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June 12, 2006
ANDOVER, Mass.— The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) has selected Donald Barry as one of this year’s twenty-four recipients of its Edyth May Sliffe Award for Distinguished High School Mathematics Teaching. Nominations for this award were solicited from students on the sixty highest scoring teams in the American Mathematics Competitions sponsored by the MAA. Schools from both the U.S. and Canada participate in the competitions. The four Andover students who nominated Barry for this year’s award were Samuel Weiss ’06, Tianyuan Zheng ’07, Andrew Hsiao ’06, and Gary Cao ’07.
In nominating Barry for the award, the students wrote: “We believe that Mr. Barry deserves to win the Edyth May Sliffe Award because of his dedication to teaching mathematics and his commitment to our school's math team. During Math Club meetings, Mr. Barry does a superb job of introducing creative, insightful problems, and developing our problem-solving abilities. He builds upon the mathematics we already know by presenting multiple approaches to a single question, creating an open, lively atmosphere, and inviting students to come up with unique solutions of their own. Mr. Barry truly cares about us as students and does all he can to help us learn and succeed."
Following the announcement of Barry’s award, Cao elaborated on his feelings, saying, “I've never had a teacher so enthusiastic and passionate about mathematics, and his enthusiasm is contagious. While his explanations are clear, insightful, and thought-provoking, he also steps back and has the confidence to allow the students to explore problems on their own. He strives to teach the students beyond what is at the textbook surface, and allows them to master the concepts and explore the depths of mathematical problem solving. To be concise, Mr. Barry is godly.”
Hsiao echoed those sentiments, saying, “The best part about being in Mr. Barry's classes is that he answers your questions by simply having you clarify your question. Often when I was confused about something, I would ask a rather broad and vague question, but once Mr. Barry had me break the question down to get at what I was really confused about, it would turn out to be something much simpler to understand than I had thought.”
This is the second Sliffe Award for Barry, having won his first in 1996. The MAA is a 28,000-member organization devoted to mathematics education at the college level. The Edyth May Sliffe Award program is designed to recognize and reward outstanding teachers for their efforts in the development of mathematical talents of high school students. |
