Greg Griffiths

Hello, my name is Greg Griffiths. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and spent most of my twenties in Santa Barbara, CA. My first education jobs included giving swimming lessons and coaching volleyball while still in high school. I first started getting ideas that I might want to be teacher while I was in college working as a sports camp counselor. After graduating, I kept coaching a variety of sports and working in the local school district’s special education department. I worked in various capacities at different school sites with special-needs students and as a one-to-one support for a student with Autism.

As I mentioned above, sports are one of my biggest passions; whether it be watching or playing, sports occupy a fair amount of my time. I recently finished coaching high-school volleyball as a varsity assistant. In the past, I have coached elementary-aged basketball, soccer, flag football, and junior-high volleyball, all as the head coach. Along with coaching, I spend time rooting for my favorite teams, first and foremost the Oakland Athletics. I also support local Bay Area teams such as the San Francisco 49ers, the San Jose Sharks, and the Golden State Warriors. I root for University of Arizona basketball, legacy fan, and I root for my alma mater University of California, Santa Barbara.

I relocated to the Bay Area in 2012 after many years attending college and working in the Santa Barbara area. I began attending a credential program to earn a mild-to-moderate educational specialist credential. I worked as a special-education aide in a local school district to gain experience and to get a foothold in the local education community and network.

Now that I am enrolled in an educational technology class, I want to find new resources for my future classroom. I’ve always been digitally literate in my personal time, but I have seen few effective uses of new technology in the classroom. I want to use my personal experience and digital knowledge to find new ways to integrate technology in education. As school districts move toward a full inclusion (or as full inclusion, as possible) special-education model, technology will become vital to student and teacher success with the growing educational demands and needs that must be met. I’m looking forward to taking the next step and taking on more responsibilities as a full-fledged educational specialist with an exceptional background in technology.