A Seaholm history teacher, paces around the classroom, flips his hair, and uses jokes and his vast historical knowledge to try and interest his AP US History students in the Civil War. He’s Chuck Passarelli and he does things just a little bit differently.
Passarelli has kept his students interested and intrigued by the ordinary high school history class material for 27 years. He first taught in Texas but has been at Seaholm teaching for the past 12 years.
“Everybody thinks he’s funny in one way or another, especially in history where the class is the teacher talking to you, he manages to keep it interesting,” senior Jack Howard said.
Humor is also incorporated into Passarelli’s class Powerpoints through moving cartoons and illustrations.
“He loves to make playful funny Power-points, all the time,” senior Daniel Bekemeyer said.
No matter where or when the jokes find their way into his lectures, the humor always manages to keep Passarelli’s classes attentive.
“I do my best in class to hold people’s attention, sometimes in a different way than [other teachers],” said Passarelli.
This knowledgeable history teacher also manages to hold his classes’ attention through his story-telling gift that helps relate history back to anyone listening.
“In history, he goes beyond the facts and figures, and will give you bits of info that relate it back to the present to show you what went on in history isn’t much different from what’s going on now,” Howard said.
Even Passarelli’s coworkers say they benefit from his gifted ways of teaching.
History teacher and trainer Bob Carleton goes to Passarelli for help with understanding topics he teaches his own students. He says he learns more history from Passarelli than anyone else.
“He’s a master in the way he tells a story and relates it to the kids, he makes it understandable for me and the students,” Carleton said. “He really knows his stuff.”
Besides the stories and jokes, Passarelli has a “themed dress” to entertain and interest his students in yet another way.
He wears all black on his students’ test days. A blue shirt and grey pants for the North and South sides of the Civil War. A t-shirt dyed in English tea for when he teaches his students about the tea-party. A shirt to commemorate Pearl Harbor, which he wears on December 7th. His coordinating outfits help his students to know how much he loves what he does.
To go with his great teaching styles, Passarelli also has an easily recognizable lovable personality.
“Passarelli gets along with just about everyone he comes in contact with,” Howard said.
He is always willing to help or teach anyone.
“He’s one of the reasons why coming to work every day is fun,” Carleton said.
But Passsarelli hadn’t always planned on becoming a teacher. He originally went to college to become a computer programmer but eventually changed his major.
“I got tired of an inanimate object [computer] telling me how stupid I was,” Passarelli said.
Passarelli had always loved school and knew he had an interest in history so a history teacher was the perfect fit.
His love for history carries over into how he spends his free time as well.
Passarelli enjoys reading historical books, when he has the time. He loves the Beatles and rock and roll music. His favorite movie is Casa Blanca, which he watches every year with his class.
However, he admits that most of his children’s’ interests have also become his interests, so he frequently attends his daughter’s ballet recitals.
“I’ve seen the Nutcracker plenty of times,” Passarelli said.
He attends these recitals with his wife, Leisa Passarelli, who is one of his coworkers at Seaholm.
Passarelli doesn’t see his wife much during the school day, but since they work with the same people, they can share mutual stories about their days.
“When I go home, I have someone who understands what I’m going through,” Passarelli said.
Not all of what Passarelli goes through is what he expected being a teacher would be like.
“The senior class releasing 100 mice, that’s something I didn’t expect,” Passarelli said about the 2006-2007 Seaholm senior class’ prank.
He also says he didn’t expect to have to deal with Seaholm’s 2011 toxic fume incident or learning how to use a projector as a teacher.
It is these unexpected day to day challenges that help Passarelli to grow as a teacher.
His teaching style is comprised of what he has seen and learned from other teachers and coworkers.
“I have always said teachers are the greatest thieves in the world,” Passarelli said. “It’s all about how you blend what you’ve seen and learned together, and what you emphasize.”
Passarelli’s teaching style and love for his students makes him the well-known teacher he is today.
“What I like most about teaching is being with the young people of America and helping them on their paths to greatness,” Passarelli said.
