As he skulks in a doorway overgrown with weeds, Damon Norko, as Edgar Allan Poe in the DC Comics graphic novel “In the Shadows of Edgar Allan Poe,” looks positively frightening. So, it’s hard to imagine him leading a classroom of middle-school English students. Yet Norko, who is earning his master’s-level teacher certification through McDaniel’s BEST program, plans to do just that when he graduates in May.

“I feel the profession got me, instead of me seeking it out,” says the 45-year old father of four.

Norko found his way to teaching after Hurricane Isabel flooded his Fells Point home in 2003. He was forced to sell the chess store he had run for a decade, and, looking for a more flexible job, took up substitute teaching in Baltimore city schools. Soon, he was hooked.

“Once I was in class, I realized it was really fun,” says Norko with an eager smile. “I want kids to get inspired to write and express themselves, and I want to provide them with the tools to do so.”

The BEST program develops teachers who are effective classroom decision makers and instructors. Students are offered a host of opportunities within the public school system. Norko is completing an internship at Shiloh Middle School and will next tackle an internship at North Carroll High School.

“He has great enthusiasm and knowledge base in Language Arts,” says Laurie Feustle, the English teacher who supervises his student teaching at Shiloh Middle School. “He motivates students through giving positive reinforcement and is a great asset to teaching.”

At Shiloh Middle School, Norko develops and presents lessons to the class. He developed an incentive program to encourage kids to read and has started a student literary magazine.

Norko brings years of life experience to the job. Not only has he been a comic-book star and chess-store owner, he has also published two novels and numerous poems, sung in a punk band, run an art gallery in Baltimore, and roasted coffee for the Daily Grind, where he helped develop the store’s famous house blend.

“Because of the experiences he’s had, he’s very resourceful,” says student-teacher supervisor Jackie Moore '88 M.S. “He’s able to help the kids with their writing and is good at encouraging them.”

And that’s exactly what Norko calls his niche, his passion, and his future.

“I’ve done a lot of stuff, but I always swore I’d never be a teacher,” he says. “Now I realize that the things I’ve done are what make me a great teacher. I couldn’t be happier.”