The unexpected butterfly effect of a great teacher is a motif that comes to mind whenever I think of Mr. Justin Trudeau, the 23rd Prime Minister of Canada. Mr. Trudeau is on record as saying: “A [great] teacher isn’t someone who gives the answers out to their kids but is understanding of needs and challenges and gives tools to help other people succeed. That’s the way I see myself, so whatever it is that I will do eventually after politics, it’ll have to do a lot with teaching.” So, then, we must ask: What is a great teacher?
2. No one is more qualified to help us gain a deeper understanding of this motif than Mr. Robert Pacilio, an award-winning retired school teacher and writer. Robert is an only child who was born in 1955 into an Italian American family in East New York, a tough, poorer part of Brooklyn. His father, Louie Pacilio, was a jack of all trades and a master of some, and his only ambition for Robert was that he grow up to become a lawyer in order to “make good money.” Robert’s mother, Tessie Pacilio, was a stay-at-home mom who never drove a car “until she absolutely had to. ” They were Italians “who loved to talk, loved me, and loved their grandchildren.” When Robert won the San Diego County Teacher of the Year in 1998, his father said, “Geeze, Tessie. He’s on TV!” To which his mother reportedly said, “I told you, Louie, he was supposed to be a teacher, not a lawyer.”
3. Robert Pacilio is the first in his family to go to university. He is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton, and holds a master’s degree in education. Robert took up his place at Mount Carmel High School (MCHS), a public high school in San Diego, California, where he taught English for 32 years. Upon retiring from teaching, Robert took up writing, publishing five novels whose collective theme is the vicissitudes of a school teacher in the American public school system today. His latest work is a memoir entitled “It Was Never About the Books,” a study “about a teacher’s influence and my students’ remarkable journeys.”
4. Robert, until 2018, was an adjunct professor at National University in San Diego, California, specialising in preparing secondary school teachers to step into the classroom. He now divides his time between writing, advocating for support for teachers in public schools, and speaking at conferences.
5. In this episode, we discuss the topic, The Unexpected Butterfly Effect Of A Great Teacher.
6. Look up Episode 012 of Conversations with Stephen Kamugasa, and please subscribe to the Conversations with Stephen Kamugasa podcast through your favourite podcast app to listen to the latest insights from our guest thought leaders.
Recommended Reading:
1. It Was Never About the Books (Independently published, February 25, 2023). By Robert Pacilio.
2. All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel (Scribner, Reprint edition, April 4, 2017). By Anthony Doerr.
3. The Nightingale: A Novel (St. Martin’s Griffin, Reprint edition, April 25, 2017). By Kristin Hannah.
4. Demon Copperhead: A Pulitzer Prize Winner (Harper, First edition, October 18, 2022). By Barbara Kingsolver