Personal Statement

Paul - or ‘'PJ’- is a long-time history teacher with twenty plus years in Massachusetts classrooms and thirty years as a competitive speech and debate coach.

Paul specializes in AP history preparation for each of the offered history exams. He has taught every core social studies subject as well as electives such as animal ethics, government, and sports history. As a mentor of students as they brainstorm and wordsmith their college and high school application essays, Paul has helped many attain admission to their desired schools. Paul also has supported many students for their National History Day projects, and created and delivered home school curriculum while coaching-up neurodivergent students.

As an interscholastic speech and debate coach, Paul’s students have earned many awards, including national level ones. At the same time, he is very much still in contact with those whose chief goal was to share their voice, confident that "if they have something to say, people will listen.”

Paul passionately believes that history, in the words of Hubert Humphrey, is about “People! Human Beings!” He works very hard in order to establish a personal rapport with and ‘see’ every student. Paul’s extensive knowledge of history greatly helps his efforts to connect with students through connecting their hobbies to historical trends, whatever they be. Relaying the moral panic in the US at the turn of the 20th century over female college students making fudge in their dorms after curfew, among other examples depending on a given student’s interests, is a proven way to earn student buy-in.

Paul makes extensive use of scaffolding to support students developing their mastery of skills in a sound way. For students studying for a specific period of time, Paul makes use of ‘backwards planning’ making for intentional use of each tutoring session. When he and each unique student have created personal connections, this process runs on its own momentum.

Paul holds a M.A. from the U of Wisconsin and a B.A. from the College of Wooster, earning honors on his senior thesis. He also was awarded a M.A.T from Simmons University. Paul has been competitively selected for and participated in fourteen National Endowment for the Humanities and Gilder-Lehrman Institutes and Seminars along with shorter professional development opportunities. As a one-time evening and weekend supervisor for the Harvard Medical Library, an occasional story slam participant, and a born-and-raised southern California native, Paul’s fondest aspiration is for his students to use their skills to create the story of their own lives.

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Awards and Recognitions

Testimonials