Advanced Placement United States Summer Reading Assignment
While APUSH begins with a review of Industrialism, the themes of Social Studies run throughout all of American History. To start this course, we will have a discussion about the themes of Social Studies. In order to find the themes, each of you will choose a historical non-fiction, modern non-fiction, biography, or memoir to read this summer.
The library is available to help you find a great book that is of interest to you. Please ask the local librarians to help you - they are a great resource. Dig deep into your own interests. Be curious. What do you want to read, learn about, and discover this summer?
Examples of choices, please do not feel constrained by this list...
Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose (the story about Lewis and Clark)
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (about the meat packing industry)
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown (1936 Olympic rowing team in Berlin)
The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal by David McCullough
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
ASSIGNMENT: The study of American History can be broken into categories. Those categories are themes. As you read the book note which themes are visible in your book. We will have a VIBRANT Harkness discussion at the start of school.
(September 6 will be the Harkness day)
The themes are:
1. American and National Identity: This theme focuses on how and why definitions of American and national identity and values have developed, as well as on related topics and citizenships, constitionalism, foreign policy, assimilation, and American exceptionalism.
2. Politics and Power: This theme focuses on how different social and political groups have influenced society and government in the United States, as well as how political beliefs and institutions have changed over time.
3. Work, Exchange, and Technology: This theme focuses on the factors behind the development of systems of economic exchange, particularly the role of technology, economic markets, and the government.
4. Culture and Society: This theme focuses on the roles that ideas, beliefs, social mores, and creative expression have played in shaping the United States, as well as how various identities, cultures, and values have been preserved or changed in different contexts of U.S. history.
5. Migration and Settlement: This theme focuses on why and how the various people who moves to and within the United States both adapted to and transformed their new social and physical environments.
6. Geography and the Environment: This theme focuses on the role of geography and both the natural and human-made environments on social and political developments in what would become the United States.
7. America in the World: This theme focuses on the interactions between nations that affected North American history in the colonial period, and on the influence of the United States on world affairs.
The Advanced Placement United States History exam ask you to combine skills, themes, and content knowledge in written responses and multiple choice question. One of the ways we will work together in preparation is Harkness Discussions. A Harkness done well is difficult but truly helpful to process knowledge and skills. Students talk to one another, the teacher observes. Preparation for a Harkness usually involves more than doing the reading. A Harkness involves using specific examples to highlight the theme but you also have to worry about air time and not talking too much, but offering some insight. To do this preparation, you may want to prepare a very short synopsis of the story you choose, so the context of your specific examples make more sense. The first week of class will include a Harkness Discussion on the book you read this summer.
Here is the scoring guide for a Harkness:
*Everyone earns the same grade, work together to build a better discussion. (exceptions: if a person does not participate at all, they will earn a lower grade. If a person “saves” the discussion and does an exceptional job during the discussion, they will earn a higher grade.)
*Teacher role is to observe and “map” the discussion.
An “A” Discussion:
- Everyone participates, and more or less equally.
- The pace allows for clarity and thoughtfulness, but not sleep.
- There is a sense of balance and order: focus in on one speaker and one idea at a time.
- There is an attempt to resolve questions and issues before moving on to new ones.
- There is a clear sense of what the group has covered and how.
- The loud do not dominate; the shy are encouraged. Everyone is clearly understood.
- Students are animated, sincere, helpful.
- The conversation is lively.
- When the process is not working, the group adjusts. Those unhappy with the process say so.
- Students take risks and dig for new meanings.
- Students back up what they say with examples, quotations, etc.
- All students come well-prepared.
- The text, if there is one, is referred to often.
The class will earn a “B” by doing most of the things on this list,
a “C” by doing only half of what’s on the list (half the class is cruising),
and a “D” by doing less than half (Everyone is cruising.)
Please email me with the bibliography of the book you have chosen to read. I look forward to seeing what is of interest to you!
Things to do list:
1. Choose the best summer reading book for you!! (Be curious!)
2. Email me the bibliography of that book (MLA format) by July 1.
3. Prepare for a Harkness Discussion on the themes of U.S. History
4. Get ready for a great year!!