Brad Engel
Maryland Teacher of the Year
Kent Island High School, Stevensville, MD
Grades 9 through 12, Leadership and Social Studies

My teaching philosophy
Becoming a father introduced me to the deepest kind of love. There is nothing more powerful than the love a parent has for his/her child. And perhaps nothing is more painful than seeing your child suffer. My philosophy of teaching is simple. I treat all children like they were my own. I believe every child has potential and that each child needs family and school connections to really grow. I teach my students not to be embarrassed to show their parents how much they care for them. I encourage them to go home and tell their mom or their dad that they love them; or I encourage them to do extra chores around the house without being asked. Proactive citizenship begins at home. I don’t know of a more important lesson.

To have a positive impact on the lives of students every day, and to work to bring dignity to their lives, has been my most rewarding opportunity. To guide them into an expanded awareness of life's possibilities and to help them understand that each one of them adds a great value to the world is important to me.

I tell students from the first day in my classroom that we belong to each other, and that this is a lifetime commitment that will continue long after they leave school. Many of my former students have gone into professional careers in medicine, law, public service and education. Many of them have credited my leadership class with helping them establish a direction in their lives. One former leadership student called me recently and shared that he is the Student Government President at Washington College, a private, liberal arts, four-year institution of higher learning. Another student wrote me a letter after she received her doctorate letting me know that she had made the decision to become a psychologist while sitting in my psychology class. Some of my students’ lives have taken a downward spiral, but I am there for them as well. One such young man is currently incarcerated and will be in prison for the next 5 years. I was the first person he contacted on the “outside.” He has asked for my help and my support and I have been there for him. I write him faithfully every week and offer him encouragement. I hope to help turn his life around. My feelings about my former students never change, regardless of what mistakes they make in life. Someone has to believe that they will prevail and someone has to offer them encouragement as they make their transitions into adulthood. I have always worked hard to create an atmosphere in which students feel successful from the first day, and I do everything I can to keep the promise that I will always be there for them.

Inspiration often begins as a whisper. I was approached by a very quiet young man almost six years ago while he was a junior at Kent Island High School. He had struggled throughout his high school career and was best known for his ability to sleep during class. He rarely spoke to anyone, especially any of his teachers. He was not the kind of student who caused trouble or talked back; he was just one of the “forgotten ones” who moved invisibly through the halls and in and out of the classrooms without drawing much attention. From what he told me years later he had endured tremendous daily verbal abuse at home which might explain why he was so quiet. The day he asked to join my leadership class was the first time he had shown an interest in any school-based activity. When I added him to the roster there were those on the faculty who were skeptical. Some of the leadership students laughed at the thought of him joining the class. But I wasn’t skeptical, and I didn’t laugh. I was proud and honored that he had made the decision to become a leader. I made a commitment to him that I would do whatever I could to help him succeed. When any student approaches me about joining the leadership class, I always have time to listen. I have worked hard to create a dynamic program, and become an effective teacher because every student deserves someone who cares, and classrooms where they can develop their full potential. The transformation of this young man occurred almost immediately. All he needed was for someone to believe in him somewhere in his life and someone to encourage him everyday. I made sure that he and I had daily conversations about his goals and how to achieve them. Sometimes those conversations were very brief. But small moments can pay big dividends. He reached heights few thought he could have ever achieved when he signed up for the leadership class. He became a leader among his peers, showed perseverance and faced his doubters among the faculty and student body. By the end of the year, he was conducting leadership workshops and in the spring of his senior year he gave a speech to the entire school describing his inspirational journey. The student body and the faculty grew to have enormous respect for him. He is now in college and plans to graduate one day certified to teach secondary social studies. He told me recently, “I want your job.” Could a teacher want more than that?

