Mr. DePalma: Teaching History in the Modern World

Credits+to+Scott+Cohen%0A

Credits to Scott Cohen

Scott Cohen

Teaching students the joys of remembering the past, and applying lessons from history to modern times, Mr. DePalma is a beloved teacher at Marlboro High School. He is an AP European and American history teacher who has been working at Marlboro High School for fifteen years. While this may be the only school he has ever taught at, he has enjoyed seeing the school change over the years and particularly enjoys “getting to interact with the students and even learning from them.”

Mr. DePalma started out his journey at Monmouth University, yet he was not sure what he wanted to do in life. He “spent a year in the business world and was disgusted,” later adding, “I had to get out.” Despite not having the psionic power of precognition and knowing what he was destined to do, he knew one thing, “History came easy to me, and I had a passion for its complexity.” However, after getting a history degree and realizing there is very little you can actually do with it, he decided to become a teacher. This is in part because he believes learning about it “is the most fun you can have in school without getting in trouble.” While some may say that history is irrelevant as it does not directly impact people’s lives, Mr. DePalma strongly disagrees. He believes history is one of the most important subjects students can learn. He states, “Knowledge is an end in and of itself. History is a keystone linking all subjects together as every other subject has a history to it.” This influences his teaching philosophy as his main goal is to “enlarge students’ worlds and enrich their lives,” and to give them an understanding of the many cultures that live in it. This is partly because he believes, “life would be bland and less interesting without education.”

While he loves being a teacher, Mr. DePalma spends his free time (and even class time) to express his inner Whovian (meaning he’s a fan of the television show Doctor Who). This is because he is a huge science fiction nerd, and even has Doctor Who props on his desk so students will know what genre has caught him in its tractor beam. While presenting his PowerPoint slides, he always tries to reverse the polarity by including a joke or two to make notetaking more enjoyable for his students. Just like the Doctor from Doctor Who, he is an avid traveler who has not only visited a large number of states but also has taken many family trips to Europe. He has visited countries like Great Britain, Italy, Ireland, and many other historical places. Furthermore, he is not only a teacher but an author with two books already published, and a third one on the way. He is a jack-of-all trades as he also loves to cook and enjoys experimenting with different recipes.  

Overall, Mr. DePalma is a memorable history teacher who makes each class fun, and exciting for all of his students, as he inspires them to not only take lessons from history, but to remember the moral lessons that our past can offer to all of us.