Unforgettable, imaginative and fun are just a few adjectives students at Starr’s Mill High use to describe their U.S. History teacher Jon Gloer.

Given students’ enthusiasm for his classes, it’s easy to see why the Georgia Council for the Social Studies (GCSS) named Gloer a 2006 Outstanding Social Studies Educator of the Year. He is the fifth Fayette teacher to receive this prestigious award since its inception in 1981. Past recipients include Kathy Cox (1995, McIntosh High), Cathy Geis (2003, social studies coordinator), Becky Ryckeley (2004, Starr’s Mill High) and Jan Daniel (2005, Fayette County High).

A 22-year veteran social studies teacher, Gloer uses creative strategies to help students remember history by connecting the present with the past. During a unit on the Holocaust, he helps students better understand the emotions Jews experienced at the time by having them make a Star of David from yellow paper that they must wear from the time they enter the school until they leave for the day. Although it inconveniences some students to wear the stars, that is exactly the point Gloer is trying to make.

“Some students didn’t wear their stars and they were punished with homework, but that was the point. It made us think about just how bad they [Jews] had it,” one student says about the exercise.

Gloer is also famous for his unit on the Vietnam War. He plays 1960s songs such as Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin’ On” and Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” and writes out the lyrics to help students understand what people were thinking and feeling. To ensure students connect emotionally with the past, Gloer has them create their own version of the Vietnam War Memorial Wall. Students bring pictures, artifacts and their own creations to complete the wall, which is displayed prominently in the school so all students can see what they will learn in 11th grade or a reminder of what they did learn.

“The way he takes a subject and interprets it to 16 and 17 year old students is unbelievable. We never come in class and take notes from the overhead and memorize information like a normal history class,” says another one of Gloer’s students.

The social studies educator of the year award is one of many Gloer has received throughout his teaching career. Included among the honors is being selected as the teacher of the year at Starr’s Mill High in 2001-02, featured as a Class Act Teacher on a local television news channel and, most prestigiously, receiving the Linda Myers Chozen Award for Teaching Excellence in Civic Education from the Close Up Foundation in 2004.

“When anyone in our school system talks of the best teachers, Jon’s name is always included at the top of the list,” says Geis. “This is true even when talking to students who graduated many years ago as they remember Mr. Gloer as the best teacher they had in high school.”

As a GCSS teacher of the year recipient, Gloer received a $250 cash award and a two-year comprehensive membership to the National Council for the Social Studies.

login to post comments