AP United States History

Mr. Garber

Welcome to APUSH! There are several objectives to this class, but #1; I want you to walk away with a complete understanding of United States History. In order to accomplish this goal, we must look at history thematically and ask the “big” questions. Learning about history is more than just names and dates (although we WILL be doing this), it is the ability to see the connections and the reasons behind why things happened the way they did. Our history is dynamic and full of complexities. Through this course, you will be able to see these complexities, interpret them and write about them at a college level. Finally, my hope for you at the end of this class is not only a passing score on the AP exam, but a new understanding of critical thinking that will take you through the rest of high school, college and beyond.

FROM THE COLLEGE BOARD: The AP U.S. History course focuses on the development of historical thinking skills (chronological reasoning, comparing and contextualization, crafting historical arguments using historical evidence, and interpreting and synthesizing historical narrative) and an understanding of content learning objectives organized around seven themes, such as identity, peopling, and America in the world. In line with college and university U.S. history survey courses’ increased focus on early and recent American history and decreased emphasis on other areas, the AP U.S. History course expands on the history of the Americas from 1491 to 1607 and from 1980 to the present. It also allows teachers flexibility across nine different periods of U.S. history to teach topics of their choice in depth.

Grading Policy- quarter grades will be based on the following:

¨ Tests: tests will be given at the end of each period (except for period 1 and 9) and will mirror the AP exam with timed multiple choice questions, short answer questions, a Long Essay and a Document Based Questions (DBQ).

¨ Quizzes: quizzes will be given roughly after every 2 chapters and will deal solely with material NOT covered in class notes (completely from your reading of the textbook and supplemental materials).

¨ Summer Reading: a multiple choice exam will be administered to assess student understanding of the Constitution Convention.

¨ Homework/In Class Work: since this is an Advanced Placement class (and because of the amount of material to be covered), you will be responsible for all of the chapter readings plus analysis of supplemental material.

¨ Research Paper/Projects: papers and projects will be few and far between, but will follow appropriate APA or MLA styling.

¨ Participation: students will participate in discussions, Socratic seminars and quad work. In order to facilitate active learning, it is imperative that you come prepared and participate to your fullest during these activities. This is also the time to learn from each other and see new points of view that you may have overlooked on your own- don’t take your classmates as a resource for granted.

Important Things to Remember-

¨ It is YOUR responsibility to come and see me if you have been absent from class. I WILL NOT hunt you down to give you your assignments. If you do not take the initiative, you will simply receive 0’s for any assignments missed. This includes tests, which must be made up outside of class.

¨ Any out of class essays should be typed and checked for grammatical and spelling errors prior to turning it in (I will usually remind you of this).

¨ Anything that requires you to write (both in class and out of class work) must be written in COMPLETE SENTENCES (unless otherwise stated). If you turn something in that is not written in complete sentences, you will receive points off.

¨ Late Work: There is no such thing, except in EXTREME circumstances.

¨ Absent Work: For every day that you are absent from class (excused), you will have 1 day to make up the work missed. If you go over this limit, it will not be accepted.

¨ It is VERY important that you try to make it to class everyday. We will be covering a lot of material and even one day gone can hurt your grasp on what we are doing in class.

THE EXAM…..

¨ The APUSH exam will be on Friday, May 8th, 2015 8 am.

¨ You are required to take this exam as a part of this class (cost is approximately $89). If you fail to do so, you will automatically fail AP US History.

¨ The exam is 3 hours and 15 minutes and includes both 100 minute multiple choice/short answer section and a 95 minute free-response section. Each section is divided into two parts, as shown in the table below. Student performance on these four parts will be compiled and weighted to determine an AP score.

Section / Question Type / Number of
Question / Timing / Percentage of
Total
Exam Score
I / Part A: Multiple-choice questions
Part B: Short-answer questions / 55 questions
4 questions / 55minutes
45minutes / 40%
20%
II / Part A: Document-based question
Part B: Long essay question / 1 question
1 question
(chosen from a pair) / 60 minutes
35 minutes / 25%
15%

¨ AP Scores: **5- extremely well qualified

**4- well qualified

**3- qualified

2- possibly qualified

1- not recommended

¨ National average score on APUSH exam is a 2.79

¨ Remember the bear in the woods!

Overview of the new AP United States History Curriculum Framework

Section I: Historical Thinking Skills. The curriculum framework begins by describing the historical thinking skills that are central to the study and practice of history. These are organized into four types of skills: chronological reasoning, comparison and contextualization, crafting historical arguments from historical evidence, and historical interpretation and synthesis.

