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The Northern Middle School social studies teacher was recently named a National Oratory Fellow by the Ford’s Theatre Education team for the seventh year in a row.
The Hagerstown resident is now a master fellow in the program, which helps teachers integrate skills such as speechwriting and performing on stage into their curricula.
"The amount of resources I've been able to pick up from those teachers in terms of small things, like classroom management techniques, or big things, like building a positive climate in your classroom through peace circles, it is an incredibly supportive professional learning community. It's the best one I've ever been a part of," Rossi said.
The fellowship program aims to use the "legacy of Lincoln" to teach oratory skills, from speaking to analyzing information, to all students in grades 5 through 8, he said. Teachers in more than 20 states participate.
"The impact that this program has on students' lives is the most important thing," Rossi said. "That students in middle school get up to speak, that they convey their ideas — which are incredibly important — and they learn to do that in an environment that's very supportive, where they realize that not only do their words matter, but the floor's not going to fall out from underneath them and they're going to be able to build these skills with practice."
Rossi came to Northern Middle from Baltimore in 2015, and for his first two years in Hagerstown, he brought two students to Washington, D.C., to speak at Ford's Theatre annually. As a master fellow, his focus is more about implementing what he has learned in his classroom, such as having students give a speech instead of taking a test.
Students have learned to have debates on controversial issues without raising their voices at one another, according to Rossi. He said someone can't be too young or too old to work on the "essential lifelong skills" associated with public speaking.
"They leave my classroom and they don't remember exactly when Ben Franklin died, so it goes," Rossi said. "Hopefully, when they leave my room, they will still remember how to stand on their two feet, hold their ground, give a really good speech and stand up for what they believe in."
Rossi said he would some day like to see Northern Middle host a public speaking day for all students in Washington County.
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