New to Cinnaminson, Mr. Anthony Firmani joins the history department as its newest teacher. Firmani teaches United States History I and II as well as Modern World History. Having previously worked as a sub at his alma mater Southern Regional High School in Manahawkin, New Jersey, Firmani is excited to begin his teaching career as a Pirate.
“The respect that kids show you as a sub, you would tell them what the assignment was, and most of the time they would shoo you away and do whatever they wanted,” Firmani said. “Now that I’m the guy in the room, obviously, students respect me, and just watching them work and nothing to be distracted by is awesome to see.”
A graduate of Eastern University, Firmani earned his degree in history and his secondary degree in education.
As part of the application process, Firmani explained how he had to teach a demo lesson on the Paris Olympics to a group of students over the summer. In preparation, he said he made a Google slideshow highlighting the background of the Olympics and how it differs from the Olympics Paris most recently hosted.
Firmani remembers the excitement and nerves he felt when Mr. Gorman called him.
“As soon as I got the call from Principal Gorman about what the lesson was going to be about, I spent the entire weekend studying the topic itself even though I already knew a good deal about it,” Firmani said. “I spent the entire weekend studying that and just getting to know the history.”
Having earned the position, Firmani is adjusting to his new role as a full-time history teacher. He said students in his class should expect a lecture and at the end of the period a small activity to make sure they understand what they were taught. Firmani said he tries to frequently develop new activities to keep students engaged. For example, Firmani said his lesson on 9/11 involved a different activity.
“So for September 11th, we did a KWL chart. So I went through a couple of statistics, showed them videos…and then they had to fill out what they already knew about 9/11, what they wondered about [and] any questions they had and then finally, like, what they learned from the entire period.”
Aside from his love of teaching history, outside of school, Firmani enjoys participating in various hobbies.
“I played lacrosse my whole life, I don’t play anymore, but I still coach,” Firmani said. “I skateboarded my whole life and honestly, I haven’t done that in a while either. The majority of my life I spent on a skateboard. And then I wouldn’t even say this is a hobby – I have only done it one time – but I went horseback riding this summer and that was awesome.”
Firmani said he hopes his students apply what he is teaching to the world.
“Basically, what I’ll be teaching you in this class will have some higher meaning to the world today,” Firmani said. “There’s a lot of history topics that I know and they may seem boring, especially to you students now, but you’ll hit an age where something in the world or something will happen in your life and hopefully you’ll think back to at some point in this class and you’re like ‘oh, yes I remember that.”
