Henrico's Top Teachers – Derek Podolny

Ask Derek Podolny if he had a role model who inspired him to enter the teaching profession, and he will respond with a yes – though not to name any of his schoolteachers.

Instead, he’ll describe his grandmother, who was once employed at NASA in a role like the women portrayed in Hidden Figures. She delighted in teaching him games like bridge, and in joining him to solve crosswords or mathematical puzzles.

Podolny grew up to be adept at math, taking accelerated classes throughout middle school and high school. Being the youngest, he spent lots of class time quietly observing; as a peer tutor, he experimented with various ways to “rephrase” math concepts to help fellow students understand.

During his senior year, Podolny said he came to admire the “growth mindset” of his first-year calculus teacher – and to appreciate the way that even teachers must be continuously learning.

After college, his eight years in the U.S. Navy might be viewed as a detour – if not for the perspective he gained on leadership. He soon came to see that “leadership and teaching can be a dual role,” he said. “[Leading] is really just teaching life skills and people skills.”

As a department head, he also dealt with recruits fresh out of high school, and realized that he liked working with 18-year-olds. So when he left the navy, he naturally gravitated toward teaching. He landed at Freeman for his practicum – and has never left.

A Freeman parent noted, however, that Podolny’s naval experience still surfaces occasionally in the classroom.

“When my son had him for trigonometry,” she wrote, “he asked him when he would ever need to use trig in the ‘real world.’ Mr. P was able to give a personal example of when he worked on a submarine, and how he used that type of math to navigate.”

Noting that Podolny’s influence as a role model is a primary reason her son pursued Navy ROTC in college, the mother added that Podolny also enlists his calculus students to become algebra tutors.

This provides the less advanced students with individual instruction prior to the SOL test, while benefiting the advanced students who learn from helping others understand.

Even with what can be tedious subject matter, she wrote, Podolny’s high energy keeps students engaged.

“Mr. Podolny has passion that is unsurpassed for his students and his teaching.”

Podolny himself laughs wryly when the topic of math tedium and resistance to the subject comes up. Ask about the rewards of teaching, and he will say – only half in jest – “Seeing someone not hate math!”

One day, he hopes to have a class where the majority of students have not had a parent tell them, “You’ll never use this,” or an adult turn them off to the subject by telling them how they hated math.

But on a more serious note, his ultimate dream is “an education system that shows students we understand them and care about them,” he said. “It saddens me that so many of our students come to school feeling unloved and unknown.”

Figuring out how to approach students “whose real challenges aren’t academic” and give them the determination to succeed is his number-one challenge, Podolny said. “I’ve learned sometimes you have to be more of a coach and cheerleader than a teacher.”

He brightens as he describes a few student success stories – including that of a freshman who could not master basic algebra, but is now studying physics and interning for NASA. Another student who failed as a freshman and repeatedly flunked the SOL was in danger of not graduating, but finally passed in senior-year boot camp.

“The entire administration and I went to tell the student, who was in tears, that he’d passed,” Podolny recalled. “Now he could graduate!”

And then there was the special visitor who came to sit in on his classroom one day, chatting with students and answering questions about her teaching and NASA careers.

His grandmother not only got to see him become a teacher, but still lives today – and is soon to celebrate 91.