As the stress of Advanced Placement (AP) Testing week has come and gone, students and educators alike are looking back on the progress of AP classes throughout the school year. For students, May is a time of stress and then relief after finally finishing the exams. And for teachers, it’s a breath of fresh air and a chance to begin improving next year’s teaching. This year at Middleton High School (MHS), AP Human Geography (AP HUGE) stands out. 

As of the 2022-2023 school year, AP HUGE is now a required class for all sophomores at MHS, as a continuation of the education path set by Land, People and Power in the 2021-2022 school year. For many sophomores, AP HUGE has been their first experience with AP curricula and CollegeBoard standards, and offers a glimpse into the AP education process. For educators, the course has given MHS an idea of how to accelerate its education, while still making classes accessible to students of all kinds. 

MHS AP HUGE teacher Cy Weaver noted that requiring an AP class for all sophomores is a beneficial thing. 

“I think that all kids are capable of hitting that level of AP work,” Weaver said. “I really think for a lot of kids, it seems scary, so they don’t try. But if you have everyone take it, with those supports, many kids go ‘Oh, I did that!’ and it opens up the door for them to get higher achievements in other classes.” 

The decision to make AP HUGE a required class came after a curriculum revision a few years ago, where teachers and school officials considered state educational standards and how MHS meets them. The assessment found that MHS social studies curricula at the time did not meet state standards for student social studies knowledge. 

“We chose HUGE because, as we audited all of our courses, we realized we weren’t teaching at the right level,” stated Weaver. “There was just this huge chunk of the DPI (Department of Public Instruction) standards that AP HUGE seemed to hit. We want to comply with what the state expects of us, and that’s our mission.” 

In accordance with Wisconsin state education standards, the MHS social studies department decided that AP Human Geography covered critical knowledge for students to become educated members of a global society. Soon after, they began planning to teach it to all sophomores. 

MHS HUGE teacher Griffin Schauer commended the course’s global perspective and wide variety of important topics. “This type of content is pretty normal for sophomores nationally, and it’s at the level for them. The content fits, and proving that any kid is capable of AP is important. I [like to] call AP HUGE ‘THE social studies’, because it’s economics, it’s history, it’s politics, it’s the perfect exposure to THE course that inspires kids,” Schauer said. 

By exploring global connections, AP HUGE allows students to see the world from a different perspective, and become more informed global members of society. As a class, AP HUGE takes students down a wandering path through the globalized world we live in today, introducing them to the globalized world we live in today. HUGE covers topics such as worldwide economic trade, the spread of culture and political geography. But, the class takes a specific approach to make connections on a global scale, with the goal of teaching students how interconnected the world they live in is. 

As it introduces students to a worldwide perspective at an AP level, HUGE offers a level of depth to students’ worldview that allows them to become better global citizens. But teaching such an important topic to the entire sophomore class is not a walk in the park. Out of the 10 AP HUGE teachers and co-teachers, only three of them had taught the class in previous years. The other seven were entirely brand new to teaching the course. 

“While [the] students were reading the textbooks, the teachers were reading along with them,” said Schauer, a first-year HUGE teacher himself. “We had homework, too… It’s just as much of a learning process for us as it is for students.” 

Each week, all of the AP HUGE teachers met for at least an hour to discuss the course, with other, more spontaneous meetings sprinkled throughout. During these meetings, they discussed things like project plans, AP testing preparations and keeping student engagement. 

“Collaboration is so many things, including hard, but it’s necessary,” stated Schauer. “It’s so amazing that all of my colleagues and I have been able to do it.” 

The AP HUGE team had to overcome plenty of obstacles as they tried to teach the entire 10th grade, with one of the biggest problems  being preparing for the AP test with such a wide variety of students. 

“You meet students where they’re at. Since taking the exam was totally optional, some of it we just put on the students,” Zart said. The goal for teachers was to give all students the ability to pass the exam (a three out of five), while still giving resources to students who wanted to aim higher. For teachers, that meant providing as many review sources as they could, and giving students self-study options. That way, students who wanted to self-study could aim for a four or higher, while the majority of the student body was still able to aim for a passing score. 

“It was very much student-led, if they do what we ask them to, they’ll get a 3,” stated Zart. “Students who want to succeed will go above and beyond on their own.” 

Zart co-taught the English Language Learner sections for AP HUGE. “I knew coming in that I’d have students who spoke little English coming into a college-level social studies class. It was intimidating,” she said. “But, even if I knew it was going to be hard for students, it’d be good for them and it improved them.” 

Teaching an AP-level course to such a wide variety of students proved to be a massive undertaking for the entire HUGE team. But, now that the AP test is over, it’s safe to say that they did it. All of the AP HUGE teachers marveled at how both students and educators grew over the school year. For students this year, being required to take AP HUGE opened doors that they might have not have been able to see before, especially the possibility of taking future AP classes. And for teachers, HUGE proved that teaching all students at a high standard is possible.