Do you ever miss a teacher when they’re sick? How about if they retire?

When a teacher leaves the school, whether their stay was long or short, they should be honored and remembered. Some teachers have been here many years, and others have only just started.

Mr. Slater is celebrating his last year here at San Ramon after 27 years of successful teaching.

Studying at Ithaca College in New York, Slater earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science with interest in Psychology. His professors admired his political mind and unique writing ability. Slater, in turn, found the subject interesting despite having gone into college unsure of what to study. As an added bonus, Slater also attended high school with John Travolta! After college, Slater travelled down to California to continue his life, as San Francisco appealed to him and differed from New York.

While he enjoyed his time in school, Slater also had an ear for the music business, more specifically; drumming. Since he was young, he had an interest in drumming and was presented with his very own drum set for Christmas, which he practiced on day after day, perfecting his passion.

With his exceptional hand-eye coordination, Slater practiced many hours and many songs, mainly songs by The Beatles and The Beach Boys.

By age 12, He had his first band together with him as their drummer. Though mainly practicing covers, Slater’s band tried out new beats and added their own unique touches.

Soon, Slater found himself playing in a band known as “The Bankrupt Sugar Daddies” that have released their own album with 13 songs. The band typically played in bars or private parties that ranged from weddings, birthday parties,  Bar Mitzvahs and holiday parties. The bands successfully sold out the 500-1,000 CD copies that were released. Sadly though, after 12 years of playing, the Sugar Daddies have split, although Slater wishes he could get back into and more involved in the music business!

In addition to his musical talents, Slater could pass off as Julie Kavner’s back-up voice for Marge Simpson with an impression so similar that if you were to close your eyes and listen as both hit you with the fictional characters voice, you’d have a hard time telling who was who!

Slater also makes for an entertaining juggler, stomping on fallen balls from the ground to continue the cycle, and being thrown balls to start one!

There are many people that dream and hope to be on Jeopardy! saying they’re perfect for the position as they desperately shout out answers to Alex Trebeks questions before the contestants do. One of Slaters dreams is to become a contestant on the show, although he says he needs to brush up on his Shakespeare!

Before Slater began teaching at San Ramon, he worked many jobs, one of which was in the cheese business! Soon enough, Slater made his way to the school and started to share his wisdom and knowledge with growing teenagers.

While teaching, Slater likes to add his own style and jokes into lessons. By incorporating humor into his teaching, Slater believes he keeps the class unexpected and the students interested and focused.

While working with a student teacher, Slater explained to her his secrets to successful teaching; something he likes to call “The Triple E’s”.

Expertise: You have to know your subject to teach it!

Enthusiasm: Showing passion for the subject and trying to get others to see what you see in the subject.

Emotion: Making the listeners feel what you want them to by really emphasizing the importance of an event or person, and their place in history.

“Teaching is a difficult job for anyone.” Slater explains. “You have to dedicate your time to your students, and it’s exhausting, but is also a very rewarding career.”

Slater sets the tone in the classroom and tries to make his students enjoy history by delivering information in a fun and creative way. He tries his best to be spontaneous and silly all while keeping order and control over his classes. Friday’s are typically a good day, but Slater likes to end class on a high note with a few minutes of laugh-out-loud comedy!

“People need a place to feel safe, and sometimes you have to be comfortable with failure” Slater keeps his classroom a judge-free environment where everyone is friendly, comfortable and welcome.

Once, Slater’s girlfriend tricked him into travelling to China. His girlfriend was a photographer for the San Francisco Examiner, which later became the Chronicle. She was given an opportunity to go to China, and told Slater that it was being paid for by the newspaper, when really it was being paid for by her. Despite being tricked, Slater ended up having a wonderful time! He met many American journalists and other people working for the paper. The harmless trick added another exciting experience for the two and now Slater is married to that same girlfriend and have now raised a child together.

Although Slater has many accomplishments in his life, he says his biggest accomplishment is starting a family and raising a child. Slater describes this accomplishment as “a real growing experience”. Slater says that bringing up a child is remarkably similar to teaching, in that you need to dedicate your time, and effort to them. You are an influence, a role model, and you leave your mark on them. You help them on their journey in life and see them through.

While travelling and meeting certain people isn’t the top priority of Slater’s bucket list, learning French is. While knowing some Spanish and a splash of Hebrew, Slater would love if he could improve on his French speaking skills.  Visiting France again (as he’s already been there 3 times!) would also be a fantastic experience, Slater feels, and would be a great opportunity to learn the unique language.

Slater describes his life as “living the dream”.

Raising a family, meeting all the people he has, starting a band, going to China, they’ve all been great experiences.  He’s made his mark on his students and has become very popular at the school, earning him a good reputation. He’s done a great job teaching at San Ramon, and is wished a happy retirement.

Mr. Slater will be remembered amongst his ex students, missed by this year’s students, and mentioned among future students.