The majority of sophomore students taking AP (Advanced Placement) World History this year have a new teacher, Evelyn Bird. It’s her first year teaching by herself, but last year she assisted social studies teacher Charlie Mahaffey in Civics/Economics.
According to Bird, she enjoys being able to dig into topics that she did not have the opportunity to learn when she was a student in high school. She said having a limited time to teach the curriculum is a struggle, and she is not given enough time to do so.
“I appreciate being able to dig into topics that I didn’t get to learn in high school,” Bird said. “The hardest part (of teaching AP World History) is the pacing. We have 133 days to get through the whole curriculum, and that is not enough. That’s been something that I’ve been juggling.”
According to sophomore Taj Klein, he enjoys AP World History because it doesn’t focus on only one specific topic. He said he prefers learning about different subjects around the world.
“I’ve liked that we get to talk about the whole world instead of focusing on specific areas, and we’re gonna dig (into) different subjects around world history,” Klein said. “I’d rather learn about something broad than just go deep into something boring.”
Sophomore Owen McCoy said people should take AP World History with Bird. He said he likes her teaching because she is good at getting to know her students, and it is a great class where he gets to learn about different events in the world.
“AP World is a great class, and we get to learn more about what is going on in the world. Ms. Bird is a great teacher, and she knows how to connect with her students,” McCoy said.
Bird said she is excited to discuss revolutions, including industrial, political and societal ones. According to Bird, she likes how invigorating the topic of revolutions is and how major the topic is for students to learn.
“Revolutions, I am excited to talk about, because that includes the industrial revolutions, and it includes political revolutions and societal revolutions. I think that’s a really important and invigorating topic, especially for high schoolers,” Bird said.
Klein said he enjoys how Bird cares more about the AP test than other teachers might. He said he likes how she is teaching them how the AP system works and exactly what he needs to do to do well on the test.
“I like that she is gonna teach us tricks for the AP test instead of memorizing facts for her test. We are gonna focus more on getting a good score on the AP test,” Klein said.
According to McCoy, Bird gives him advice and acronyms for ongoing assignments so he knows exactly what he and his classmates are working on without leaving them with questions or confusion.
“For every assignment, she gives us advice to help us get through and figure out what we are supposed to do. When we are doing notes, she gives us an acronym to follow and help find what (we) are supposed to look for,” McCoy said.
