Bringing the world to this classroom, Early College High School World Geography Teacher Julian Jones was named as the District’s 2024 Secondary Teacher of the Year during the District’s annual banquet Tuesday evening, sponsored by the Round Rock ISD Partners in Education (PIE) Foundation, H-E-B, and A+ Federal Credit Union.
Jones was named the Teacher of the Year at Early College High School and was selected among 20 secondary educators to represent the District at the regional competition. He has been an educator for nine years, seven of which have been serving Early College High School
Jones believes that students become invested when they play an active role in their own learning. His lessons are designed not only with content in mind, but roles and responsibilities intended to facilitate collaboration. These experiences meant to help them build skills in the future to succeed.
“I empower my students with 21st-century skills through project-based learning in my World Geography class,” Jones said “Every unit begins with creating teams of four to five students where each student is assigned a role with differing responsibilities. Roles can include team leaders, time managers, communication specialists, workshop managers, and IT specialists. Students are encouraged to pursue different project roles throughout the school year. Each of these roles reflects real-life jobs and responsibilities that students may encounter or experience once they begin their future careers.”
During his teaching career, he has learned that students are more likely to produce higher quality and meaningful work if it is presented to an audience outside of the classroom. At least once a semester, his students present their projects to community members or teachers or students in the grade level above them to provide them that experience.
Another way he works to connect his students to the world around them is by introducing careers that are related to their work.
“I continuously introduce careers that are connected to the subject material, especially the careers students might not be familiar with,” Jones said. “When we learn about the environmental impacts of energy sources, I take the time to teach students about fastest-growing career opportunities, wind turbine service technicians and solar photovoltaic installers. By connecting subject material and career exploration, I find that students are more engaged and they find more meaning in what is being taught.”
Jones will continue to the 2024 Region 13 Secondary Teacher of the Year competition where he will represent Round Rock ISD in hopes of becoming the 2024 Texas Secondary Teacher of the Year.
