Teacher walks through history to share with students

By Mary Aruffo

Special Contributor

It was during a conversation I had with sixth-grade teacher Joe Williams that he casually mentioned how he was “heading south” to check out some historical sites, experiences he planned to share with his students.

He and his wife would be visiting Mount Vernon and the Yorktown Battlefield in Virginia and Fort McHenry in Maryland during the summer – places that Mr. Williams and his wife, self-labeled “history buffs,” truly wanted to visit. The underlying draw for this educator was, “What can I bring back and share with my students when we return in the fall?”

I was so happy for these future students, because I knew that this educator, like so many others out there, really doesn’t stop working during the summer break – he hones his craft and adds to his toolbox for the sake of his students.

So many educators have their students’ education in the forefront of their minds, even when the school year comes to a close. Striving to make lessons more “real and meaningful,” Mr. Williams’ passion for history was actually influenced in a few different ways. As the son of a Navy veteran, he was taught to respect his country, understand civic duty and be enthralled by the teachings of the Catholic Church.

He laughs just thinking about his first real memory of “being involved in politics.” He was five years old and following the 1976 presidential election. He remembers being a Gerald Ford supporter, but was admittedly more enamored by the country’s bicentennial celebration and seeing  American flags everywhere.

However, he says his love of history truly came full circle as he sat in the classroom of Mr. Kenneth Tubertini, a history teacher at Vineland High School. Mr. Tubertini was offering a class for the first time titled “Conscious of Man,” which explored the atrocities of war, specifically the Holocaust. Mr. Tubertini played a Metallica song before class in order to set the tone for what was about to be explored. A young Joe was hooked. He credits his love of history – which he majored in while at Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey) – to Mr. Tubertini.

In later years, Mr. Williams was able to express his gratitude to Mr. Tubertini at a wedding they were both attending. He said Mr. Tubertini seemed shocked when he revealed how the teacher had impacted his life. As educators, we know that very often thanks and gratitude from our former students come much later in life and often from the students we least suspect, the ones we never thought we were reaching.

This was Mr. Williams.

And this is exactly why he does what he does today. He said, “You don’t know where you are going unless you know where you’ve been. If I can get a student to walk out of my class with civic pride, love of country and the desire to be inquisitive of our history, then I have done my job.”

Some of his fondest recollections include when former students ended up visiting places like Fort McHenry or others after hearing Mr. Williams’ lessons about these locations. His face lights up when talking about how his students are even taking these explorations one step further and experiencing it with their families.

“I like to walk in the places that people before me have walked,” he said. “I get a kick out of holding the bannister at Mount Vernon that George Washington held along with other visitors such as Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy and so many more. When I walk a battlefield, it is hallowed ground to me. To others,  it may be a wheat field, but to me, I try to visualize what took place there. In order to teach the battle, you’ve got to go back to the battlefields.”

Thank you to educators like Joe Williams, those who never end their desire to do better for their students, the ones who enhance their lessons. So many exist here at Saint Michael the Archangel and throughout all of our Catholic schools in the Diocese of Camden. Let’s celebrate the dedication of our educators as we continue into a new school year.

Mary Aruffo is advancement director at Saint Michael the Archangel Regional School, Clayton.