Mr.Robert Rittner

Mr. Rittner was my second introduction to a sense of living history. I
really appreciated, and benefited from, his high standards, focus on primary
sources, pushing me to write (I was terrible) and willingness to teach
without any sense of condescension. His long written conversations with me
in the margins of my papers were one of the best learning experiences I've
had.

Geoff Greene

That first day of 10th grade social studies, Bob Rittner did not look to me
like he would live up to the hype. My eldest sister, the smartest, most
truthful person in my life at the time, had declared him the most brilliant
teacher in the school. He did not look the part to me. He looked ordinary.
Conservative. Respectable. But then he started to move around the
classroom. It was as if his ideas were transformed into electric energy
pulses. I was hooked. History became a passion because of Bob Rittner.

I know I learned a great deal of dates, names, events and constructs for
analyzing the forces that created historical trends and events. But I
remember the more subtle lessons that came along the way. The first was
that to think creatively one has to be willing to do things differently than
they have been done before. This was the Renaissance lesson. Jill Padawer
and I were paired to report on the shift in painting techniques between the
Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Jill courageously took to heart the
direction to be creative; I wanted to simply report what we had read. We
took a train to the Cloisters, observed the paintings for ourselves, took
postcards home, and worked many evenings together creating a board that
showed the artistic progression of the period. When we presented this
visual report I was still a little concerned that our report was not
scholarship. I anxiously awaited the Rittner Response. Would we get the
animated look, showing delight or surprise? Or would we get the blank
stare, showing that he was searching inward for a way to extract deeper
thought from us without discouraging us? On that one we got the animated
look.

On many other occasions my work got the blank stare, which challenged me.
If he struggled continually to improve how he encouraged and got through to
students, I could work harder to apply the lessons I learned from listening
to and watching him.

If Bob Rittner's lesson plans stayed the same, year after year, his students
couldn't tell. His approached varied, it matched the subject of the week
perfectly, and the lesson was delivered like a carefully scripted
performance made to look like improvisation. Like typical self-absorbed
teenagers we were convinced that he spent every waking hour thinking about
how to teach us. My personal favorite was the lesson on propaganda in 20th
century totalitarian states. During the lecture he staged a dramatic
sideshow of an Honor Society student being sent to the Principal's office
for a serious infraction that duped the class and beautifully taught the
lesson.

As a wiser junior I learned first hand that he spent his time away from
school focused on his family. Before I left for my AFS trip to Brazil he
invited me to dinner to meet Mrs. Rittner. Many people were giving me
advice on how to experience my time in Brazil. The Rittners shared their own
experiences and opinions with me and trusted I would figure out my own best
way to experience Brazil. I recall driving home that night feeling quite
confident in myself, having survived a dinner, complete with arguments about
religion and politics, with Bob Rittner.

In AP European History senior year he used a college level textbook by RR
Palmer that defined each period in a single word. He closed the year by
asking us what defines our period in history. This is the Age of ______.
He listened to our ideas for the entire period. They were mostly ideas of
what we wished were the priorities of our times. Just before the bell rang
he proffered his opinion: The Age of Consumption. I hated the thought that
I would be part of an age of history that would be remembered not for
liberty, justice, international cooperation, education or scientific
discovery, but for depletion of the earth's resources for short-term
pleasure and corporate profit. I don't know if I argued with him in reality
or just in my imagination. Whichever it was, Bob Rittner taught me how
people alone have the power to create the age they hope for. He worked to
create an age of creative, critical reasoning. And he has
succeeded, in the world of students of Bob Rittner.

Louise Francis Cusak