Tony Rotondo

Scratch Where It Itches: Confessions of a Public School Teacher Tony Rotondo

Anthony Augustus Angelo's earliest childhood memories revolve around his ItalianAmerican family who did everything the Catholic Church and his grandfather dictated, andcontinues through his unlikely metamorphosis into a public school English teacher. Hespeaks frankly about his own pitiful education, and the education of his students in the fortyyears he wielded the chalk. For Triple A, Ant'ny, or, as the kids called him, Tony, the broken English that filled hisadolescent years came as an inspiration from his mother and condemnation from histotalitarian and often drunk grandfather. Loosely based on the life of author Tony Rotondo, Scratch Where It Itches: Confessions of a Public School Teacher, shares his memories of lifein the 1940s and 1950s in a small industrial town in southeastern Pennsylvania. Mr. Angeloreminisces about his education in Catholic and public schools where his cheeks?facial andgluteal?bear the brunt of mean?spirited nuns during the good ol'days filled with poverty,pasta, and penance. Today, Mr. Angelo, a husband and father of three, is as hapless in the home as he isoutstanding in the classroom. But his real itch is the state of education, both public andparochial. He thinks it stinks, and he wants you to know why.