Jeff Gerlach
Vision Statement
Promoting life long learning is perhaps the ultimate goal of any educator. Short term we may wish to teach students about important equations, dates in history, and to use proper punctuation; but our true goal is to help shape a young person’s vision of the world. In a world of strict standards and assessment driven instruction, it is important to remember that an employee’s value will still be measured in their ability to solve problems with innovative solutions.
My personal mission in education is to act as a conduit between my students and the outside world. This is why I believe effective integration of technology into my curriculum is so important. Advancing technology can literally put the world at my students’ finger tips. By utilizing the technologies available to us as educators we can prepare students for the challenges of an increasingly global world.
As we speak, education is at a crossroads between the traditional classroom model and one that represents the increasingly digital world that we live in. Teachers and students alike are being challenged by this paradigm shift. While we would like to embrace new technologies with whole-hearted vigor, we must be weary of the pitfalls that come with.
With a great deal of my young career being spent teaching in Title I districts, I’ve experienced the digital divide from the trenches. Too often teachers choose to take the non-technology approach because they recognize the “have” and “have-not” climate of the digital world. Schools need to be an equalizer for students from all walks of life, but they must also provide students with the skills necessary for future success. Often the non-digital approach is chosen for the sake preserving equality, but the two concepts are not divergent from one another. We must step forth in innovation. Not because it is easy, but in the interest of best practice.
Our childrens' safety is another concern. Protection from child predators, inaccurate information, and inappropriate content are very real concerns that we will constantly be addressing. But these are not new concerns altogether, they have existed since the birth of education. The controversy arises because the medium is of a different nature and we have yet to learn how to harness its power most efficiently as of yet.
The internet is like the wild west—If we let it be. Teachers have the responsibility to promote digital citizenship and model it accordingly. In order to tap technology's true potential students must be given a safe environment in which they can make mistakes. However, they should not be put into a protective bubble that insulates them from all prospects of failure either. These safe virtual learning environments exist and I intend for my students to take a lead role in learning, commenting, and creating content within it.
Promoting life long learning is perhaps the ultimate goal of any educator. Short term we may wish to teach students about important equations, dates in history, and to use proper punctuation; but our true goal is to help shape a young person’s vision of the world. In a world of strict standards and assessment driven instruction, it is important to remember that an employee’s value will still be measured in their ability to solve problems with innovative solutions.
My personal mission in education is to act as a conduit between my students and the outside world. This is why I believe effective integration of technology into my curriculum is so important. Advancing technology can literally put the world at my students’ finger tips. By utilizing the technologies available to us as educators we can prepare students for the challenges of an increasingly global world.
As we speak, education is at a crossroads between the traditional classroom model and one that represents the increasingly digital world that we live in. Teachers and students alike are being challenged by this paradigm shift. While we would like to embrace new technologies with whole-hearted vigor, we must be weary of the pitfalls that come with.
With a great deal of my young career being spent teaching in Title I districts, I’ve experienced the digital divide from the trenches. Too often teachers choose to take the non-technology approach because they recognize the “have” and “have-not” climate of the digital world. Schools need to be an equalizer for students from all walks of life, but they must also provide students with the skills necessary for future success. Often the non-digital approach is chosen for the sake preserving equality, but the two concepts are not divergent from one another. We must step forth in innovation. Not because it is easy, but in the interest of best practice.
Our childrens' safety is another concern. Protection from child predators, inaccurate information, and inappropriate content are very real concerns that we will constantly be addressing. But these are not new concerns altogether, they have existed since the birth of education. The controversy arises because the medium is of a different nature and we have yet to learn how to harness its power most efficiently as of yet.
The internet is like the wild west—If we let it be. Teachers have the responsibility to promote digital citizenship and model it accordingly. In order to tap technology's true potential students must be given a safe environment in which they can make mistakes. However, they should not be put into a protective bubble that insulates them from all prospects of failure either. These safe virtual learning environments exist and I intend for my students to take a lead role in learning, commenting, and creating content within it.
