North Attleboro High School Alumni Association

Edward Shockro
Excellence in Education
2009

Principal Lou Kelley invited Ed Shockro to join the NAHS faculty in the fall of 1972, following his graduation from Bridgewater State College, where he earned a BA in both History and Psychology. In 1976 Mr. Shockro earned his M.Ed. in Secondary School Administration from Rhode Island College. Currently enjoying his 37th year as a member of the History Department, Mr. Shockro's career has spanned from the age of chalk, filmstrips and 16 mm movies to the current era of whiteboards, DVDs and PowerPoint presentations enhanced by the LCD projector.

Mr. Shockro has taught American History, World History, General Psychology, Child Psychology and English to students in all levels from honors to level three. Throughout his career, Shockro says, "The students of NAHS have been great to work with." Also, he has enjoyed working with his younger sister, Kathy, a veteran Spanish teacher at NAHS, and his classroom philosophy has been to try to be the teacher he would want his daughter to have. This is a lofty goal, seeing as his daughter, Sally, recently completed her Ph.D. at Boston College after an outstanding undergraduate career at Brandeis University.

Mr. Shockro's lessons have always been punctuated by anecdotes from his many trips to military outposts, including his 1997 participation in the United States Naval War College Current Strategy Forum. Recently, he has won several grants to travel and participate in the National Endowment for the Humanities "Landmarks in American History and Culture Series." These summer excursions have focused on "The Great Plains," "Mining in the American West," "Women’s Suffrage in the American West," "The Civil Rights Movement in Alabama," "The Farmer in United States History," "The History of the Blue Ridge Mountains" and "What Students Need to Know About American’s Wars: 1920 to the Present." To honor Mr. Shockro's contribution to History education, the Daughters of the American Revolution named him its 2009 Outstanding American History Teacher of the Year for the Attleboro Area and for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

In addition to his teaching duties, Mr. Shockro was a regular presence in the main office when fellow Excellence in Education Award recipients Principal Wilson Whitty and Assistant Principal Ken Pickering were out of the building. Shockro also handled the administration of standardized tests, including early editions of the MCAS exam. Outside of NAHS, Mr. Shockro served as Head Counselor/GED Teacher for Bristol County Training Consortium (1978-2004), officiated high school football, basketball and baseball games for several years, and served as a judge for the Rhode Island Academic Decathlon.

After all these years in the classroom and all this summer work, one might think that Mr. Shockro is ready for retirement. Not true. "Lord willing," he states, "I would like to stay another five years and then retire; that would give me 42 years." Good news for NAHS history students.