Who is “The Human Geo Guy?”
Before telling you who I am, I’d like to say thank you for taking the time to visit my website. There are a lot of options on the web and the fact that you have taken your valuable time to look through thehumangeoguy.com means a lot to me. My name is Danny Sanchez and I have taught and privately tutored Social Studies in Florida since 2002. I have taught numerous classes including: United States History, World History, Government, Economics, Holocaust Studies, and the History of the Vietnam War. The last two classes listed, Holocaust Studies and the History of the Vietnam War, were
elective classes that I created from scratch including the entire curriculum. By the second year the class was offered it had become the single most popular electives at a school of almost 5000 students, it even had a waiting list. In 2005 my classroom was featured on the local PBS affiliate in Miami for my efforts to advance Holocaust education to a new generation of predominantly minority students. While I enjoyed teaching a variety of classes, it was not until 2008 that I was given the opportunity to teach what would become my greatest passion, Human Geography.
A High Pass Rate on the AP® Human Geography Exam
As I have referenced in other parts of this site the national pass rate for the AP® Human Geography Exam is typically around 50%. While this data seems pretty straight forward there is one major factor that must be taken into consideration. The fact that students from all high school grades take the exam, clearly a senior taking his or her 10th AP® exam has a clear advantage over a freshman taking their very first exam which is the case for over half of those enrolled in AP® Human Geography. I emphasize this point because every one of my students falls into that category, they are freshmen taking their very first AP® exam. Despite this obvious disadvantage my students have been able to achieve a high and consistent pass rate since 2008.
The year before I took on the AP® Human Geography program at my current school the pass rate was only 25%. In my very first year teaching the class I was able to elevate the pass rate to 62%, an increase of 37%. That year, and every year since, my students have surpassed the national and statewide pass rate by a wide margin. Over the years I have also had the opportunity to privately tutor several students and their success rate has been nearly universal.
A Lifelong Commitment to Understanding the World
Many people will find this hard to believe but I decided that I wanted to be a Social Studies teacher in third grade at the ripe age of 8. From that time forward I always thought to myself, “When I’m a teacher I’ll do this or that.” It was like a subconscious desire at that point. That commitment never wavered through the rest of my school years and once I arrived at Florida International University I declared my major on day one and never changed it. Four years later I graduated with a degree in Social Studies Education and immediately found a job at a local high school teaching American history, my lifelong dream had been achieved. Once I became a teacher I realized that understanding the world around me was the easy part, the challenge was going to be getting teenage high school students to make sense of the world.