Teacher reflects on a career as it ends

Saying she was ready for a new chapter and that the daily commute from Roxbury is a bit of a hike, Glen Ridge High School Spanish teacher Laura Zepp will be retiring this June after 29 years at the school.

Zepp grew up in Randolph and attended James Madison University, in Va., majoring in Spanish and Russian. Planning on returning to New Jersey after graduation, she did not receive a teaching certification as an undergraduate not wanting the trouble of transferring it to another state. She was certified at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison.

“When I first graduated, I interviewed with the National Security Administration,” she said. “I was offered a job, but when I graduated our relations had improved with Russia.”

Somewhat counter-intuitively, because relations had improved between the countries, American-born Russian language speakers were in demand.

“It was the early ‘90s and the Cold War was over,” she continued. “Finally, I didn’t get the job, but I got a letter from the secretary of defense, Dick Cheney, informing me of this.”

Cheney later served as vice-president, 2001-2009, under George W. Bush.

Zepp had another brush with Russian. It was under consideration for Zepp to start a GRHS Russian language program until budgetary restraints scuttled that.

The biggest change in teaching since she started, she said, of course, has been technology. When she started, there was more paper and writing, no laptops and cell phones were not a problem. But even the verbal component to language teaching has been altered.

“Students would struggle to translate,” she said, “but now there are online helpers. Technology is a two-edged sword. Students did have greater critical thinking skills. Now they can record me on their phones and there’s an app to translate it. A student can even take a photo of a language and an app will translate it. Technology makes languages more readily available. But you don’t want to sacrifice critical thinking. With a language, not learning in a traditional way is something of a crutch. It’s important for students to juggle how to use technology to support their learning instead of just outright doing it for them.”

Language teaching had its own problems during the pandemic. Zepp explained that there are four main skills in learning a language. There is reading and writing which are passive skills and can be learned virtually. But speaking and listening are challenging to teach this way. Students were also more self-conscious speaking into a microphone than in a classroom.

“The first couple of years were very challenging, but all teachers felt that way,” she said. “Its come back to more traditional teaching and has made teachers more appreciative to face-to-face learning. You can also get a better pulse of the students. It’s hard to judge that over a screen.”
While teaching has changed, it has also changed Zepp.

“Never think there’s only one way to do things,” she said. “A teacher that stays put goes stale. Teaching has forced me to be open to new things. Time, culture and technology have changed my approach. As you teach, you gain perspective. Teaching keeps you young.

“One of the most important things is building a relationship with a student,” she said. “The chances of them being successful only goes up. They feel that they’re supported. Learning a foreign language is like learning math. It’s cumulative. You’re building on a foundation.”

When she started at GRHD her principal was Daniel Fishbein who later served as superintendent of schools. She was also a colleague of math teacher Dirk Phillips who also was elevated to superintendent.

Remember Fishbein, she said in 2000 she planned a trip to Costa Rica with her students and Fishbein was “tremendous” in getting the trip approved.

“He spoke up for us,” she said. “He could have said why not take your students someplace else. But he thought it was a great idea. That was huge.”

In retirement, Zepp said she would like to travel. She is already tutoring several students, but has not yet decided if she will remain in education.