My philosophy in action
During my fifteen years in the classroom I have developed and expanded a teaching philosophy that I call Opportunity Dynamics. It states that every moment of our life presents a unique opportunity for a person to have a positive impact on another person. Every minute that passes by during the school day when we are not dedicated to helping children, is a lost opportunity. This philosophy requires a strong commitment to all students and executing it is a difficult, arduous task with extraordinary outcomes. I believe in concentrating on the positive. In my sixteen years as a teacher, I have never written a disciplinary referral for classroom behavior. I believe effective discipline is proactive discipline. Creating and establishing relationships from the first day are important, and working hard to make sure that every child knows that you have a deep emotional investment in his/her success can help reduce conflicts in any classroom and drastically reduce the need for disciplinary referrals.

I try to model the behavior that I expect from my students. I want them to see that I have integrity and that I care. On the first day of class I give them my absolute trust and they rarely let me down. My motto is, “If you say it is so, than it is so.” I also give them my word that they will never be embarrassed or humiliated in my classes. They will be emotionally safe. I hope to provide students a place where they feel comfortable, secure and loved. Students trust if they are trusted. Students are devoted to learning if the teacher is devoted to providing instruction that is relevant and meaningful. Students learn enthusiastically if they are taught enthusiastically.

Nothing replaces a good work ethic. I arrive at Kent Island High School shortly after 6:00 AM every school day and spend evenings and weekends designing lessons and projects while constantly evaluating student work. I write over 75 detailed, two-three page letters of recommendations every year for seniors applying to college. It is my way of saying thank you to the students and their parents. My grade book has over 100 grades for each student every semester. My planning periods are filled with commitments to students, parents, and the community. My leadership class has 25 slots but I always end up with close to 40 students each semester because I can’t say no to any high school student who is seeking to find his/her passion in life and wants develop to their full potential.

My greatest teaching accomplishment
People often wonder how great leaders came to be. And today some people question whether we’ve lost the art of leadership. Gandhi said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Leadership is required if change and improvement are to occur. In 1999 I created a comprehensive statewide leadership program which included a rigorous academic curriculum containing over 150 intensive daily lesson plans and a comprehensive assessment. I wrote and published The 4 Challenges of Leadership, a 375 page textbook, to complement the curriculum. I also created The Mentor Advisory Program in order to give students real-world opportunities to practice daily, with their peers, their leadership skills. I included recognition initiatives for teachers and students to emphasize the importance of encouragement as a fundamental part of leadership and developed dozens of community-based service projects so students could strive for excellence while learning to help others. Leadership skills are essential for teenagers as the world becomes more complex, more challenging, and more competitive than ever before. Those leadership skills are cited in my textbook, The Four Challenges of Leadership. This text, approved by the Queen Anne’s County Board of Education, has been adopted statewide and is available to every high school in the state of Maryland. As Maryland’s Teacher of the Year I am spending the year with 500 Social Studies and other teachers to share the promising practices in building more effective leadership programs. Each page in the book challenges students to become great leaders and encourages them by giving them methods and opportunities to develop leadership skills. These skills include problem solving, offering encouragement, goal-setting and character development. Students learn that as leaders they have the opportunity to influence others every day. They learn that the road to leadership lies in their actions and that the milestones of great leaders are measured by how they live their lives from moment to moment. The Four Challenges of Leadership emphasizes that encouragement is the greatest gift a leader can offer, for it helps other students feel good about themselves and their lives. I believe this encouragement is critical. The interactive nature of the textbook provides students inspirational learning opportunities to chase and capture success in real-life situations while they learn the leadership strategies necessary for real-world survival. The book emphasizes that the fastest and most effective way to become a leader is to develop resilient problem-solving strategies.

In 2000 I created an original Leadership Honors award to recognize individual student leadership accomplishments and community service contributions. Kent Island High School was the first high school in the country to offer such an award and Maryland is the only state in the country that offers Leadership Honors to all of its high school students. It is an original program and the only one of its kind in the country. In 2005 seniors all across Maryland will receive this distinguished honor during senior week. It is an award that they can add to their applications and resumes for the rest of their lives. I believe every high school student in America should have the opportunity to earn Leadership Honors

My leadership class, which has grown dramatically and has a waiting list of students, has helped students discover how to overcome their own personal obstacles. One of my former students who graduated in 2001 has cerebral palsy. On her first day in the leadership class, I asked everyone to write down a meaningful goal. She wrote that it was her greatest wish to walk across the stage on graduation day. At the time she couldn’t even stand up. On the last day of the semester she showed the class her progress by walking across the room. The entire class stood up to cheer, inspired by her courage. The following year she received another standing ovation as she struggled to walk across the stage by herself to receive her diploma. I have heard from her recently and she is planning on going to law school next fall. I couldn’t be more proud!

