Maddy Braybrooke
Staff Writer
After many years of teaching Advanced Placement United States History, William Fauver has decided to pass over the reins to Steven Singiser.
Fauver has been teaching College Prep and AP US History for 28 years. But he has decided that it is time to retire from teaching AP US History.
“The History curriculum is changing and in a way that I don’t necessarily agree with,” Fauver said. “I thought it would be a good time to leave. I ended on my terms, when I wanted to, with a good class and a good result on the test.”
Fauver is currently teaching three CP Government classes and three CP World History classes. Teachers, in order to receive full pay, are contracted to teach five classes. One history class wasn’t covered by a teacher when scheduling was all set, so Fauver picked it up.
“You know it’s a lot of work,” Fauver said. “Teaching in general is a lot of work. There’s also a lot of pressure because you have to get the results. Six classes isn’t easy but it’s easier compared to having three AP classes.”
According to Fauver, he has never really had the chance to truly teach government. He taught it once early on in his career, but there is nothing from that duration that could be used now. He has to come up with brand new lessons, but he’s happy that the subject matter changes.
“The great thing is that there is a curriculum, but there’s no state testing,” Fauver said. “There’s no pressure to get through the material. You can sit and smell the roses. In government you have the opportunity to really get into what sparks interest compared to history where you have to cover everything in a certain amount of time.”
When Fauver decided to take on government, the hard part was finding somebody to take his place. According to Steven Singiser, the current AP US History teacher, when Fauver announced that he no longer wanted to teach AP US, nobody raised their hand to pick up the class.
“I’m one of those guys that, when nobody’s raising their hand, after a while I end up raising my hand,” Singiser said.
Singiser has been teaching CP US History and Government for 17 years. According to Singiser, he feels prepared in the sense that he knows US History, but AP US History is a completely different level. He also has to create new lessons from scratch that are based off of the way that he teaches.
“There’s pressure in the sense that Fauver was phenomenally successful teaching AP US History and his students strongly succeeded,” Singiser said. “It’s like being the guy who has to follow Peyton Manning as quarterback. Everybody’s used to one kind of performance and you aren’t that guy. But I know what I need to do to create my curriculum and Fauver is aware that I have to adapt it in my own way and make it fit to my style.”
According to students, the AP class is running smoothly.
“Singiser is a brilliant lecturer,” junior Monique Bolsajian said. “He’s humorous and when he speaks he has this very confident tone. You can tell that he knows what he’s talking about. He grabs your attention and makes history interesting.”
According to Fauver and Singiser, they are happy with their decisions to try something new. They both have a passion for what they are teaching now as well as respect for each other as colleagues.
“All I can do is do the job as well as I’m capable of doing it and hope that I am somewhere within the ballpark of how Fauver did it,” Singiser said.
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