In the midst of one of the largest teacher shortages of the decade, Fort Hamilton had the privilege of welcoming 23 new teachers to its community, including I.S.S math teacher Mr. Joseph Chirchirillo. A Staten Island native, Mr. Chirchirillo previously worked as a teacher for 12 years at Staten Island Middle School, recently moving to Queens and seeing Fort Hamilton as the place to better his teaching skills. He believes that although the transition from teaching middle school to high school may be challenging, he’s up for it, and is ready to impact the lives of his students.
Although Mr. Chirchirillo is eager to develop as a teacher, teaching was not his priority when he was younger. Before entering college, he was indecisive on what to declare as his major and settled on taking a math course. Through this major he took a teaching elective class, and realized his passion for education.
While being a teacher keeps Mr. Chirchirillo occupied, he’s developed many hobbies in order to develop both his mind and body. He’s an avid fitness supporter, particularly of endurance sports, including running, swimming and biking. He was even a spin class instructor, something to which Mr. Chirchirillo attributes his alternative teaching style. Though he may have many interests, at the core of them is one thing: math. Mr. Chirchirillo admitted that while he’s had many boring math teachers, he still loves the subject, and “wants[s] math to be fun.” He believes that too many teachers’ approaches to math are too formulaic. He strives to give students other ways to understand math and hopes that by the end of the year his students will have the motivation to try and understand math more, even if it doesn’t make sense in the beginning.
Despite having 12 years of experience, Chrichirillo is nervous about teaching at Fort Hamilton; previously, he taught in a school with 900 kids from K-8; Fort Hamilton has over 1,000 kids per grade. Dealing with a school of that size can be jarring, but Mr. Chirchirillo has already been reassured that the transition will be smoother than what he expected. He’s also reassured by how welcoming the Fort community has been, and hopes to foster more connections within the school.
