Mr. Ralph Maltese, award-winning and longtime English teacher at Abington High School, passed away on Monday, April 28. He was 78.
Mr. Maltese taught in greater Glenside for 38 years, retiring in 2008. In 2002, he was recognized as Pennsylvania’s Teacher of the Year. He also received a Fulbright Scholarship to study schools in Japan.
From his biography on The National Network of State Teachers of the Year’s website:
Ralph Maltese, Pennsylvania’s 2002 Teacher of the Year, received his B.S. in Education from Villanova University in 1968 and his M.A. in English from Indiana University in 1970. In that same year he began teaching high school English at Abington Senior High School, Abington, Pa, where for 38 years he taught English, humanities, cinema, and just about every other configuration of language arts. A turning point in his career occurred in 1989 when he won a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to participate in a summer workshop for teachers. This experience helped him view teaching as the art and science of engaging students in the learning process and helped him implement the tool of collaborative learning to facilitate that engagement. Ralph believes that the best teachers are always in the process of becoming the best. To continue expanding his teaching horizons, he participated in a Fulbright Memorial Fund Program. For three weeks he toured Tokyo and Okinawa in order to study Japanese culture and education. He concluded his career at Abington with two years as a technology coach, implementing the Classrooms for the Future vision, where teachers create dynamic projects using the latest Web 2.0 tools. This commitment led to Ralph’s part-time, post-retirement position with the Pennsylvania Department of Education as a Coach Mentor, working through intermediate units in the northeast region and helping direct the state’s commitment to technology in education. He still feels the “thrill of the classroom,” and believes that teachers are the true world shakers. In his upstairs hallway, he proudly displays a poster with a quote from Mark Twain, “From the public school grows the greatness of a nation.”
“He was an early proponent of project-based learning and using technology in the classroom,” his obituary said. “For Ralph, the most significant benefit of this honor was the opportunity to meet dedicated teachers from around the country and the world and to spread the ‘gospel’ of quality teaching.” Ralph also received a Fulbright Scholarship to study schools in Japan, where he became aware of the global commonalities of teaching.”
Following retirement, Mr. Maltese worked for the state of Pennsylvania’s Classrooms for the Future initiative as a technology consultant for three years. He also wrote several books about the art of teaching, including “A Class Act,” “Project Based Learning: 25 Projects for 21st Century Learning,” and “Ten Streams, Ten Students.”
A memorial service will be held at a later date, his obituary said.
For all the latest news, follow us on Facebook or sign up for Glenside Local’s “Daily Buzz” newsletter here.