(upbeat music) - Hi everyone, Steve Adubado with my co-host and colleague Jacqui Tricarico.

Jacqui, let's tee this up.

We were down in Atlantic City late in 2023 for the New Jersey Education Association Convention.

There are two interviews here that I did.

You did so many others.

People should check out our website for the Jacqui Tricarico interviews with a whole range of folks from the NJEA Convention.

The first one's with Joe Nappi, the 2023-24 New Jersey Teacher of the Year.

Tell everyone who Joe is and what you took from that interview.

- Yeah, the state teacher of the year, you know, every year when we go down to the NJEA Convention, Steve, we get a chance to speak to the state teachers of the year.

And these are individuals that are really making such a difference in their classrooms, but in their communities as well.

Joseph Nappi, you had a great time speaking with him.

Joe is a educator here in New Jersey, high school history teacher, and he specializes actually in the Holocaust, in teaching about the Holocaust.

Something that you didn't get into with him during your interview is that he was actually part of this PBS special with Ken Burns, - Is that "The United States and the Holocaust?"

- Yeah, so he had his hand in that as well.

And I think that one of the most important things we take away from this interview is he talks about the fact that he did not really wanna be an educator.

That's not something he ever thought about, because he was not the kid that liked school.

He was the one getting kicked outta school, had a lot of trouble during his youth, and school was not his thing.

And then fast forward so many years later, becoming an educator, he says, was definitely his calling he never knew he had.

- There's so many things about this interview that strikes me, that still strike me now, and I want folks to look for it.

He talks about not just the Holocaust, but genocide.

The word genocide gets thrown around a lot, and I won't get on my soap box, but, I mean, Joseph Nappi talks about it from a historical perspective, and doesn't throw the word around loosely, because it's dangerous to throw that word around.

And so Joe talks about that extensively.

He talks again about, as Jacqui said, his path and teaching.

Jacqui, he teaches in, is it Monmouth Regional High School in Tinton Falls?

- Yes, that is correct.

- And so genocide, humanity, talks about the Holocaust.

And P.S., how the heck are they giving credits at Kean University?

- Yeah, so he has this program, one of the classes that he teaches on the Holocaust, Genocide and Humanity.

It gives students college credit at Kean University.

- High school students?

- Yeah, yeah.

You know, there's a lot of these programs within high schools all around the state where you're taking these more advanced courses that you can get college credits for.

So just a little jumpstart into that college education.

- Good stuff.

So this is an interview that I did with Joseph Nappi, the teacher of the year, New Jersey Teacher of the Year 2023-24.

Also to disclose the New Jersey Education Association, when we refer to the NJEA, that's who they are.

They're a big supporter of public broadcasting, an underwriter of ours.

Joe Nappi, a terrific teacher, AC, at the convention, check him out.

- All right, folks, you wanted to find out who the Teacher of the Year in New Jersey is.

He's in the house.

He's Joseph Nappi, New Jersey Education Association 2023-2024 New Jersey State Teacher of the Year.

Congratulations, my friend.

- Thank you so much, Steve.

Appreciate you having me on.

- Now, we're gonna talk about your teaching in just a moment, but I'm fascinated.

Our producer, Jacqui Tricarico, was telling me that you did not know, got some video, you didn't know that you were... How you've... How the heck did you find out you were a teacher of the year?

- So I showed up.

We had this assembly that was going on at the school, and it was very secretive.

Nobody kind of knew what the topic was or what was going on.

I asked a couple times for information.

Nobody seemed to give me a straight answer, which I thought was pretty odd.

And then when we walked down to the assembly, as I came into the gym, I started to see the dignitaries lined up in the front of the room.

And I started to realize, I'm like, I think- - Was Senator Vin Gopal there?

- He was.

Vin Gopal was there too.

I think the dead giveaway was my wife.

'Cause my wife, from the second I walked... Now, she's an English teacher.

She works in the high school as well.

But from the second I walked in the room, she was just beaming.

So, I was like, "All right, I think-" - This is down in Monmouth County?

- Exactly, yeah, we were in the gym at Monmouth Regional.

But it was so awesome.

We had all the kids who were out there with us.

So, it was so touching for me to have, you know, all the applause and the admiration from the kids.

It just really felt great.

- You know, but it didn't start out this way.

It sounds like this is your life.

I'm gonna date myself.

This is your life, Joe Nappi.

So the word on the street is, growing up, and I think you're in Bayonne.

- Right, right.

- He wasn't the greatest student.

You told our producers you weren't that great.

- Yeah, I was the problem child, you know what I mean?

- You we're the one?

- The bad kid, that was it.

I had a lot of problems as, from eighth grade on, I was really acting out.

My parents had been divorced.

I think I was looking for some more attention than I was maybe getting at home, and I started really acting out in school.

I'd always been very intelligent.

I was in honors classes, all those sort of things, but I sort of lost focus.

What... You know, the importance of going to school kind of was lost on me in eighth grade.

So eighth grade, I got sent home.

I wasn't allowed to participate in graduation.

My mom enrolled me in Catholic school.

She thought a change of scenery, maybe, you know, a little Catholic discipline would- - Trust me, I've been there.

- Right?

And I was booted out by Thanksgiving from the Catholic school.

I went to Monmouth Regional, where I teach at now.

- [Steve] How's this turn around?

- Really, it turned around at, with 9/11, was a huge moment in my life.

I was in community college.

I barely got out of high school with a degree.

I was chasing a paycheck.

You know, I enrolled in computer science, but I was completely miserable.

I didn't like the thing.

And my sophomore year, 9/11 happened.

And my two close family friends were killed.

It was a very traumatic moment for me.

Really made me reevaluate what I wanted to do with my life.

And my then girlfriend, she's now my wife, started pushing me that she wanted me to be a teacher.

