Mark Gomez
BIO
Mark Gomez currently serves as the History & Social Science Curriculum Specialist for the Salinas Union High School District. Mark has taught both middle and high school history for the last 18 years. He has also taught within teacher education programs at UCLA, Antioch University, Cal State Dominguez Hills and Monterey Bay where he currently teaches a seminar in Foundations of Equity and Social Justice in Education. He is a founding design team member of the Schools for Community Action at Augustus Hawkins High School and has been working for several years to empower students and teachers through authentic and participatory action research projects. Mark’s curricular and instructional expertise include action civics, effective integration of technology, critical media and literacy studies, restorative justice, and community driven school design.
STATEMENT
I believe that we are in a most opportune time to re-examine and re-define k-12 history and social science education and its role in forwarding democracy. It will be my intent to support HSS teachers in region 5 with resources and opportunities to collaborate with one another as we enter a new and exciting time of social studies education. By continuing to develop the capacity of educators to authentically engage students in meaningful social studies inquiry that leads to opportunities for all students to take informed action, I hope to strengthen our region's infrastructure of professional support for our membership. I will seek to highlight, share, and build will any and all social studies teachers of region 5. Lastly, I will continue my work in helping CCSS to improve our focus on equity, inclusion, and social justice issues in the field.