I have a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Tennessee and master's degree in Social Studies Education from Kennesaw State University. In 2005, I began teaching at Newton High School in Covington, Georgia. Newton High School was an interesting first experience for me as it was in an environment completely different than where I grew up. It gave me perspective about different cultures and backgrounds. In the Spring of 2006, I married to my wife, Tori, and we moved to the north side of Atlanta. I got a job at Durham Middle School in Acworth, where I taught for two years (6th and then 8th grade social studies). Working with a variety of grade levels allowed me better understanding of how to teach younger student and motivate pre-teenagers who are dealing with adolescence.
In 2008, I was offered a job at Creekview High School in Cherokee County. The desire had always been to teach high school, so I jumped at the chance to return. My first year, I taught Honors World History and on-level US History. In my second year, I was thrilled over the offer to teach AP World History, a program that had struggled at Creekview with me being the fourth AP World teacher in the school's four year history. This was the challenge that I had been waiting for. I really enjoyed the subject and even more-so, the students. At Creekview, AP World was the gateway to AP for sophomores. At the time, Creekview did not offer any AP classes to freshmen and AP World was the only AP class that sophomore students would take. I relished the fact that I helped introduce college level curriculum to students and a level of rigor that they had not experienced yet. Even though the students were new to AP, my classes bonded together to attack the new challenge of college level work and thrived. In my second year of teaching AP, the AP World students would start leading the school and the county in AP success metrics like pass rate, mean scores, and total number of passing students. However, more importantly, they were being prepared to be successful in their future AP courses and in life. I was honored by winning the STAR Teacher award in two consecutive years (2013, 2014) by two future Valedictorians of the school. In 2016, I moved to Chattahoochee High School with the new challenge of teaching AP Human Geography and AP Psychology while being a part of the very unique Talented and Gifted (TAG) department (offering programs that very few high schools in Georgia offer their gifted students). I have also taught AP World History at Chattahoochee, while being contributor to the Social Studies department that has led the school in AP success metrics. To deepen my knowledge of AP World History, I have been a grader ("Reader") for the College Board for the past 8 years. I have also taught several workshops for the state of Georgia on AP World History. In the Spring of 2021, I was elected by the parents of Taylor Road Middle School to be their representative on the School Governance Council. |
Michael sincoTAG/Social Studies |