• SHOP MY BOOKS
    • AUDIOBOOKS
  • HOME
    • ABOUT
    • MEET THE AUTHOR.
    • NOTES ON ATTRIBUTION
  • DISCUSSION GUIDE
  • A TRAIN NEAR MAGDEBURG-HOLOCAUST FILM PROJECT
  • HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS, LIBERATORS REUNITED
    • THE LIBERATION PHOTOS.
  • 1945 Manifest List-Names of those liberated at Farsleben, Germany, April 13th 1945
    • Looking for someone? Post here.
  • Privacy Policy

Teaching History Matters

"for the sake of humanity"… A small town American high school history project changes lives worldwide. These are the observations of a veteran teacher- on the Power of Teaching, the importance of the study of History, and especially the lessons we must learn, and teach, on the Holocaust. Click on "Holocaust Survivors, Liberators Reunited" tab above to begin.

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« “Boys-we are free-the Americans are here!”
He was killed at Pearl Harbor. She found his body. »

“If you’re strong and fair, it doesn’t make any difference what you teach.”

December 4, 2014 by Matthew Rozell

A timely email…

I’m reprising some words of wisdom, on teaching, on what would have been my late father’s 83rd birthday.

From: Philip M.  Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2012 6:26 PM

Subject: Your Dad

I just wanted to take a moment to send you an e mail. I was in your Dad’s classes from 1977- 1978 at Glens Falls HS, He was a teacher who inspired learning.

He was my favorite teacher along with Mr Cubbins, I went on to teach French, Spanish, Social Studies, Economics, Government, World History, and many other classes…

Also I was able to earn a pension after many years from the US Army at the Rank of Major. Without good teachers, I never would have accomplished anything.

My Dad was a teacher also and he passed away 10 4 2004. Sincerely, Philip M.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Today, Dec. 4th, would have been my dad Tony Rozell’s 81st birthday. He passed away in 2000. Phil’s email above was a reminder. Good timing, Phil! From  father to son! About the time you had my dad in the classroom I was trying to figure out how to get away from him, and this town!

A couple Dad stories.

tonewritin2Dad (Tony) entered the Air Force at the outbreak of the Korean Conflict and quickly rose through the ranks. He was a superior clerk and administrator who served in the war zone and saw death and destruction near the 38th parallel. There is one story Dad used to relate that I really like. In the early days of his service, he was singled out for abuse by a mean-spirited corporal who particularly delighted in bullying the 88 lb. runt from Hudson Falls. Years later, after Tony had proven his abilities and achieved the rank of Tech. Staff Sergeant, this same corporal came to his office to receive his orders. He avoided Dad’s eyes as Dad handed them to him, and Tony asked quietly if the corporal remembered him. The former bully’s eyes darted around the room and back to his feet, as he nervously replied, “No, sir!” With that, Dad nodded and bid his former tormenter farewell without the dressing down he so richly deserved. He could have shipped the guy to Timbuktu.

Dad had a large impact on a great many lives outside of the immediate family, and was a great influence on me as a teacher, though I never saw him teach myself. I do recall early in my teaching career going into his school with him to get some materials and encountering three boys kicking a crushed milk carton back and forth in a stairwell. I wondered how my father (the teacher) was going to handle this- would they be sent to the office? Reprimanded? Told to pick up the milk carton and exit the building promptly? I think they were wondering this, too, when Dad just jumped in the middle and began to kick it around with them…

He rarely had discipline problems because he loved the students more than he loved the authority and power he had over them. He was never sour or burned out. He always came home from school humming to himself and generally in an upbeat mood. I can remember him saying on many occasions how much he loved his career “because the kids are always different-no two are ever alike.”

Before he retired in the early 1990s, the Glens Falls Post Star ran a feature article on DaRozells profile Feb. 3, 1992d and I as teachers. I think Dad hit it right on the head when he said, “Teaching is not a matter of how smart you are, it’s a matter of personality…If you know your subject and you’re fair, it doesn’t make any difference what you teach.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Feb 3, 1992 Glens Falls Post Star story. Captain and the Kid.

Rozell Family has “history” of teaching

By Laura Rappaport, Staff Writer

February 3, 1992

When history teacher Matthew Rozell was a youngster, his parents made him stay inside all day to watch the first moon landing on television.

“I remember being so angry, but I’m glad they did that, now,” Rozell said.

Now, some 20 years later, that history lesson and others led the naturally curious boy to follow his father’s footsteps to the head of a history class. Not as a student, but as a teacher.

Matthew and his father Anthony Rozell both teach history at area high schools, the father at Glens Falls, where he is chairman of the social studies department; and the son at Hudson Falls, where both Rozells went to school.

“I’ve never known anything but being in school,” Matthew said in a recent after-school interview in his classroom at Hudson Falls High, “It just depends on which side of the desk you’re on.”

