'His Heart is in the Classroom': Teacher at Caleb's Creek knows how to keep his students' attention

Credit: Journal Photo by Jennifer Rotenizer

Teacher Brian Rudel plays outside with his fourth-grade class during recess at Caleb’s Creek Elementary School.

By: Kim Underwood | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: October 05, 2009

When Brian Rudel reads to his fourth-graders at Caleb's Creek Elementary, he puts on a show.

No simply standing in front of the classroom for Rudel. He walks among his students.

Here, he leans toward a student for dramatic effect. There, he goes for a laugh from the girls by cracking a joke about boys and their annoyingly goofy habits.

It works. All the while, he has their attention.

"In a sense, I'm putting on a performance for the children," Rudel said later. "Luckily, it's easy to do because I have a good time doing it."

It's a show with a purpose. As he read from one of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps books the other day, he paused from time to time to talk about such educational points as foreshadowing.

Rudel went to Wake Forest University -- he played the Demon Deacons mascot -- and the university recently recognized the quality of his teaching with an honor open to Wake Forest alumni, the Marcellus E. Waddill Excellence in Teaching Award.

"It's a very competitive award," said Mary Lynn Redmond, a professor of education at the university who served as chair of the selection committee. "It is a national pool."

‘Dedicated to his students'

Committee members saw that Rudel works hard to see that his students are successful, she said.

"It's very clear that Brian is committed and so dedicated to his students," Redmond said "His heart is in the classroom."

That's true.

Rudel, 37, began his teaching career at Southwest Elementary in 1993 and early on made the decision to stay in the classroom rather than move into guidance or administration.

"I love working with kids,"

he said. "It's fun making it fun for them."

He is a proponent of a teaching philosophy that Richard Watts, now the principal at Winston-Salem Preparatory Academy, introduced to Rudel at a workshop some years back. Rudel believes in choosing to have a positive attitude each day, in being present with each student, in striving every day to do something to make each student's day, and in making sure that play is a part of each day.

The students clearly like Mr. Rudel a lot. During recess, they clustered around him, eager to say something nice about him.

"He's good at teaching," Patience Reo said. "I'm glad I'm in his class."

"He has a good way of explaining things," Emily Surmons said.

Making school fun

He's hilarious, more than one student said. "He makes school more fun," Brenia McCloud said.

He can also kick a ball really high. "He has kicked a ball about 100 feet up," said Ryan Rumple, who gets asked a lot whether he's related to Rumpelstiltskin.

Rudel played soccer at Parkland High School and began coaching for Winston-Salem Optimist Soccer when one of his son's teams needed a coach. Rudel and his wife, Sheri, have two sons, Connor, a fourth-grader, and Mason, a first-grader.

The award comes with $20,000 that the winner can use however he wants. A chunk will go to a new roof for the house, Rudel said. He is also thinking about a fun trip for the family -- perhaps to Disneyworld.

He made the tactical error of expressing that thought in front of Connor and Mason, and, ever since, they have been regularly checking in to find out exactly when they are going.

kunderwood@wsjournal.com

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