I taught AP Euro for the last three years. Before teaching AP Euro I taught World History for 4 years and I thought I would be fine with the transition, this was quite a miscalculation. I had taken AP classes in high school, but never knew how much time went into the class. I was just trying to keep my head above water the first year, learning all the intricacies of the rubrics and learning lots of details about French and English kings. Our first year we had a 50% passing rate, but that just fueled me for the second year.
My second year I was really motivated to learn the in's and out's of the curriculum. My four years of teaching World History gave me a baseline, but AP Euro was so much more detail focused. Teaching AP pushes the students, but it also pushes the teacher. It made me a better educator, and with a great second year of classes, we got the pass rate up above 80%.
In 2016 there was the big change to the AP Euro test. New rubrics for the essays, a completely new written section, and new style multiple choice questions; just when I thought I was getting a hold of everything. The class and I worked hard, and we just beat the 50% pass rate.
Although I was data driven with the AP test, I reminded the students, and often myself, that the test isn't everything. The goal of the class is for the students to love (well at least like) history.
Sample Lectures*
* All lectures are shown here through Google Docs because of the size. I use powerpoint so the formatting might have been changed.
For a more extensive look at lectures, the syllabus, and a calendar visit my class website:
I have taught economics for the past seven years, and although it was my least favorite of the social sciences when I started, it is one of my favorite today.
It is one of my favorite topics to teach because it is constantly changing. In addition to the constant change, it is interesting to see how students approach the course. Thinking from an economic perspective is something the students don't often do so the course challenges them.
I focus a lot on behavioral economics in the class, because I believe this is what helps the students understand life. I utilize authors like Steve Levitt, Steve Dubner, Richard Thaler, Malcolm Gladwell and Dan Ariely just to name a few. I explain the debate between John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich August Von Hayek. These two embattled economists had set the tone for the world's modern economy. I also like to focus on global economic news since we live in a globalized economy. Understanding the price of oil from speculating in London or why it matters if China's GDP shrinks or the rise US dollar increases are central questions of our class.
I treat it much like a entry level college course since it is taught to seniors. Most of the grade is focused on two test, their final and two papers.
Sample Lectures*
* All lectures are shown here through Google Docs because of the size. I use powerpoint so the formatting might have been changed.
For a more extensive look at lectures, the syllabus, and a calendar visit my class website:
http://steveprodan.wixsite.com/econhonors