The Mentor Advisory Program (M.A.P.) was added in 2001. My objective was to give hundreds of students each year the opportunity to practice regularly their leadership skills in a small group setting. I matched groups of 14-16 students with one teacher and two peer leaders. My hope was that all students would be able to connect to their school and build the relationships necessary to enhance their academic achievement. What makes this a rare program is the opportunity peer leaders have to work as mentors and team leaders to develop lesson plans and facilitate small groups. M.A.P. is designed to increase student achievement. It is a unique program to say the least. The most dynamic part of M.A.P. is the involvement from the community. We have a cadre of M.A.P. coaches who volunteer to train the peer leaders every month. The M.A.P. coaches are from Character Counts and the Chamber of Commerce. Their role is to train 125 peer leaders every year in a train-the-trainer model. The student leaders meet with the M.A.P. coaches in a small group setting to develop skills that will help them become more effective student/peer leaders. The data has been encouraging. Since the inception of M.A.P in 2001, standardized test results have increased every year, attendance rates have risen annually by 2%, and the numbers of disciplinary referrals have dropped by nearly 30%. I have shared M.A.P. with twenty-five other high schools across the state which have visited Kent Island High School to learn more about M.A.P. The success of M.A.P. has been my proudest accomplishment in education. And now that I am Maryland Teacher of the Year I will be able to move across the state sharing this important program. A program should exist in every high school in America.

My vision for a high school leadership class was to provide the tools necessary so that students could become leaders at home, in the community, and at the school they are attending. They have the opportunity to offer unconditional encouragement every day and help students experience success, while promoting a desire to face new challenges. That is how high school students grow into young leaders of profound moral significance.

The most critical issues facing educators today
There are many important issues in education today. Of primary importance is ensuring that every child is reading on grade level by 2014. Two huge funding issues have arisen regarding support for some of the unfunded mandates in special education, and expansion of kindergarten to a full day program in all schools. In Maryland, the graduation requirements have also been a major point of discussion, along with alignment of the rigorous standards of No Child Left Behind with adequate funding and high stakes testing. Many of these issues contribute to what I believe is our highest priority, increasing the number of students who graduate from high school prepared for a challenging post-secondary opportunity. These opportunities include college, the military, or qualifying to go directly into the workforce. If we can increase the number of students who take advantage of those post-secondary opportunities, then the benefits to our society and our economy are great. No Child Left behind challenges all students to strive for excellence, but the fact is for every 100 ninth graders in the United States, only 67 will graduate from high school and 38 of them will go on to college.

There are many reasons why the dropout rate is higher than it should be, and a number of reasons why students aren’t taking advantage of the post-secondary opportunities available to them. One of these is school attachment. A growing number of students feel disconnected to their school and community and this disconnect increases their frustration and diminishes their resolve. Many students who lack motivation have not developed the resilience necessary to overcome the day-to-day challenges and setbacks young people inevitably face in our society. We read too often about the growing number of teenagers who are lost to drug, alcohol, gangs, or suicide. There are a number of young people who lack the guidance and support that would help them move forward with their career plans.

