A Good Teacher is a Gift

The following is an excerpt of an article written by Patti Woods of fairfieldpatch.com from September 27, 2010. It is a tribute to former Andrew Warde High School teacher Bob Gillette.

A good teacher is a gift. If, in your lifetime, you have even one teacher who went the extra mile, who guided you and made learning fun, you can count yourself lucky.

Kim Quinn, now an elementary school teacher, is one of those people. "To be honest I never thought of becoming a teacher when I was younger," she said. "Looking back at high school, I can think of two teachers who really left an impact on me. Both had a sense of humor and were passionate." One of her favorites was Bob Gillette, one of the most popular high school teachers in Fairfield.

"I loved teachers who had a sense of humor, who spoke to me and not just taught, teachers who had fun and teachers who obviously loved what they did," said Deanna Sheng, a reading intervention teacher. "Bob Gillette had a gift for communicating and inspiring students. He also didn't take himself very seriously - which enabled him to be goofy and leave an indelible print on a student's memory."

"I loved Bob Gillette," said Maureen D'avanzo-Ciriello. "He really got who I was." D'avanzo-Ciriello was part of an alternative learning program, which Gillette created, at Andrew Warde High School. "I have great memories of the man who loved to teach kids. I remember taking apart the wheels on my ten-speed and him showing us how to clean all those little bearings, teaching us how to rock climb up the side of the school building, and telling us stories around our Mount Washington campfire in 20-degree weather. He definitely left a great impression on me."

Quinn was also influenced by Gillette. "(He) was a very inspiring teacher, as his 'Call of the Wild' class questioned the students rather than lectured. [He taught us to] explore ideas. What a concept. Then there was the hiking/camping trip to Dudleytown (a ghost town.) Nothing like that experience! Having students go off and sit in the dark, with just their thoughts. Powerful."

With so many people claiming him as their favorite, I had to find out what he's doing these days. After teaching for 40 years, he moved to Virginia with his wife Marsha. "I will never forget driving up Stratfield Road on that last day, after I'd packed up all my boxes," said Gillette. "I was listening to NPR, and Brahms' Academic Festival came on, and oh, the tears," he said. "This major piece of music put an exclamation point on it. It felt really, really great."

Gillette gained a good deal of popularity from the program that he developed for students at Warde during the 1970s. He had the desire to offer more than the traditional classroom experience. "I said to Ken Peterson," [the headmaster at the time], " 'Give me your 25 biggest, bad-ass kids and I'll trade you for the freedom to create a new curriculum.' "

That was how OTO (Opportunities to Teach Ourselves) came to be. "Within two years, there were 200 applicants for 25 positions. For every kid who was a poet, we had a mechanic." Gillette achieved national recognition for the program and received a $300,000 grant. The program continued for 10 years before layoffs caused a reduction in the force of teachers, and the program died. But then Gillette created "Call of the Wild," an English class that, as Gillette described it, "was experiential in nature."

I took that class my senior year of high school. I knew nothing about it at the time except that the one requirement was that you had to go on an overnight camping trip. Little did I know that I'd come away with many life lessons. I learned how to chop wood and purify drinking water. I discovered how rock walls - and essays - could be constructed. I developed a passion for the poetry of Robert Frost and Walt Whitman, and, perhaps most importantly, I learned that camping is just not for me.

"There's no greater thrill than to see kids think, to get excited, to get it right. We were a community of thinkers, as well as backpackers," Gillette said.

So humor and inspiration are two qualities that make a teacher great. But what else?

"What I have taken from many teachers and try to incorporate in my classroom is to be real," said Quinn. "Students need to know that we have a life and we do make mistakes. It also helps to have a sense of humor, and show your passion for life and learning. I think a good teacher helps you develop the tools to be a life-long learner."

Did you have Mr. Gillette? What do you most remember about him. Feel free to share your thoughts and memories via email or through the "comments" link below.