As the school year starts to take form, teachers start to warm up to their classes and take on new changes. AP Psychology teacher, Mr. Freeman, has taught the course for the past 30 years and has seen the course become one of the most popular AP courses offered at Braintree High.
“I would say that in the last decade, it’s actually even gone to another level of popularity. We’ve been well over 100 or around 100, almost consistently every year. And that’s something I take great pride in.”
As for this year, the rise is staying consistent with the trend from past years.
“Last year we had the highest total [students] in my whole career,” Mr. Freeman explained. ”We had about 142 students in 5 sections. [I had] a tough start last year because I wasn’t used to having that many students with a stack of summer assignments, literally like 2 feet thick. I was happy this year that the numbers came down for me personally, although the overall numbers went up even higher, which led admin to decide to add 2 sections of AP Psych this year.”
These 2 sections of AP Psych would be taught by a different teacher—Mrs. Egbert.
“I studied psychology in college, and now I’ve taught sociology. There’s definitely some good overlap between the two, but I’m excited to do the other side of that field,” Mrs. Egbert explained.
For the first time in her career, Mrs. Egbert will be teaching an AP course.
“I was really excited because AP Psychology has a curriculum that’s designed by AP Classroom [unlike my other classes],” Mrs. Egbert continued. “There’s so much out there, [and] there’s so many materials. So, it’s much less stressful for me as I’m not making up the curriculum.”
This course is currently the only AP class to be taught by two different teachers at Braintree High School. When looking closer at this demand, what really caused it? Why was there such an increased interest in the class?
“I think psychology is a really interesting class. It explores the depth of the human mind and my brother actually took the class. He would come home and talk about what a great class psychology is and what a great teacher Mr. Freeman is,” senior Eunice Louie expressed.
Mr. Freeman has an extremely unique teaching style that allows students to engage in the course and pass on good reviews to underclassmen, thus increasing the demand for the class.
“My philosophy is to try to storytell and use a lot of humor, with real world examples that the kids can relate to in addition to the scholarly, academic information,” stated Mr. Freeman.
“I heard Mr. Freeman was an exceptional teacher. He’s really expressive. He’s caring. He’s honest and a hard worker. That’s what you need in teachers these days, which made me want to take the course,” Louie added.
Mr. Freeman has had an impact on the popularity of the course, as students desired to have him as a teacher. His high praise led to more interest in the course itself which Mrs. Egbert can carry on.
“I knew Mr. Freeman was a good teacher, but he wasn’t the reason why I chose the class. I took AP Psychology because I’m interested in the topic and I don’t know what I want to major in yet. If I find interest, then maybe that’s where I’m going to go in the future,” expressed senior Caroline Quan.
Although Mr. Freeman has been teaching this course with his energetic and enthusiastic personality for years, Mrs. Egbert has a different approach to teaching this course.
“I don’t teach like Mr. Freeman at all, but I do think that he’s like a great resource. I’m much more likely to do a journal and practice questions with my students. We talk about the concept and then you’re going to do something with it, because that’s my personality. And that’s how I learn best—from doing,” Mrs. Egbert stated.
This approach from Mrs. Egbert is beloved by many students, especially since many seniors taking this course had her sophomore year during Modern World History.
“I like having Mrs. Egbert because I had her sophomore year, so I already know her teaching style, and I like that she posts the notes on Google Classroom. Then, I can always go back and refer to them. And she’s also a great teacher to ask questions to because she’s always willing to answer them with detail, helping me fully understand the subject,” Quan said.
In addition to providing a unique learning style to students, Mrs. Egbert will learn how to teach the course now and possibly continue it in the future.
“Hopefully I can try to keep one [section] if it goes down next year, just because [Mr. Freeman] is going to retire soon. Obviously I would be happy to. I’m sure 1 million teachers in the school would like to teach it because it’s a fun class but if I can keep one, it would definitely be nice,” Mrs. Egbert expressed.
Mr. Freeman stated, “When I retire in five years, I’m hopeful that she will take it on fully depending on how the numbers look at that time. If the numbers are in the neighborhood that they were this year, there should be some continuity. I think she should teach at least one more section next year, even if it means I don’t have five. I don’t have an ounce of selfishness about the whole thing. I wouldn’t want to see her yo-yo in, one year out, one year in. I think continuity is really important.”