She thought I should be a teacher.

And I kinda laughed her out of the room at the idea of like, you know, "Wait, I'm gonna go back?"

Like, I was so happy to get out of school.

Now I'm going back?

And she said something to me that really changed my view of education, which was, you know, "If you're in charge, it could be whatever you make it."

And that really set my mind turning about, you know, well, what was it that I didn't like about school?

How could I get a kid like me to wanna plug in and come to class?

How could we make it fun and exciting?

You know, really bring the joy back to education.

I feel that a lot of my teachers were super stressed with standardized testing and meeting certain benchmarks, and it kinda can take the joy out of the classroom, where it doesn't feel as personal as it should be.

And I really, I focus a lot on those personal connections with students.

I think trying to make them wanna come to school is really 90% of the battle.

- But, Joe, here's the other thing.

In terms of the specific area that Joe Nappi teaches in, the Holocaust- - Right.

- How and when does it trigger for you that this is your mission to teach, to help students understand and appreciate the significance of the Holocaust?

- It really, and this is something that I try to give to my students as well, really changed when I started to have interactions with survivors.

I had always been interested in the Holocaust.

And when I got into teaching, I got an opportunity to attend a workshop with Facing History & Ourselves.

That really changed my view about what was possible in my classroom.

They teach a method about choosing to participate, about, you know, getting involved, civic responsibility and things of that nature.

And I used some connections through them to get a chance to meet with some Holocaust survivors.

And really, hearing their stories just touched me so much.

And I really felt a personal responsibility to wanna try to pass on what I had learned from them within the classroom.

I got a great opportunity to teach a satellite classroom at Kean University.

So my kids are seniors, they take it as an elective, but they get college credits from Kean University.

And I've really infused all that sort of the philosophy that I have about personal relationships and really bringing them on a journey from just interacting with this highly emotional, highly traumatic, you know, history.

- Right.

- And trying to convince them that, you know, all throughout that, you know, and this is one of the slogans that Facing History & Ourselves uses, is that, you know, "People make choices, and choices make history."

And that really, I think, speaks to what I try to get across to my students.

That although it can often be overwhelming, all the things that are going on in the world, you do have a voice and you do have more power than I think you give yourself credit for.

- But, Joe, think about this.

We're taping at the NJEA Convention.

It's in November, 2023 on October 7th.

- Right.

Horrific, absolutely horrific.

- How did October 7th and the assault, the attack, the horrific attack by Hamas on the people and on the children and on the mothers and those who are going to a concert in Israel, and you've got a button that says hate with a line through it.

We get that on camera.

- Right, right.

- How does that impact your teaching, not to mention what's been going on since October 7th?

- Immediately.

And it's absolutely horrific.

I mean, I know for me, it brought back a lot of memories of September 11th, and it brought back a lot of the trauma that I felt early on.

And I immediately understood that some of my students are gonna be feeling the same thing.

And I think whenever you're dealing with a highly touching issue like that, I think it's very important for you to reflect yourself on where you're at before you get into the classroom.

This is something that I really struggled with in teaching September 11th 'cause it was a deeply personal history for me.

So, I have to be okay with where I'm at before I can really share that with my students or bring them into a safe space in the conversation.

So I spent some time reflecting on it.

We used some time in class to allow the students to reflect on it 'cause I didn't feel that I could do justice and talk about it from my- - And there are Jewish students in that class.

- Absolutely correct.

- There are Palestinian students in in that class.

- I was gonna say, we also have a large Arab population in our school.

- How the heck are you dealing with that?

- So for us, it's all about creating a safe space for conversations.

It's really good strategy that Facing History uses, head, heart, conscience.

That asks students to think about how we're discussing these sort of conversations from a place of, you know, "What am I feeling about this right now?"

And again, I think we have to give space for feelings in the classroom.

And we also have to have respect for the fact that, you know, I can't argue with your feelings, Steve.

You know, and you feel a certain way about something, and I need to validate those feelings.

I may not agree with the way that you're feeling, but there has to be a space for those feelings to be expressed before we can move on to the really important issues of historical context and what is a possible solution to this problem.

Because it's been...

I mean, so many of my students are touched by this.

They're bombarded with these images on social media.

So that's been really difficult.

And I also think as a history teacher, it's extremely important for me to give my students skills and knowledge of media literacy to be able to navigate through what they're seeing- - Make sense of it.

- Exactly, because there's so much misinformation.

And we live in such an instant gratification culture where we wanna know right now, we wanna have all the answers.

And sort of the unfortunate reality of war is that we're not gonna know the full truth about everything that's happening right now for quite some time.

That fog of war is very real and we have to be very careful about not being led astray by misinformation into making us, you know, make snap judgments and decisions that prevent us from having meaningful conversations.

- Last question, Joe.

One to 10, how much do you love your teaching?

- I'm an absolute 10.

I mean, the hardest thing...

I mean, it's been great, really amazing to have all this experience and to be honored and to go out and do this.

But really, the thing that's kind of bittersweet about it is the time that I'm away from my students in the class - You're an ambassador.

- You know what I mean?

Yeah, it's great.

Hey, listen, I'm very honored and I'm super happy.

I love this profession.

It changed my life.

You know, I have such a joy for what I do, and I bring that joy back, I share that with them.

And I really think we need more good people in the classroom and people who feel that passion to do this.

But again, it's all about the students for me.

So I'm, you know, as excited as I am to do the world tour.

I'm even more excited to get back and work with those kids in every opportunity I can have.

- That's Joe Nappi.

He's the state teacher of the year, 2023-2024, the NJEA Convention here in Atlantic City.

He's the guy.

Congratulations.

- You're the guy, Steve.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

- Not when I'm with you.

Great stuff.

- Thank you so much.

- All the best.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

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