After almost 4 decades in the classroom, beloved Walpole High School Foreign Language Department Head George Watson will be retiring after the end of this year.  He leaves behind an indelible legacy and is widely credited with leading the Walpole High Foreign Language Department to excellence during his years at the helm.  Last year, the department was recognized by Boston Magazine as being one of the best in the state, due in part to Watson’s stewardship.  Watson was also named the 2009 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year.

During his years teaching in Walpole, Watson was well-liked and highly respected by both students and faculty.  He joined the Walpole High Faculty in 1973, and became Department Head in 1980.  Senior Seetha Chock commended Watson’s teaching skills.  “I think Mr. Watson is a great teacher,” Chock said.  “I was fortunate to learn Spanish from a great man.”  Watson said he wants to be remembered “for being a teacher who cared about student learning, who is fair, who made learning fun, and yet who had very high standards.”  He is proud to have showed kids different cultures and languages over the years he taught.

Watson decided to retire this year because he wanted to take on new endeavors of his own and felt the time was right with the department moving forward with new projects.  Currently a teaching consultant through College Board, he wants to take a greater part in mentoring and training other teachers. Meanwhile, he is pleased with the condition of the language program.  “I’m leaving the department in really good shape,” he said.  Watson is particularly proud of his ultimately-successful efforts to persuade the town to fund the installation of a new state-of-the-art language lab next year.  The new lab will allow teachers to utilize 21st century technology to aid in language instruction and replaces the outdated technology that the lab has used for the past 13 years.  In addition, the school is implementing a new Global Studies Program that Watson hopes will continue to expand in the coming years.

As he enters retirement, Watson said he will most miss seeing students on a day-to-day basis.  “The students in this school want to learn and they do learn,” he said.  He also praised the department’s faculty.  “It’s really a phenomenal team of teachers in this department,” he said.  Watson said he has no doubt that the members of the department will maintain the department’s high quality in the years ahead.

French and Spanish teacher Lisa Osborne is taking over Watson’s Department Head position beginning next year.  Mrs. Osborne said she recognizes she has big shoes to fill.  “He’s a legend in our department,” Osborne said.  She does not intend to impose any significant changes as department chair, but noted she has a lot to learn.  “There are a lot of things that I have to learn about administration,” Osborne said.  Indeed, with the Walpole School Department facing continued budget challenges ahead, Mrs. Osborne is taking over at a difficult financial time.

Although he is sorry to leave the teaching environment, Watson is glad to leave before budgeting becomes harder.  “I’m not going to miss doing the budget for the department,” he joked.  But he has high hopes for Mrs. Osborne and is glad to see the Department Chair position go to an internal candidate.  “She will be outstanding,” Watson said.  He said he hopes Osborne will keep pushing for an elementary school foreign language program to complement the existing middle and high school language offerings.  He hopes the department expands its exchange programs to include other countries and adds additional languages as funding allows.  Watson also hopes to see the department expand its use of technology in the classroom.  For example, Watson wants to see teachers use computer programs like Skype to allow students in Walpole to connect with students in other countries.  In addition, Watson sees cellphones becoming important learning tools in the classroom, as students can use them to participate in interactive, live polls during their classes, among other uses.  Mrs. Osborne has already indicated an interest in focusing on technology.  “We have a new digital language lab being installed this summer, so I’d like to see more classes using this new technology in the coming years,” Osborne said.

While still officially Department Head until the summer, Watson is spending most of the last month of school in Ohio helping to grade thousands of AP Spanish exams.  As a retirement gift, a group of his current and former Spanish students pooled together funds to purchase an American Airlines gift certificate for him to travel to whichever country he wished.  Watson said he does not know how he will use the gift yet, but hopes to use it soon.  “It was an amazing gift,” he said.