Aaron Carter, a new history teacher at Fauquier High School (FHS), is ready to share his love of learning with his students. This is Carter’s 10th year teaching, although he has taught at other schools in Prince William, Catlett and Marshall. History isn’t the only subject he has taught. In his first year of teaching, he started out as a fifth-grade teacher, teaching all subjects. While working at Pearson Elementary School, he taught almost all math classes and one English class. Having a background in history, he eventually settled on teaching History at Pearson Elementary School, Marshall Middle School, and now here at FHS.
Carter is an FHS alumnus from Marshall, Va. Graduating in 1998. He thanks FHS for giving him an interest in learning and the realization that he wanted to become a teacher. “It wasn’t until I got here [FHS], that I had much interest in school. There were a couple of teachers that really stood out … They were the ones that planted in my mind that I might want to be a teacher,” Carter stated. James Wilson and David Smith were Carter’s standouts, and were the teachers that inspired him to start teaching, Carter said, “Mr. Smith is a rockstar.”
Carter is also thrilled by the engagement of all the staff, not just the teachers. He loves how involved the staff are with both the students and the teachers. “When you first walk in the building, there’s a feeling that it’s a positive environment here. You have administrators that you see, that’s huge! You just cannot appreciate that enough,” Carter said.
Carter is very excited about the upcoming school year and has some ideas that will hopefully help engage his new students. He plans to help pace the students, making sure that they know all of the information before moving on to the next subject, so nobody is left confused. He also would like to keep students engaged by bringing in public speakers or having field trips, both virtual and in-person. “We have the Piedmont Heritage Area … they would come in to tell stories of Fauquier County citizens who served in World War I. We would also have Virtual Field Trips with the World War II Museum in New Orleans. I would like to work engaging activities into the class.” Carter’s love for learning and his engagement with students will surely make him an amazing addition to FHS.
