AP United States Government Syllabus
Instructor: Mr. Shulman
Classroom: E-112
Phone: 301-985-1820 x3295
Email:
Website: http://mr-shulman.wikispaces.com/
Course Background:
AP United States Government and Politics is an intensive study of the formal and informal structures of government and the processes of the American political system, with an emphasis on policy-making and implementation. This course is designed to prepare students for the AP exam in May. For students who achieve a score of 3, 4 or 5, universities may grant either credit or advanced placement, or both. Students must understand that there is INTENSIVE READING, and that this must be completed when assigned. Students are expected to have a comprehensive knowledge of topics covered in the textbook and any additional readings that should be reflected in all assignments and class discussion. AP U.S. Government and Politics is comprised of six units that will be completed in the following sequence:
1. Constitutional Underpinnings of United States Government
2. Political Beliefs and Behaviors
3. Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Mass Media
4. Institutions of National Government
A. Congress
B. President
C. Bureaucracy
D. Judiciary
5. Civil Liberties & Civil Rights
6. Public Policy
Course Objectives:
· To prepare students for the Advanced Placement Exam
· To learn and understand important facts, concepts, and theories pertaining to U.S. government and politics
· To understand typical patterns of political processes and behaviors and their consequences (including the components of political behavior, the principles used to justify various government structures and procedures, and the political effects of these structures and procedures)
· To be able to analyze and interpret basic data relevant to U.S. government and politics (including maps, charts, graphs, tables, exit poll data, and Supreme Court decisions)
Grading Breakdown:
Formal Assessments [Exams, Quizzes, Projects, Summer Assignment, Final Exam] 70%
Informal Assessments [Homework, Class Work, Deliberations, Papers, etc.] 30%
Classroom Procedures:
6
1. Entering Class: Everyday, unless otherwise noted, you will follow the same entry routine. This is so we do not waste time during class, so we can learn as much as possible.
1. Take out your homework and place it on desk
2. Complete your Warm Up.
2. SLANT is our classroom’s standard of excellent behavior. Students are expected to follow SLANT during class.
It is an acronym for the following:
Sit up
Lean forward
Ask questions
Nod your head
Track the speaker’s eyes
3. Hot Call is a game that we will play every day. In this game, students will be asked a question and I will call on someone to answer. However, in this game, no one is allowed to raise his or her hand. The following is the sequence I will use when using HOT CALL:
1. I will ask a QUESTION.
2. I will PAUSE to give you time to think.
3. I will call ONE STUDENTS NAME to answer.
4. Only that person will answer the question.
4. NO OPT OUT is a philosophy that will be used everyday. NO OPT OUT means that you must try to answer a question. It is okay to get a question wrong or “pass” at first, but we will always end with you getting the question right. The teacher will provide you with opportunities to answer the question correctly
6
Types of Assignments:
- Weekly Current Event Assignment (due every Monday; I recommend that it be typed)
- Op-Ed (one per unit, must be typed and submitted electronically)
- Unit Reflection Assignment (must be submitted electronically)
- Unit Vocabulary Definitions & Content Questions (due on exam day of each unit)
- Unit PowerPoint Projects (sometimes in groups or as an individual assignment—1 per Unit)
- Internet Scavenger Hunts (sometimes in groups or as an individual assignment)
- Political Cartoon Analysis
Course Resources & Requirements:
* Wilson & Dilulio, American Government: Institutions & Policies, 9th Edition, 2003
à Use the textbook’s website to help you study: http://college.hmco.com/polisci/wilson/am_gov/9e/students/
* 5 Steps to a 5: AP U.S. Government & Politics à The best review book on the market!
* 2-Inch AP Government 3-Ring Binder: With the following labeled sectionsà (Keep plenty of loose leaf paper in your notebook)
(1) Warm Ups
(2) Class Notes
(3) Unit Work: [Vocabulary & Review Questions, Supreme Court Case Assignment]
(4) Graded Assignments [tests, quizzes, class work, homework]
* Mr. Shulman’s Website: http://mr-shulman.wikispaces.com/
- Many, but not all materials from class will be on the website
- There are many resources here to help you find current events, definitions to vocabulary, take practice quizzes, and links to other AP Government and Politics websites
* Formal Essay Requirements: Typed, Times New Roman font, 1 inch margins
* You will also need to create a professional GMAIL account (more information to come)
Other Materials: (We will use these items regularly throughout the course; however, you are expected to follow current events on your own time too!)