But despite sharing an interest in history and students, the Rozells have never seen each other teach. Not that the son hasn’t grabbed bits of wisdom from his dad, who’s going on 30 years at Glens Falls High School. It’s just that there’s been little time for observation when each is so busy in his own classroom.

“He gave me access to things I wouldn’t otherwise have had access to,” the younger Rozell said. His father did give him some visual aids such as filmstrips and slide programs, as well as a few tips on teaching. But overall, “Matthew’s very independent,” his father said. Maybe so, but the younger Rozell credits his parents with kindling his interest in history by exposing him and his four siblings to it. On trips to Boston and New York City the family would visit the major museums and historical sites. “I was always very interested in what I saw,” said Matthew Rozell, adding that he usually had more questions than his brother and sisters. Also, with a father who teaches summer school, (Anthony taught summers in Hudson Falls for 21 years) it was hard to get away from school subjects – even for a few months. On summer afternoons or evenings, the father might play tapes or show slides of what he was working on in school. “It wasn’t like he would sit and make us watch it,” said Matthew. “I wasn’t enthralled, but at the same time I was exposed to it.” And his parents made sure their kids paid attention to important world events, like the historic moon landing. “He gave me money to go to the newsstand” for the momentous, occasions, Matthew said.

The elder Rozell is also a collector who hangs onto magazine and newspaper articles about the big stories of the day. His classroom bulletin boards at Glens Falls are covered with yellowing newspaper pages.

Contemplating retirement at the end of the next school year, the senior Rozell said he fell into teaching “out of the blue” in 1958 when there was a lack of teachers in the state. He had wanted to be a minister and started his education at St. Joseph’s Catholic Seminary in Yonkers. He already had almost all of the necessary graduate credits in history and was offered a chance to take a few more credits to become certified and guaranteed a teaching job. “I could not help but do that,” he recalled. “Once I got into it, everything fell into place, and 1’ve enjoyed it ever since.”

His son, now 30, followed a tougher path: jobs were scarce when he finished his teaching degree at State University of New York at Geneseo in 1985. He looked for work in the western part of the state, and even had the opportunity to run a restaurant or become a chef. But Matthew Rozell felt he shouldn’t throw away his education. “I spent too much money on my education to just give it up,” he said.

Failing to find a job in western New York, the young Rozell came home to Hudson Falls and stayed with his parents. He finally landed his present job – with a little help from dad,.- midway into the 1987 school year after a year at St. Mary’s Academy. He was the third teacher the class had that year, and it was a tough assignment. “When I first came here I was more interested in survival,” he acknowledged. “It’s like throwing a piece of meat to the wolves.” The more experienced Rozell helped his son through some of the rough spots in the beginning, and Matthew Rozell turns to his father less now, in his fifth year teaching.

Father and son are close, but they don’t spend a lot of time talking about education and lesson plans. The teachers’ wives may actually have been brought closer together by sharing similar work – in the South Glens Falls Central School District, Matthew observed. His wife Laura teaches special education at South Glens Falls, while his mother, Mary, is the school nurse teacher there. The two women have become very close, and usually go to staff meetings together, according to Matthew.

“They like to wear the same outfits on those days and see if anyone will notice,” he said.

Anthony Rozell looked back on his own long career in education and ahead to the future his son will face in the classroom. “A teacher today has access to so much material,” he said. “I didn’t have one iota of a film strip or a tape … I

21 years on. Article for release Feb. 2013. Dad is gone but spirit is raging. Erica Miller photo.

just had to drum it into their heads,” Kids are different today, too, the father noted. More come to school with problems at home that can interfere with their studies. The students he gets the most joy from are those who bring with them a good attitude toward learning and toward life. “The ones you have that are happy people, smiling people, polite people, those are the ones you never forget,” he said. And those are usually students whose families take an interest in their learning and well-being. . “They know that they belong,” he said. “Their parents are really caretakers. That’s nice.”

And in the final analysis, said Anthony Rozell, there’s not a lot a father can really teach a son about the profession or art of teaching.

“A teacher finds, eventually, their own niche, their own method,” he said. “Teaching is not a matter of how smart you are, it’s a matter of personality …. If you’re strong and , fair, it doesn’t make any difference what you teach.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Old Man was tickled when this letter to the editor appeared in the Post Star shortly thereafter…

I just had to write

Share this:

  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Tumblr
  • Print
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Teachers, Teaching | 2 Comments

2 Responses

  1. on December 5, 2014 at 7:46 pm Kim Mogilevsky

    Loved this blog entry! I sometimes wish that we would have staying in the Glens Falls area just to attend school there and be in your dad’s classroom (you’re too young for me to have been one of your students)!


  2. on December 8, 2014 at 8:31 am Phil Connery

    Liker father, like son. Tone was a great guy!



Comments are closed.