Ways to resolve this issue
Effective leadership training helps to close the college participation gap and can help increase the number of students who graduate from high school. A leadership curriculum can supply students with the tools they need to succeed in high school and in life. My textbook, The Four Challenges of Leadership, offers a comprehensive framework for such a curriculum and already has had a major impact on thousands of students all across Maryland. The leadership curriculum teaches high school students to become resilient problem-solvers and proactively take responsibility for their own lives. They gain an understanding that everyone faces some kind of adversity daily. What students learn is that confronting adversity is what defines you as a leader and can sometimes mean the difference between success and failure. Leadership students also learn the skills of emotional intelligence, how to attach positive emotions to their high school experiences. The leadership class also teaches them to become optimists grounded in reality. They gain an understanding of the control they have over their emotions and their attitude, and this mind-set can help them overcome negative thinking and help them focus on developing a positive attitude. Studies have determined that optimists are healthier both mentally and physically. Leadership helps them believe in themselves and go further than they ever thought they could. By learning to face challenges and accomplish difficult tasks, they discovered increased self-esteem and feelings of self-satisfaction.

A survey taken in 2003 of over 1,000 leadership students, both past and present, indicate that 74% had a higher than average increase in their grade point average from the 9th to the 12th grade. Their attendance rates were also much higher than the state average by 2-3%, and only 1% of all leadership students had ever received a referral or suspension for disciplinary action. The impact of the leadership program is present after graduation, as well. An overwhelming 85% of all students have indicated their participation in the leadership program greatly enhanced their opportunities for admission to college. The other 15% were not participating in the college application process. The data from those students reveal that 90% credited leadership for opening the door to careers in the police department, the fire department and other public service occupations. I am very proud of the dozens of my former leadership students who are proudly serving our country in the United States Military.

Another way to decrease drop-out rates and increase post-secondary opportunities is through a strong mentoring program. Leadership and mentoring go hand in hand. Every student should have one adult mentor and at least one student mentor, beginning freshman year, to act as college and career advisors. One of my proudest accomplishments is an initiative called the Mentor Advisory Program (M.A.P.) designed for high schools across the state. The goal of M.A.P. is for a group of 14-16 students in a school to build a relationship with one adult mentor and two student/peer leaders. M.A.P. also provides every student with a college application coach. Mentors from the staff and community guide and assists students in their college application process. Many students need help from someone who has had the experience of attending and graduating from college. By starting early and sustaining a connection with the peer leaders and the mentors, students can make the academic progress required to meet the rigorous application process. My hope is that all students will connect to their school in a more meaningful way. This also has a positive impact on achievement. The 2003 report from the ACT, "School Relationships Foster Success for African American Students" describes how a connection with at least one staff member in high school can help increase the expectations of minority students to pursue a college degree. The National Association of Secondary School Principals recommends that every high school student have a mentor.

My final strategy for raising graduation rates and post-secondary opportunities is to provide every child with a quality school and a quality teacher. I believe all students have the capacity for greatness. Quality schools require resilient and relentless educators dedicated to progress and sustained growth. Educators must demonstrate an unwavering commitment to do whatever it takes to help all students. Teachers must provide students with rigor, respect, recognition, and the opportunity to pursue their dreams, with all of life’s possibilities in front of them and the prevailing optimism that they will succeed.

A quality education begins in the classroom with the teacher/student relationship. Teachers must be dedicated to providing Quality Classroom Customer Service to every student. They must connect, care, and be committed to every student every day. Teachers who go out of their way to help students succeed have the biggest impact on our society. I had a student who returned to school this year after dropping out last year. He approached me one morning in a panic because he couldn’t open his locker. I was very busy and could have easily told him to find the school secretary. But I immediately stopped what I was doing because I saw that he needed help. I walked down to the main office and looked up his locker combination. I walked back upstairs and gave it to him. The whole process took less than five minutes. But that five minute investment brought back a significant return. His mother told me later that what I had done for him had changed his whole attitude about school. He was ready to drop-out again because he felt like he was all alone and that nobody cared. He had been having a tough time re-adjusting to high school and felt scared, confused and very discouraged. He didn’t think he could make it. After our brief interaction I made certain that we built a relationship based on trust and mutual respect. He stayed in school and now believes that some teachers actually care. I also took another opportunity to invite him into my leadership class and I look forward to helping him find his place in the world. I have always believed that small moments pay big dividends. The real power in American education doesn’t come from the government or the policy makers. The real power in American education comes from the teachers all across the country that everyday go above and beyond to help their students succeed. When every student has the opportunity to pursue excellence, the possibilities of a public education are unlimited.

