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Virtually Speaking
A BLOG AND RESOURCES FOR VIRTUAL BUSINESS TEACHERS
WELCOME,
In 1992, I began teaching at Century High school in Santa Ana, California. The school is located in an industrial zone of this inner-city and the students come from local neighborhoods that have high immigrant populations and high poverty.
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Working in this type of environment, with a dedicated team of teachers, we started the e-Business Academy. In this program, I was looking to develop an experience to help my students be better prepared for the world they would be competing in in the very near future. I was looking for a way to have an engaging classroom environment. One that would give my kids get real-world experience through a rigorous project and performance-based curriculum with strong ties to work-based learning. I wanted them to leave with the confidence that they could compete in the workforce as they transitioned out of school and into their careers.
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This vision of what I wanted to build, led me to the Virtual Enterprise experience. When I started, there were very few resources and no mentors, and I was forced to develop classroom materials and procedures to help me cope with this challenging teaching assignment and large class sizes.
In June of 2021, I retired from teaching at my high school and through this journey of year 20-plus years involved as a VE teacher, County Lead, and conference presenter, I have developed a lot of teacher and student resources that helped me and my students in the office environment. I have created this website as a place where I can share what I have done and support both new and veteran teachers in their endeavor to make a difference in their classrooms. I hope that what I have to offer can help reduce the burden we all carry as VE teachers.
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ALAN GERSTEN
Director of the e-Business Academy (Retired)
Century High School
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