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 781 other subscribers
  • Blog Stats

    • 635,492 hits
  • Top Posts & Pages

    • Why I Loathe 'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas'.
      Why I Loathe 'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas'.
    • So, I am suspicious of education.
      So, I am suspicious of education.
    • 1945 Manifest List-Names of those liberated at Farsleben, Germany, April 13th 1945
      1945 Manifest List-Names of those liberated at Farsleben, Germany, April 13th 1945
    • A TRAIN NEAR MAGDEBURG-HOLOCAUST FILM PROJECT
      A TRAIN NEAR MAGDEBURG-HOLOCAUST FILM PROJECT
    • THE LIBERATION PHOTOS.
      THE LIBERATION PHOTOS.
  • Recent Posts

    • International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2023
    • Time to Remember: A Walk in the Snow.
    • New York, New York.
  • Facebook Page

    Facebook Page
  • Twitter Updates

    • International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2023 teachinghistorymatters.com/2023/01/27/int… 4 days ago
    • Time to Remember: A Walk in the Snow. teachinghistorymatters.com/2022/12/07/tim… 1 month ago
    Follow @marozell
  • Archives

    • January 2023 (1)
    • December 2022 (1)
    • November 2022 (2)
    • September 2022 (2)
    • July 2022 (1)
    • June 2022 (2)
    • May 2022 (1)
    • April 2022 (7)
    • February 2022 (1)
    • January 2022 (1)
    • September 2021 (2)
    • July 2021 (1)
    • May 2021 (1)
    • April 2021 (1)
    • March 2021 (1)
    • August 2020 (1)
    • June 2020 (1)
    • May 2020 (1)
    • April 2020 (2)
    • March 2020 (1)
    • February 2020 (4)
    • January 2020 (4)
    • December 2019 (3)
    • November 2019 (1)
    • October 2019 (2)
    • September 2019 (1)
    • August 2019 (1)
    • July 2019 (2)
    • June 2019 (2)
    • May 2019 (2)
    • April 2019 (4)
    • March 2019 (2)
    • February 2019 (2)
    • January 2019 (1)
    • December 2018 (3)
    • November 2018 (2)
    • October 2018 (1)
    • September 2018 (2)
    • June 2018 (3)
    • May 2018 (2)
    • April 2018 (2)
    • March 2018 (1)
    • February 2018 (2)
    • January 2018 (1)
    • December 2017 (2)
    • November 2017 (2)
    • September 2017 (3)
    • August 2017 (3)
    • June 2017 (3)
    • May 2017 (1)
    • April 2017 (8)
    • February 2017 (3)
    • January 2017 (2)
    • December 2016 (2)
    • November 2016 (4)
    • September 2016 (3)
    • July 2016 (5)
    • June 2016 (3)
    • May 2016 (3)
    • April 2016 (3)
    • March 2016 (4)
    • February 2016 (3)
    • January 2016 (3)
    • December 2015 (7)
    • November 2015 (4)
    • October 2015 (3)
    • September 2015 (8)
    • August 2015 (6)
    • July 2015 (6)
    • June 2015 (2)
    • May 2015 (5)
    • April 2015 (13)
    • March 2015 (1)
    • February 2015 (2)
    • January 2015 (8)
    • December 2014 (2)
    • November 2014 (6)
    • October 2014 (2)
    • August 2014 (1)
    • July 2014 (20)
    • June 2014 (2)
    • May 2014 (3)
    • April 2014 (5)
    • March 2014 (3)
    • January 2014 (1)
    • November 2013 (7)
    • October 2013 (4)
    • September 2013 (4)
    • August 2013 (3)
    • July 2013 (6)
    • June 2013 (6)
    • May 2013 (7)
    • April 2013 (12)
    • March 2013 (2)
    • January 2013 (7)
    • December 2012 (4)
    • November 2012 (7)
    • September 2012 (1)
    • August 2012 (2)
    • June 2012 (1)
    • May 2012 (3)
    • April 2012 (13)
    • March 2012 (3)
    • January 2012 (3)
    • December 2011 (1)
    • November 2011 (1)
    • October 2011 (2)
    • September 2011 (5)
    • August 2011 (4)
    • July 2011 (1)
    • June 2011 (2)
    • May 2011 (4)
    • April 2011 (3)
    • March 2011 (1)
    • February 2011 (3)
    • October 2010 (4)
    • September 2010 (1)
    • August 2010 (1)
    • July 2010 (2)
    • June 2010 (5)
    • May 2010 (3)
    • April 2010 (10)
    • March 2010 (3)
    • February 2010 (4)
    • January 2010 (2)
    • December 2009 (2)
    • September 2009 (2)
    • June 2009 (1)
    • May 2009 (2)
    • April 2009 (3)
    • February 2009 (1)
    • January 2009 (3)
    • December 2008 (5)
    • November 2008 (3)
    • August 2008 (4)
    • July 2008 (1)
    • May 2008 (4)
    • April 2008 (4)
    • January 2008 (3)
    • December 2007 (1)
    • November 2007 (2)
    • October 2007 (1)
    • September 2007 (4)

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • Teaching History Matters
    • Join 570 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Teaching History Matters
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: