“History was about memorization of names and dates, going into Honors U.S. history I expected just the same as any other history class. However, Mr. Barclay proved me wrong with his interactive ways of teaching. From debates to lectures, Mr. Barclay takes the time to make sure students fully grasp the material.

Understanding and kind, Mr. Barclay tries to help his students do well in the class. His generosity aids students to not only get a good grade but also try to participate in class. He takes the time to go over everything the class doesn’t understand to the smallest detail. Portfolio’s, a single unit’s worth of homework, are made to be worth a lot of points due to the high demand of homework.

Debates are done as a class discuss to different controversial topics in a friendly and academic manner. Encouraging all students to join in on these conversations, he genuinely wanted to hear all of everyones opinions no matter how unpopular they were. He has also assigned a formal debate that has taken days to go through. All students were assigned a role from jury to witness. He even offered extra credit to attorneys since they would do most of the talking. The topic of the debate was on an important person in history during the specific history of time we were learning about. With the whole class researching different topics and presenting them through the trial, the class could learn more facts about the time in an interactive environment. The reason he has assigned the debate is to give students a chance to experience a real life court trial. He relates the topics of history with real world acts to prepare his students for the future.

History is all around us and there are many historical sites. Mr. Barclay recommended different places to visit to learn more about it in an interactive way outside of the classroom. These historical sites and museums are all around the U.S. and many are hidden in rural places. By going to all these different places and personally getting photos to show the class, Mr. Barclay showed his devotion and passion for the subject.

Mr. Barclay is one of the many great teachers here at AHS. With the interactive teaching and debates, Mr. Barclay’s teaching is refreshing and unique making the class more interesting to the students. By including activities that students engage in the classroom environment, the more the students want to learn. Mr. Barclay inspires students to want to learn more about the U.S.’ history.”  —Tiffany Chen, Pow Wow, Writer