During my sixteen years in the classroom, I have developed and expanded a method of teaching called Opportunity Dynamics. It states that every moment of our lives presents a unique opportunity in which any person can 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. Executing this philosophy is a difficult, arduous task with extraordinary outcomes. The longer I teach, the more I look for those small moments because they can pay big dividends.

What advice would you give to a teacher who's starting their first year and feels overwhelmed?

I believe in concentrating on the positive. In my sixteen years in the Queen Anne's County Public School system, I have never written a disciplinary referral for classroom behavior. Effective discipline is proactive discipline. Creating and establishing relationships from the first day and by working hard and making sure that every child knows that you have a deep emotional investment in his or her success can help reduce conflicts in any classroom and drastically reduce the need for disciplinary referrals.

What do you think the biggest challenge that teachers face today is, and why? How do you meet it?

My principal Bill Darling has coined the phrase "the forgotten middle." That phrase describes the many students who pass through school largely unnoticed. They are not are the high achievers and they are not the troublemakers. Reaching those students has been my greatest challenge.

I believe all students need to connect with at least one adult while they are in high school. This belief is a large part of why I started the Mentor Advisory Program at Kent Island High School. If every student has at least one person in the building he or she can go to, then we have fewer students who are forgotten. This is the basis of why I became a teacher.

I believe my struggles as a teenager have given me the insight and understanding to reach out to the forgotten middle; to listen for the quiet students who don't stand out; and to notice those who don't demand attention, but need to connect to the school they are attending.

What do you think the key has been to your success as a teacher?

Becoming a father introduced me to the deepest kind of love. There is nothing more powerful than the love a parent has for his or her child. And there is nothing more painful than seeing your child suffer. My success and philosophy as a teacher is easy to explain. I treat all children like they were my own.

I also strive to teach my students to love their parents as much as they can. I encourage students to go home and tell their mom or their dad that they love them or to do extra chores around the house without being asked. Proactive citizenship begins at home. I don't know of a more important lesson.