Section II: Thematic Learning Objectives. In this section, the framework presents a set of learning objectives, organized by seven major themes, that describe what students should know and be able to do by the end of the AP U.S. History course. These represent the major historical understandings that colleges and universities want AP students to have developed in order to merit placement out of the introductory college U.S. history survey course. Students should use a range of historical thinking skills to investigate the thematic learning objectives.

The AP Exam will measure student proficiency in the historical thinking skills as well as the thematic learning objectives. Beginning with the May 2015 AP U.S. History Exams, every AP Exam question will be rooted in these specified learning objectives, relieving teachers from the pressure to cover an unlimited amount of content in their AP U.S. History course.

Thematic Learning Objectives

The content learning objectives for the AP U.S. History course and exam are organized under seven themes, which are topics of historical inquiry to explore throughout the AP U.S. History course.

• Identity

• Work, Exchange, and Technology

• Peopling

• Politics and Power

• America in the World

• Environment and Geography — Physical and Human

• Ideas, Beliefs, and Culture

These themes focus student understandings of major historical issues and developments, helping them to recognize broad trends and processes that have emerged over centuries in what has become the United States. The pages that follow describe each theme in detail, along with between one and three overarching questions that can be used to guide student inquiry during the entire course.

The Course will be divided into 9 periods / units of study.

Period / Unit / Date Range / Corresponding American Pageant Chapters / Instructional Time / AP Exam Focus / Approximate number of instructional blocks*
1 / 1491-1607 / Chapter 1 / 5% / 5% / 3.5
2 / 1607-1754 / Chapters 2 – 4 / 10% / 45% / 7
3 / 1754-1800 / Chapters 5 – 10 / 12% / 8
4 / 1800-1848 / Chapters 11 – 13 / 10% / 7
5 / 1844-1877 / Chapters 14 – 22 / 13% / 9
6 / 1865-1898 / Chapters 23 – 27 / 13% / 45% / 9
7 / 1890-1945 / Chapters 28 – 35 / 17% / 12
8 / 1945-1980 / Chapters 36 – 39 / 15% / 10.5
9 / 1980-Present / Chapters 40 – 42 / 5% / 5% / 3.5

Code of Conduct-

In general, all of you know what appropriate behavior for school is. This is an AP class and as such, I expect you to act in a way that leads me to believe that you deserve to be here. You should be in class by the time the bell rings, ready to begin. Tardiness, talking in class, rudeness and inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated. In general, you will receive a warning first. After that, you will be asked to stay after class to discuss your behavior. Your third strike will result in a detention and a call home to your parents. Any detentions given by me (in my classroom) must be served either on the day assigned or the next day. If you do not show up, an office referral will be written. Of course for more serious behavior, you may skip all of these steps and go straight to detention or the office. It is also important that you make sure to leave the room just as clean as you found it. Most of all, any name-calling, swearing or derogatory words will not be put up with along with any cheating, copying from classmates or plagiarism and will result in severe consequences.

Expectations-

What am I expecting of you? All in all there is only one real guideline that I want everyone to follow in this class. BE RESPECTFUL TO ME, YOUR CLASSMATES AND YOURSELF. What does this mean? This guideline could include (but is not limited to) being in class on time and prepared when the bell rings. We should always talk to each other with respect and listen when others are talking. Most of all, nobody should be afraid to voice their opinion or any questions that they have. This means that I expect everyone to be open to these opinions or questions and not belittle anyone for their views.

You should not sell yourself short with what you can accomplish in this class. Coming prepared (ready to take notes, discuss any information or with your homework done) not only shows that you respect me but that you are taking school seriously. There is not going to be someone at a job or in college continually reminding you to stay on task. Developing this skill early will put you ahead of the curve and shows maturity. I want you to develop critical thinking skills by not just taking information at face value. Look for flaws in the system, arguments etc. Offer your informed opinion because it can spur others to think critically and look at the content being studied in a different way.

I will follow these same guidelines and give you as a person and as a class the same respect. I will value your opinions and questions. I may ask you to back up your opinions with facts, but I will never tell you that you are wrong. In the end if you are in doubt as to whether your actions, inactions or words will be acceptable ask yourself if you are going to disrespect or hurt someone in the process. Most of all, THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK.

Contact Information:

Mr. Garber M.Ed.

Twinsburg High School

Social Studies Department Chair

Assistant Coach – Men’s Varsity Soccer Program

Email: School phone: 330 486 2400

Class website: www.twinsburg.k12.oh.us/jgarber Room L-201

*You will find a classroom calendar and assignments posted weekly on the website*