•  AP United States History
    Google Classroom Code-flo453v
     
     
     
     
    Welcome to AP US History!!! 
     
     external image ap-us-history.jpg
     

    The class is to prepare you for the Advanced Placement US History Exam on May 5, 2017 Preparing for this test (and COLLEGE) requires that you do your reading and pay attention to the lectures. I will never allow a child to fail that TRIES!

     
     
    Course Description

    The AP U.S. History course is designed to provide a college-level experience and preparation for the AP Exam in May 2015.  Emphasis is on interpreting documents, mastering a significant body of factual information, developing historical thinking skills, and writing critical essays.  Topics include life and thought in colonial America, revolutionary ideology, constitutional development, development of political parties, Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy, nineteenth-century reform movements, Manifest Destiny, Civil War, Reconstruction, immigration, industrialization, Populism, imperialism, Progressivism, World War I, the Jazz Age, the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War II, the Cold War, the post-Cold War era, and the United States in the twenty-first century.

     

     

     

     

    Themes

    The course emphasizes a series of key themes throughout the year.  These include discussions of American diversity, American identity, American culture, demographic changes in America, economic transformations, the environment, globalization, the relationship between politics and citizenship, reform movements, the role of religion in America, slavery and its legacies, and the role of war and diplomacy in shaping the nation.  The course will trace these themes throughout the year, emphasizing the ways in which they are interconnected and examining the ways in which each helps shape the changes over time that are so important to understanding United States history. 

    Textbook

    Brinkley, Alan, American History: A Survey, 13th ed., New York, NY, McGraw-Hill Co., 2008.

    Additional Readings

     Supplementary readings are provided.  Most are from the following collections:

    ·      The American Spirit: United States History as Seen by Contemporaries, Volumes I and II, by Thomas A. Bailey.

    ·      Reading the American Past: Selected Historical Documents, Volumes I and II, by Michael P. Johnson.

    ·      Documents for America's History, Volume 1, by Melvin Yazawa, and Volume 2, by Kevin J. Fernlund.

    ·      Letters of a Nation: A Collection of Extraordinary American Letters, by Andrew Carroll.

    ·      Taking Sides: Clashing Views in United States History, Volumes 1 and 2, by Larry Madaras and James M. SoRelle.

    ·      What So Proudly We Hail: The American Soul in Story, Speech, and Song, by Amy A. Kass, Leon R. Kass, and Diana Schaub

    Grading 

    Exams.  There are exams after every period except Period 1.  They will be similar to--although shorter than--the AP U.S. History Exam that students will take in May.  There will be multiple-choice questions, short answer questions, and essay questions. 

    Multiple-choice questions will all be document-based and will contain four answer choices each.  These questions cannot be answered correctly without knowing historical content.  Multiple-choice questions are worth 40% of the points on the AP Exam.

     Short-answer questions will each ask the student to respond to three short prompts. These questions directly target historical thinking skills and ask students to respond to general questions about U.S. history.  Short-answer questions are worth 20% of the points on the AP Exam.

    Essay questions are of two type--DBQ and long essay.  The DBQ is worth 25% and the long essay is worth 15% of the points on the AP Exam.  Essays will be scored using the following rubric, which is similar to the rubric used on the AP Exam, except that it uses a maximum of 11 points rather than the 9 that the AP uses.

    Marking Period Grades. Semester Grades will be as follows:

         Tests: 50%

    ·      Students will take exams after each period except Period 1, which consists of only one chapter.

    ·      All questions will be modeled after the questions on the AP Exam.

     

    ·      Students will take essay exams after Chapters 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26, 30, and 34.  The first essay exam will cover Chapters 1 and 2; all others will include the most recent four chapters studied.

      Quizzes: 20%*

    ·      Reading quizzes will be given for every chapter.  These will be short answer ‘vocabulary term’ quizzes; students will need to identify the “what” and “why” of each vocabulary term.

    ·      Other quizzes will be given periodically—either announced or unannounced—in order to evaluate the students’ knowledge of the material on a day-to-day basis.

      Daily/Homework Assignments: 20%

    ·      Read all assigned chapters and outside readings when they are due! Check the six weeks calendar often to keep up with all reading assignments. Your ability to keep up with the material and readings will help facilitate class discussions and learning.

    ·      A variety of oral, written, group and individual assignments will be given.

    ·      Students are required to maintain a notebook in a 3-ring binder.  Requirements for the binder are explained in a separate handout.

    Class Participation: 10%

    *New Regulations-

      Make-Up and Late Work

    ·      Make-Up: Students have as many days to make up work as they were out on excused absence.  After that point, the work will be counted as late.

    ·      Late: 10% of the max point value is deducted for each day that work is turned in late.

     

    Read all assigned chapters and outside readings when they are due! Check the calendar often to keep up with all reading assignments. Your ability to keep up with the material and readings will help facilitate class discussions and learning.

    Course Outline and Schedule of Unit Exams

     Period 1: 1491-1607

    Contact among various peoples creates a new world.

    Chapter 1

    Exam: 6 Sep 14

    Period 2: 1607-1754

    Europeans and American Indians fight for dominance, create distinctive societies.

    Chapters 2-6

    Exam: 16 Sep 14

    Period 3: 1754-1800

    American colonists break away from British imperial control, establish a new identity.

    Chapters 7-10

    Exam: 7 Oct 14

    Period 4: 1800-1848

    New republic struggles to define itself as it struggles with changes.

    Chapters 11-17

    Exam: 5 Nov 14

    Period 5: 1848-1877

    Conflict over slavery transforms American government and society.

    Chapters 18-22

    Exam: 30 Nov 14

    Period 6: 1865-1898

    America changes from an agricultural society to an urban, industrialized one.

    Chapters 23-27

    Exam: 28 Jan 15

    Period 7: 1890-1945

    Increasingly pluralistic America faces domestic and global challenges.

    Chapters 28-35

    Exam: 6 Mar 15

    Period 8: 1945-1980

    America grapples with prosperity, world leadership, and living up to its ideals.

    Chapters 36-39

    Exam: 26 Mar 15

    Period 9: 1980-Present

    Renewed vigor responding to foreign and domestic challenges, and a new century.

    Chapters 40-42

    Exam: 10 Apr 15