California’s local politicians provide Carlmont’s AP Government class real-life experience furthering students’ learning about the American government.
According to Carlmont High School’s course description, AP Government provides a perspective of analytical and government politics, studying the general concepts and specific case studies in the United States. A city council member and AP Government teacher Greer Stone explains how utilizing his experience and knowledge; he can better teach his AP Government class.
“I think my students appreciate being able to have those kinds of personal anecdotes. It’s nice to be able also just to have this credibility of being able to say, ‘this is true, and I know that’s true because I either have personally done it or have personal connections who have done it,'” said Stone.
These personal connections and experiences help reinforce Stone’s teaching in the classroom and give his AP Government students opportunities to meet other local politicians, such as state Sen. Josh Becker.
Stone explains how he invited Becker into his AP Government class to educate Stone’s students on his experiences in being a legislator, what got him involved in public service, and a few key initiatives he has been working on in Sacramento. At the end of this mini-lesson conducted by Becker, students were able to ask any question related to Becker’s career as a local politician.
Jeslyn Chun, a senior at Carlmont, explains how these guest speakers coming into her classroom give her additional experience under her belt that she may apply later in her life. It also allows her to establish a possible connection or network with these speakers.
“I really enjoy having guest speakers come and educate us about the things we’ve been learning in our AP Government class because we can see it being applied in real life. For example, he explained his role as a legislator and supported his teaching with real-life examples. Not only that but also being able to have this opportunity to establish a network with these guest speakers is also really nice,” Chun said.
These first-hand opportunities to learn and meet active politicians serve as motivation to some of Stone’s AP Government students. Kathryn Mauck, a senior at Carlmont, explains how she enjoys and appreciates listening to the first-hand examples Stone gives to her in class.
“For me, I learn better from the examples and real-life situations that he provides, and he doesn’t make it overly hard either even though it’s an AP class,” Mauck said.
Additionally, Mauck explains how even though Stone’s classroom environment is often lots of lecturing, whenever a student has a question about a specific part of the matter they are learning in class, Stone can answer the question relating to his own experiences, making it much easier for students to understand.
“I definitely enjoy it. He has a very good way of teaching where he doesn’t make it boring, intertwining real-life experiences into his lecture slides,” Mauck said.
In the end, Stone explains how it was almost like fate that brought him together with the AP Government class.
“I wasn’t actually supposed to teach AP Government this year, and so I was a little nervous when the administration contacted me over the summer, but I was also really excited. To teach government as a political science major in college, and of course, being a politician myself all just kind of fit really well for me,” Stone said.
