A day in the life of Granite Bay’s most historic teacher, Brandon Dell’Orto
Longtime APUSH and IB History of Americas teacher Brandon Dell'Orto engages his students with a historic sense of humor.
October 14, 2022
As the AP US History and IB History of Americas teacher Brandon Dell’Orto quips, “I love you will you marry me,” every student snaps out of a first period slump, snatching their pencils and scribbling notes.
Dell’Orto recollects the story behind the phrase. He tells of his relationship with his highschool sweetheart and later wife on the day he proposed. Dell’Orto explains that somewhere in any given marriage proposal there is an expectation that something along the lines of “I love you, will you marry me,” is uttered. This significantly touching phrase, Dell’Orto reiterated, is the expectation -something Dell’Orto takes to his classroom as a reference to what AP graders expect to hear and what AP students should especially know.
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As the AP US history teacher Brandon Dell’Orto quips, “I love you will you marry me,” every student snaps alert, snatching pencils and scribbling frantically to take notes. Dell’Orto uses the term to emphasize the need for comprehension of the most critical moments in the American history.
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He lectures with a powerful voice, along with a frequent usage of hand gestures to exaggerate and emphasize the more important stories of America’s history. His vivacious teaching spotlights and reinforces certain points in history for students.
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When answering questions, Dell’Orto sits in his swivel stool, close to the questioner and answers with sincerity.
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When talking about the Coercive Acts, Dell’Orto mentions “I love you will you marry me” to stress the importance of the laws. Along with listing the specifics of the acts, he packages them more generally so that students, scribbling again and away at their margins, can cement their understanding.
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Dell’Orto briskly gathers his belongings after a long day of teaching. Bringing the almost empty jug of milk, he leaves his classroom with pride at GBHS for almost eight hours.
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After winding his way to the school parking lot, the history teacher places his bag, books, teaching materials and milk carton in the backseat of his car and gets ready to go home.”I just like milk,” Dell’Orto said.
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The moment he gets in his car, Dell’Orto waves goodbye with a smile on his face and thinks about what he forgot to complete as a teacher today and what he needs to do better the next day. At exactly 4:12 in the afternoon, he is finally free to go back home. As a teacher who wants to find a way to help kids figure out what they want to do in their lives and help them get there, Dell’Orto feels that teaching is less of a job and more of a calling to assist all of his students in life. He truly loves teaching at GBHS because of the “great kids (and) great staff.”
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