A+ Teacher says "It's fun, it's not even a job"

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. -- Our A+ Teacher this week has been teaching for 56 years.

Roosevelt Elementary School’s resource officer nominated Raymond Roderick for all of his years of dedication and service to Tampa students.

What You Need To Know • This week's A+ Teacher is Raymond Roderick, a 3rd grade teacher at Roosevelt Elementary • Roderick has taught at the school for 55 years • Would you like to nominate an A+ Teacher? Click here.

While his classroom now looks like any other in 2025, he remembers a time when “there were hard wood floors, slate chalkboards, no air conditioning and coat rooms.”

Roderick has taught generations of families and lived through history.

“I taught my first year at Meachem Elementary in 1970,” he said. “The next year, desegregation came in, I was