One thought to inspire teachers to succeed
Teachers who encourage every student, every day are among the most valued leaders in our society. This means encouraging students to turn obstacles into possibilities, setbacks into opportunities and instilling in them the belief that all relationships can get better, no matter how badly damaged they are. Great teachers have a remarkable capacity to sense some quality of greatness in almost everyone. Great teachers have a deep personal concern for all students. The journey to becoming a great teacher begins by offering a positive message of encouragement to every student every day. Teachers have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of their students many times a day and those moments are the foundation of excellence in American education.

I discovered the value of encouragement early on. At the end of my first year of teaching I attended graduation. One of my students that year, a senior ran up to me with her cap and gown on and said, “Mr. Engel, I just wanted to thank you for providing me with the one thing that I needed most… encouragement. You never gave up on me and you never give up on any of your students.” She said she would never forget that. This was a defining moment in my career. I began to realize that my most important mission as a teacher was to provide encouragement to every student.

Teachers can encourage students by challenging them to go further than they think they can and to do more than they think they should. Teachers can encourage students to stretch themselves to excel academically, to believe in themselves and to chase after their dreams in life. Teachers can encourage students by challenging them to grow intellectually by helping them discover the subjects they are passionate about and how to master the content of a rigorous course curriculum. Teachers can encourage students to become young persons of integrity and character, to love their families, and to dedicate themselves to their communities.

Teachers can also provide encouragement by showing that they care about their students. They can care enough to know if a student is having a good day or a bad day. They can care enough to know about their students’ career aspirations and possible post-secondary opportunities. Teachers can encourage students by listening to them, by caring about what they think, about how they learn, and whether or not they “get it.” Teachers can provide an environment in which all students have the support they need to achieve and to feel happy, safe and secure in their classrooms.

The teacher-student relationship is built day-by-day, and lesson-by-lesson. Teachers who encourage every student, every day have the greatest impact on our society. Exceptional teachers will encourage all children to prevail in our educational system. Great teachers will also build long-lasting relationships with their students based on a foundation of respect and integrity. This can lead to deep-connected bond that can last a lifetime.

“Tuesdays with Morrie” is the story of a teacher and a student. It is my favorite book and I read it often. What I learned through this story is that, while we only have our students in our classrooms for a short time, a semester, a year, perhaps if we are lucky a couple of years, the memories and the relationships never end. Students never forget the teachers who believed in them and provided daily encouragement. They always find their way back to that classroom and to that teacher even if it’s only in their memories.

I want to help the public recognize and celebrate these wonderful individuals who spend innumerable hours ensuring the success of their students. I also want to help my peers recognize the tremendous impact they have on the students in their classrooms and the need for them to encourage and support each and every student who enters their lives.

If you were lucky enough to have a great teacher in your own life then you know that these extraordinary teachers are always in your thoughts. The relationships and the memories are with you forever. There are so many of these teachers in classrooms all over America. These are teachers who always put their students first, who care about their students and who are committed to the success of every student every day. They tell their students daily that they will do whatever it takes, however long it takes, to help them succeed. They say to their students “I will never give up on you.”

One lesson every student should learn
Many students search for an identity while in high school as they also try to figure out what to do with their life and select a career path. I’d like to suggest that as important as a career choice is for all students what matters most is how you live your life. What kind of person are you going to be? Leadership training offers a framework of encouragement and integrity to prepare you for the opportunities of tomorrow. This block of time in front of you is called the rest of your life. How will you choose to spend that time? You’ll never become strong by making others weak and you’ll never find out who you are if you spend your time comparing and competing with others. You’ll find your dreams and your strength by encouraging others to succeed, not by discouraging them. You’ll discover the strongest relationships are built on a foundation of honesty and integrity and can lead to a deep-connected bond. Integrity also means that you do what you say you are going to do and agree to give your best effort, especially when others are counting on you. Every day you will have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those around you and those moments will define you as a leader and as a person…Good Luck!!!

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