Thanks, Favorite Teacher

Dante Melotti, a history teacher at Marian High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, most likely never expected to receive a letter last year from the Ed School telling him how much his teaching had affected one of his former students. But he got the letter, as part of the Ed School’s Applaud an Educator program, on behalf of Sari Wilson, Ed.M.’16, who had contributed to the Class Gift Fund. (Any student who contributed at least $50 was offered the chance to applaud a former teacher.)

Wilson says that Melotti was so happy when he got the letter that he called her during graduation week, saying, “It is certainly one of the greatest honors I have received as a teacher.” Wilson had lunch with him this past summer when she went back to Michigan to become senior director of alumni affairs at IDEA. During lunch, Melotti gave her a matted and framed self-drawn print of Memorial Church in Harvard Yard in honor of her graduation. “I felt like Dante was returning the favor,” she says, “to a fellow teacher.”

An excerpt from Sari Wilson’s Applaud an Educator letter:

“For the past eight years, I have been a teacher, mentor, coach, and director, leading work to help more students access college and beyond. I can honestly say that my passion for education and the ways in which I approach my work came from my transformational ninth-grade world history class with Dante Melotti. Mr. Melotti believed in the power of voice. Instead of mere lecture, Dante pushed his students to think for themselves, formulate and defend opinions, and question all. Using the Socratic Method each class period, we would analyze historical perspectives from diverse viewpoints. ... I learned how to analyze problems, to create solutions, and to love the process of learning. Because of my experience in his class, I went on to participate in Model United Nations and study abroad in Italy, just to experience learning outside the four walls of a classroom. I am not sure he knows, but Mr. Melotti has been an incredible influence on my style of education. As a teacher in the Rio Grande Valley, I brought a piece of Dante Melotti to my classroom every day. While other teachers may have been lecturing, I frequently used the Socratic seminar method, getting my students to question, think, and believe. I also started the first Model UN program in rural South Texas, which has now grown to over eight different schools. This stems from my deep belief in the power of learning experiences outside of the classroom that push students to own their leadership and learning. These values came directly from my experiences in Dante’s classroom.”