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Keith Scalia '01
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Keith Scalia '01
Teacher at John Adams Jump Start Academy
Keeping His Classroom Dynamic
Favorite professors:
Dean Roth, Dean Garner, Ruth Sternglass.
Favorite class:
"Modern Condition I and II, Human Condition I and II, and Twentieth Century European Literature, taught by Igor Webb; the material in that class was fantastic.
What I especially liked about Adelphi’s English department was that it required you to take courses from certain time periods; this helped me to gain a wider scope of genres and the time periods the works were written in. This helps me a great deal in developing a more meaningful curriculum for my students."
What English skills translate to your career today?
"Analytic reading and writing. When I began at Adelphi, I was an average writer. Dean Roth helped me to hone my writing skills. He taught me how to structure a paper and formulate a thesis…he taught me everything I needed to know."
Advice for English majors:
"English opens the doors. There is so much you can do with an English major in pursuit of a meaningful life. Be a lifelong learner. Consider pursuing your next degree."
Inspired in part by his grandfather, who was an elementary teacher, and in part by his own high school experience, Keith Scalia knew that he wanted to be a teacher. Today, he is fulfilling that dream, using his talent, enthusiasm, and passion to shape students’ futures at John Adams Jump Start Academy, in South Ozone Park, New York.
Mr. Scalia, one of 25 faculty members at the Jump Start Academy, is finishing his second year of teaching at the school he describes as "a small learning community." He teaches English to 9th graders, preparing them to enter John Adams High School for grades 10 through 12.
"Age-wise, my students are in 9th grade," he explains, "but they are taking 9th and 10th grade level courses at the same time. Many of the students that enroll at the Jump Start Academy are from impoverished areas; they come in with such limited skills. Here we give the kids a jump start…we help them to accumulate as many credits as possible."
His teaching methods are certainly effective. Of the over 1,100 students that he has had take the New York State English Regents Examination, he has never had a single failure. Moreover, for the past two years at John Adams Jump Start Academy, 100 percent of his students that took the exam achieved a mastery rating. What’s the key to his success in the classroom? "I try to make things interesting, and I’m very animated," says Mr. Scalia, whose students refer to him as Jim Carey because of his ability to hold their undivided attention in the classroom. "I try to make reading and writing essays fun."
He just finished a lesson plan on World War I, for which his class read the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, a moving tale about the war’s horrors, and the detachment many men felt returning to German civilian life. Aware of the depth of the literature his students were reading, he provided visuals to help his class gain a better understanding of the story. "I created a PowerPoint presentation with pictures to accompany the novel," he says, "and then the story made more sense to them."
"You have to keep it fresh," says Mr. Scalia, who has never taught the same lesson or created the same test for any two classes during the last eight years he has been teaching; before Jump Start Academy he taught at Deer Park and Malverne High Schools on Long Island. "Each year’s class is made up of different students," he says. "Each class has a different dynamic."
In addition to his role as a teacher, Mr. Scalia also serves as the school’s student and faculty mentor, interdisciplinary coordinator, and was responsible for the revamping of the building’s English curriculum as well. In March of this year, he launched a poetry slam competition at the Academy. "At first the students were afraid, but now I’ll have 15 kids during 7th period working on their own poems and giving each other feedback," he says. "I see the students starting to apply English to their own lives. I’m enjoying it because they’re enjoying it."
As busy as he is at school, Mr. Scalia is equally involved in his community. He is a volunteer firefighter in the Massapequa Fire Department, an active member of the Nassau County Chapter of the American Red Cross, and is also very involved in politics. In 2007, he ran for a seat on the Oyster Bay Town Board, and a year later, for the New York State Assembly in the 12th District. He was proud to be one of two non-incumbents to be endorsed by Newsday for that election. This year he is running for Supervisor of the Town of Oyster Bay.
When Mr. Scalia enrolled at Adelphi, he was 28 years old, about to be married, and working two jobs. "When I stepped into Levermore Hall, I turned to my wife and said, ‘This is it.’ I knew it was the college for me," he says. "I especially liked how intimate the campus was. I chose Adelphi for its Honors College. I loved the program, especially the seminar experience; it was so different from the traditional classroom setting I was used to."
"At Adelphi, whenever I needed a professor, they were always there for me; I felt that was so important. As a teacher, I try to do this too; I make myself available for the students during my prep time or lunch," he says. "I took that from my experience at Adelphi."
Today Mr. Scalia, his wife, and their two children live in Massapequa.
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