever-evolving curriculum, which he describes as “disruptive pedagogy.”
“I recognize it’s hard for others in the building to work with someone who’s changing all the time and experimenting all the time,” Hanlon said. “Because sometimes you just want to do the same thing. I want stability.”
However, Spanish teacher Carlota Bernal Shewchuk was adamant about the success of Hanlon’s inventiveness.
“[What] you must know about him is how creative and innovative he is,” Shewchuk said. “He is on the vanguard of everything … he always likes to share with us new ways of teaching and helping students learn and acquire their language.”
Hanlon was in for a surprise when English teacher Pierce Bello handed out certificates to all the nominated teachers with what their colleagues had written about them, and one teacher had said they were impressed by Hanlon’s experimental teaching style.
“For somebody else to think that, like another teacher to see that as a good thing, was nice to see,” he said.
PERSONAL LIFE
Taking risks applies to Hanlon outside of the classroom, too. He has dreams of qualifying for the Boston marathon and currently practices and coaches kayaking in his–limited–spare time.
In fact, when Hanlon himself got his start as an educator, it was as a children’s swim coach.
“In college, I got a summer job coaching the local swim team and actually got to work with an Olympic swimmer for Sweden,” Hanlon said. “She was showing me how to break it down. Like, how do you go from not being able to put your head underwater to then being able to swim across the pool?”
Observing the teaching process in this way was helpful, he said.
“Seeing that I helped this kid to be able to swim across the pool, that was really exciting,” Hanlon said. “I think that’s what pushed me to want to be a teacher.”
He then took a one-off substitute teaching job for a French teacher who happened to be going on maternity leave, and was eventually asked to stay on full time, eventually making his way to Marshall and world language department chair.
LEADERSHIP
Escribano said one of Hanlon’s greatest strengths is this leadership ability.
“Hanlon has an extraordinary talent to balance the respect of independent thinking and the process of negotiation,” Escribano said. “He considers disagreement or divergence as enrichment for all, and so we all accept as team behavior that it is not only safe but important to contribute.”
Shewchuk felt similarly.
“[Hanlon] is a consensus-builder,” Shewchuk said. “He wants all of us to be able to contribute to the decisions that we make as a department, and none of us are ever afraid or reticent to ask questions.”
TEACHING STYLE
Hanlon teaches French Language and Literature while Shewchuk teaches Spanish Language and Literature, so they are also able to collaborate often in that regard, Shewchuck said.
“He and I have a lot of discussions about methods and techniques, trying to work with students to help them further their knowledge of both literature and culture,” she said.
On his part, Hanlon describes his teaching style as relaxed and inquiry-based.
“Rather than telling you, ‘This is what you’re going to learn, learn it and memorize it,’ it’s, ‘Here’s a concept we’re going to approach and we’re going to explore it,’” Hanlon explained. “You’re going to explore it in your own way and figure it out on your own and I’ll be there to help you along and to push you along and challenge your thinking along the way.”
Hanlon said he also strives to make language and history interesting for his students.
“I really like giving students the opportunity to pursue something that’s interesting to them,” he said. “If there’s something that you can find, as a student in that class like, ‘Oh, I like music’ or ‘I like food,’ something that you at least like and connect with, then it makes the experience better. I think if you like what you’re learning, you’re going to learn it better.”
STUDENTS
Hanlon’s students, like freshman Max Melchiorre, enjoy this teaching style.
“He is good at answering questions and helping out when you need help, and when you need space he gives you space,” Melchiorre said.
Freshman Ryan Clopper also said he enjoys being in Hanlon’s class.
“His teaching style is very interesting, hands-on, and real world,” Clopper said. “He doesn’t sit up at the screen lecturing you.”
Clopper also said he appreciates Hanlon’s empathy for students’ struggles.
“We are not all on the same level because of virtual learning last year,” he said. “He understands that we missed some instruction and teaches us and grades us very understandingly.”
Hanlon will soon meet with the judges of the next stage of the competition, FCPS-wide recognition, for an interview. He said he expects to learn the results in June.
“We are all rooting for him to win this award for the County because we think he is absolutely fantastic,” Shewchuk said. “We wish him the best!”