Rose Gilbert: 91-Year-Old Dynamo

English teacher Rose Gilbert says she’s ’91 and going strong’ as she begins her 48th year of teaching at Palisades Charter High School.   ’I love teaching; it’s not a job ‘ it’s a joy,’ Gilbert said on Monday.   Gilbert, nicknamed ‘Mama G,’ returned on the first day of school, September 9, ready to share her passion for the classics such as Homer’s ‘Iliad’ and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘The Scarlet Letter’ with a whole new group of students. She is teaching four Advanced Placement classes to juniors and seniors.   ’It’s been busy,’ Gilbert said of the first week. ‘I give a lot of homework, so that means I have a lot of papers to correct.’   She has already assigned and collected college admission essays from the seniors and persuasive essays from the juniors. The students in her classes will read between 18 and 23 books this semester.   When asked whether she is the oldest teacher in the United States, she giggles and says she doesn’t know. She’s definitely among the oldest, and she’s certainly the spunkiest.