Gregory Wolf
School: Santa Ynez Valley Union High School
District: Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District
County: Santa Barbara County
Region: Central California
Grade: 9th-12th
Subject: Social Studies
Award Year: 2024
Gregory Wolf has a passion for nurturing positive student relationships and social emotional interactions for all of his students, while bringing history to life with simulations, creative critical thinking inquiries, and student choice. He firmly believes that “good learning rarely happens without good relationships.” His enthusiasm and commitment to reach underrepresented and disengaged students has resulted in many of these students becoming dominant voices in his classroom, where they have the courage to take ownership of their own learning without fear of failure. Equity is his guiding value and Mr. Wolf’s classroom is designed to be student driven, where students are at the center of everything.
A deep love of history began for Gregory in the fourth grade when he visited the Gettysburg battlefield in Pennsylvania. As an adult, this never-ending passion for history, along with his desire to collaborate and contribute to society by mentoring others, is what ultimately brought Mr. Wolf to the teaching profession. He feels an absolute thrill when he can spark the curiosity of his students in a “fascinating historical person, event, or phenomenon.” In doing so, he uses Project Based Learning in which student choice is key. A recent innovation created by Mr. Wolf was a “civic engagement” project assigned to his political science students. Resulting products from their research included documentaries, podcasts, websites, social media campaigns, and a “call to action” presentation to a public audience.
Mr. Wolf bases his teaching practice on the belief that, “offering multiple pathways that students can choose from when conducting inquiry to address driving questions, allows me to meet each student where they are, and reduce gaps in achievement.”