BANGOR – Maria Brountas, a well-known teacher at Vine Street School, is featured in the January issue of the national teachers’ journal Teaching K-8.

In the cover story, “First Grade, Beyond the Lines,” writer Kate Romano describes a typical day in Brountas’ first-grade class during a visit in October.

Romano was impressed with the high level of learning Brountas inspired, especially when one little boy correctly answered the teacher’s question about the Civil War.

The article describes Brountas’ Plato Club, where pupils learn how to develop in-depth thinking skills, and her Before and After School Clubs, where pupils volunteer to work on special projects.

Brountas, named Bangor’s Teacher of the Year in 1979, has written numerous articles for the trade publication on topics including teaching methods, parent volunteers, and “the versatility of poetry.”

“When you write an article, you hear from quite a few people all over the country,” she said during a telephone interview Friday.

“You don’t know what’s going on in other places, and they tell you about their school and ask questions about yours.”

Writer Kate Romano, who is also the associate editor, said magazine representatives visit schools across the country, often focusing on a particular teacher or educational program.

“We know a lot of really wonderful teachers, so we have a running list of who we’d like to see in the classroom. Maria was one of them,” said Romano.

Brountas, who has been teaching for 36 years, said the magazine asked to profile her about a year ago.

“I’m just an ordinary teacher,” she said she told them. “Come and see our school and the Bangor school system.”

On Friday, she admitted she had been “quite surprised” to read the colorful four-page spread, which included photographs of her, some of the children and principal Lynne Coy-Ogan.

“I thought they’d concentrate on everyone, not just me,” Brountas said.

Her pupils will be able to examine the story for themselves. “The children each will get a copy,” she said. “That’s important – they were so good.”