Teaching in APS high schools

[Anonymous]

I'm moving to the area this spring and am looking for perspectives from individuals who teach HS in APS.

I realize these are huge questions and I imagine they vary greatly by school. but I would love to get a sense of:

How many preps are typical?
How many students do you have?
Do you find admin / teacher relationships to be supportive?
What do you like about teaching at your school?
What are the things that bother you?

Thanks so much in advance!

[Anonymous]

I don't think you can get a picture of all schools and all departments. I've worked at 2 of the schools and they vary greatly by school AND by department

[Anonymous]

Are you willing to share what department you are most interested in getting info on? What subjects have you taught?

[Anonymous]

Thanks! I agree.

I have taught middle school and high school ELA. I have also taught ESOL and reading support classes. My current school is an IB MYP school, though it doesn't seem to follow the program with fidelity.

[Anonymous]

Are you open to all the high schools or leaning towards certain ones?

[Anonymous]

Our kid is at wakefield. They report that a good portion of every class period is spent managing behavior. May be the same at other high schools who knows. But just make sure you have excellent behavior management skills.

[Anonymous]

Check out ACPS (Alexandria City), especially the Minnie Howard campus of ACHS. It's a campus of 9th graders only (about 1100 students this year). Mellow vibe, friendly staff. Teachers help each other. Admin is reasonable.

[Anonymous]

^^^ To clarify, by "mellow vibe" I mean the staff are mellow/not uptight. The students are not always mellow, given the typical challenges of any school that serves children with high rates of poverty, minoritization & other forms of trauma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kid is at wakefield. They report that a good portion of every class period is spent managing behavior. May be the same at other high schools who knows. But just make sure you have excellent behavior management skills.

My kid is also at Wakefield and does not have this experience.