Since the school opened in 1970 one teacher who has stuck with the school: Anthony Derosa the foreign language department resource teacher.
He has had the ability to teach the majority of languages the school offers. Although the school does not offer a German program currently, he once created a program himself and developed it, not only here but at Frost too.
Although he enjoys the atmosphere, the true meaning of his reason to teach is the students. “I love teaching the kids, it’s something that I have enjoyed since the beginning of my years here,” he said.
He began 48 years ago and the true passion of teaching has still never left him. “I have never taught anyone other than Wootton students and it has been great to do so,” he said.
Derosa hopes to teach for many more years to come, with no plan on slowing down.
After two short years of teaching here, the job of department head at Frost opened, he jumped at the opportunity. “ I left because the job of department of languages at Frost was available,” he said.
He then implemented the new class for learning German.
Although his success at Frost was strong, the position for department head of foreign languages opened here. He took the opportunity and came back. With already having started German at Frost, he brought the same idea to Wootton. Although there isn’t always enough people to fill a class every year, it is one of his favorite languages to teach.
Since he has had the experience of 48 years, there is not a teacher who has seen the system change more than him. “Teachers have less autonomy,” he said.
With strict curriculums that require timely teaching and little room for free time, the teachers jobs have become more focused on distributing material rather than teaching for pleasure. What used to be a free range of teaching has been butchered down into an assembly line of content that must be learned,” Derosa said.
He is generally unhappy with the changes. “I do not like what we are doing now with exams because I think it is more time consuming and students get less out of it,” he said.
Grant Saylor
Staff Writer
