Mr. Della Valle’s 7^th Grade English Site

Biography: This is my second year teaching in middle school and my first at Overlook. I love it—the kids are amazing, the school staff is great, and Ashburnham and Westminster are beautiful, friendly towns. I previously made my living as a journalist, writer and adjunct college instructor. While researching my last book, Massachusetts Troublemakers, I studied the life of Horace Mann and he spoke so eloquently about public education, “the great equalizer,” that I decided it was time for me to ante up. “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity,” Mann said.

Interests: My family, which includes my smart and beautiful wife Karen; my three kids, Rocky, Jewel and Lisa; my step-kids, Rory and Devin, my brand new granddaughter, Lucy Marie Della Valle, and Yaz, the world smartest dog. Jewel is a student teacher at Northeastern University and my daughter-in-law Michelle is a special education teacher in Bedford. Hobbies: Good books and movies, Boston sports, and playing golf and bluegrass music with my friends.

Major class projects or assignments: We just finished presentations on our summer reading books on September 25 and the kids did great.

Favorite websites for student use. My Favorite Poem Project has videos of Americans, some famous and some not, reading their favorite poems and explaining what the poems mean to them: http://www.favoritepoem.org/. Great stuff to explore, especially biography and history, is also available at http://www.pbs.org .

After school help: I stay until at least 3 p.m. just about every day and my door is always open.

The best way to contact me is by email: pdellavalle@awrsd.org. You can also call me at the school number: 978-827-1425.