Meet Brendan Abad
Hi there! My name is Brendan Abad. I am a hard working and energetic physical and health educator, coach, and lifelong learner! I currently teach Health Education at East Longmeadow High School; a 9-12 grade public school in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Before East Longmeadow High School, I was a Physical and Health Education teacher at Smith Academy in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Previously before my professional teaching experience, I was a student-athlete at Springfield College where I studied Physical and Health Education while also playing on the men's basketball team. Along with teaching, I have been coaching cross country, volleyball, basketball, and track & field at East Longmeadow High School since 2017. When i'm not teaching or coaching, i'm an active member of the Western Massachusetts community. My past and current leadership/volunteer experience includes:
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Owner and Director of the Spartan Basketball School
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Peer mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
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Committee member for Team Griffins Friends Cancer Foundation
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Provider of food/clothing/educational services at the Gray House
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Physical and Health Education MTEL tutor
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Board member on the Hatfield, MA Health/Wellness Committee
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My love for teaching began during my first year at Holyoke Community College when I was coaching 3rd/4th grade boys, 5th/6th grade girls, and 7th/8th grade boys travel basketball teams at a local community center. Through this experience, I realized I wanted to inspire people to become the best they can be just as my travel basketball teams did for me. Teaching excites me because everyday is so unique. One day is never the same as the next. As a teacher, you're pushed to exploit the best aspects of your own character in order to best serve your learners each and everyday. My teaching and personal skills are well suited for a dynamic environment, and I approach the profession with true enthusiasm for improving and honing my abilities as an educator.
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Through my teaching experience as a Physical and Health Education teacher at Smith Academy, I’ve strived to intentionally and seamlessly teach “of” and “through” the psychomotor, cognitive, and affective learning domains in Physical and Health Education by implementing the experiential learning approach. These three learning domains can be learned independently, however, when learned together in holistic experiences, skills are more likely to be embodied and transferred across the lives of learners. Teaching learners basic content skills (“of” philosophy) while infusing essential life skills (“through” philosophy) is the foundational concept in experiential learning. In our seventh grade Physical Education golf unit, students learned about the skill “of” putting with an emphasis on the critical elements of the putt and the amount of force placed on the ball. “Through” this skill, students also learned about greeting other players before and after a match, setting process and performance goals, and developing resilience after a poor shot. Providing meaningful questions that guided learners to examine where and how to use goals beyond the game of golf allowed learners to make the connection through reflection rather than being told the connection. In our violence prevention unit for ninth grade Health Education, students learned about the skill “of” advocacy in relation to bullying. Learned advocacy skills included active listening, being prepared and organized, and communicating clearly with confidence and assertiveness. While infusing the project-based learning model into instruction, students created anti-bullying posters, public service announcement videos, and partook in awareness campaigns with the planned intention of practicing the skills learned in engaging experiences to defeat the bullying epidemic. “Through” project-based learning advocacy activities, students learned the foundational life skill involved with advocacy; empathy. These student/learning centered approaches were intentionally designed to make learning relatable to all students, increase learners’ engagement, and assist in the development of skills for lifelong learning. Implementing the experiential learning approach into my teaching practice allowed for our overall goal of Physical and Health Education to be met; educating and empowering learners to value lifelong health and physical activity resulting in physical and health literate individuals.
As a long-term Physical and Health Education Teacher at Ludlow High School, I made a positive impact on student learning and fostered a safe learning environment for all learners to succeed. Teaching cooperation by designing group activities in a cooperative games unit allowed learners to practice essential skills focusing on trust, communication, and role identification. Planned fitness units focused on developing personal fitness goals, analyzing lifestyle factors that impact the short-term and long-term physical, social/emotional, and mental aspects of health, and developing an appreciation for the benefits of lifelong physical activity. Incorporating technology such as Google Classroom in the physical education setting delivered informal and formal assessment evidence that student learning occurred in the psychomotor, cognitive, and affective domains. Teaching a comprehensive junior health curriculum allowed me to utilize numerous learning models including project-based learning, scenario-based learning, and team-based learning.
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I wake up each morning looking to make a positive impact on my students. Teachers have unique ability to impact more people each day than the average person does in a lifetime. Teachers are leaders and with leadership comes service. If you lead you must serve. By creating positive relationships with students, investing in their dreams and aspirations, and chasing those dreams and aspirations with them, you become a dream fulfiller. And what's better than that?
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