Some students are still trying to get used to their schedules for this school year. However, students are not the only ones that have some adjusting to do, as many AP classes have new teachers in them.
“Anytime you teach a new class, it is a lot more work because you are developing your curriculum,” AP government teacher Mrs. Skylar Kim said.
While most teachers are busy worrying about learning each student’s name, teachers such as Kim and Dr. Susan King, the new AP world history teacher, are learning new curricula because they have taken on the role of Advanced Placement teachers.
While a lot of students are afraid of AP classes because of all the work that the classes call for, many of them don’t realize that the teacher is usually taking on the same, if not greater, challenge when they accept the position.
“Like all my classes, I want my students to be successful,” Kim said. “Yet AP definitely adds a level of stress because I want to make sure that I am properly preparing my students for the tests.”
Preparing students doesn’t just mean helping them get a good grade on one test a month. In AP, students will take tests more frequently as well as a test at the end of the year that determines earned college credit.
With that in mind, when those tests come around, it is a stressful time for AP teachers. Students will also write essays that add to the teachers workload as well.
“I find being an AP teacher stressful,” King said. “But, I find teaching any class stressful; that is just my personality.”
Kim and King spent a large portion of their summer learning the curriculum of their new classes. In Kim’s case, she actually changed roles from teacher to student over the summer.
“I went to Ms. [Donna] Cleavelin’s, the AP Government teacher last year, house every week over the summer and we went over the entire curriculum,” Kim said.
These teachers didn’t get all this responsibility with the snap of a finger. They were chosen by administrators like building principal Mr. Tim McCarthy who have certain expectations for their AP teachers.
“We look for things we would look for in any teacher, as well as their content mastery, ability to create a positive and supportive learning environment and, finally, their ongoing willingness to grow and learn,” McCarthy said.
The transition for each teacher to teaching AP classes is not as straight-forward.
King said she simply made the transition from teaching Honors World History to AP World History. In Kim’s case, there was an opening in the AP department when Cleavelin retired.
“I am excited about teaching AP World History,” King said. “I hope that my students will gain an understanding of major themes and events in world history, develop key historical thinking skills and improve their writing.”