Newspapers/Magazines / Primary Sources / Radio Stations / TV Programs- Washington Post
- Baltimore Sun
- Washington Times
- Newsweek
- The Wall Street Journal
- The Economist / - The Declaration of Independence
- Federalist Papers
- The Articles of Confederation
- The United States Constitution
- Supreme Court cases
- readings from the Lasser and Woll texts
- Variety of graphs, charts, and data / - National Public Radio (88.5 FM)
- C-SPAN Radio (90.1 FM)
- WTOP (103.5 FM)à Good for brief summary of day’s events / - Nightly news
(PBS, NBC, FOX, CBS, ABC)
- Sunday Morning Political Programs (Meet the Press, Face the Nation, This Week in Washington, Fox News Sunday)
*Check out Mr. Shulman’s website for more media resources*
AP Exam Breakdown:
Below are the units we will cover in this course. The percentage represents how much of this information is found on the AP exam.
% of Grade / Number of Questions / Time AllottedSection I / 50 / 60 / 45 minutes
Section II / 50 / 4 Mandatory Essays / 1 hour, 40 minutes
* Grades for the tests are usually distributed to you, your chosen institution of higher learning, and your high school sometime in mid-July. Receiving college credit for your performance on the test will be determined by two factors: your individual score and your institution's policies in terms of awarding AP credit. Be sure to find this out as soon as possible.
The Results of Mr. Shulman’s Previous AP US GoPo Classes:
Year (# of Total Students) / # of 5’s / # of 4’s / # of 3’s / Passing Rate2007-08 (6) / 2 / 1 / 2 / 83%
2008-09 (14) / 2 / 4 / 6 / 85%
2009-10 (32) / 3 / 7 / 18 / 87%
2010-11 (22) / 7 / 3 / 8 / 81%
Course Summary: Below is a list of the units we will study in chronological order, along with the chapters of the textbook that correlate with the units, the approximate number of days we will spend on each unit, and the percentage of the unit that will be on the AP exam.
Unit 1. Constitutional Underpinnings (Chapters 1, 2, 3)à [16 Days]
Percentage of AP Examination...... 5-15%
· Basics of Government
· Origins of American Government
· The United States Constitution
· Federalism
Unit 2. Political Beliefs and Behaviors (Chapters 4, 5, 6)à [19 Days]
Percentage of AP Examination...... 10-20%
· American Political Culture
· Political Participation
· Public Opinion and Political Socialization
Unit 3. “Linkage Institutions” Political Parties, Elections, Interest Groups, and the Mass Media (Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10)à [20 Days]
Percentage of AP Examination...... 10-20%
· Political Parties
· Political Interest Groups
· Campaigns and Elections
· Politics and the Mass Media
Unit 4. Institutions of National Government: The Congress, the Presidency, the Bureaucracy, and the Federal Courts (Chapters 11, 12, 13, 14)à [49 Days]
Percentage of AP Examination...... 35-45%
· Congress
· The Presidency
· Bureaucracy
· The Judiciary
Unit 5. Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (Chapters 18, 19)à [13 Days]
Percentage of AP Examination...... 5-15%
· Civil Rights
· Civil Liberties
Unit 6. Public Policy (Chapters 15, 16, 17, 20, 21)à [15 Days]
Percentage of AP Examination...... 5-15%
· Policymaking Process
· Economic Policy
· Domestic policy
· Foreign and Defense Policy
VII. AP Exam Reviewà [At least 15 Days]
AP Government Exam = Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 8am
Weekly Current Events Assignment
I. Purpose of Assignment:
The purpose of this assignment is to ensure that you follow the current political trends and recent events in order to discover the relevance to what we are currently studying. You should be able to articulately explain how the article you choose relates to the topic(s) we are currently learning about in class. After receiving your grade for these assignments, you will keep them in your notebook in order to help you with future exams
II. What to do?
You need to collect one news article every week that discusses US policy, political events, policy formulation, or political action on the subject we are currently learning. Your unit calendar will list the topic for each current event assignment. You must use a real article—an article with depth, nothing from CNN.com, AP.com, MSNBC.com, Foxnews.com, no blogs etc. I recommend you get in the habit of reading the New York Times, Washington Post, and other reputable media sources.
III. How to do Assignment?
Below is a grade rubric listing how you can successfully complete the Current Event Assignment:
MLS Citation
10% / 10
Article is accurately documented using MLA format. / 5
Article is documented, but it is not in the correct format. / 0
Summary of Article
10% / 10
- A brief/detailed summary of the article that focuses on —the who, what, when, and why
- no longer than 1 paragraph / 5
- Summary is either too long or too short
- Summary does not provide enough information to accurately inform the reader / 0
Article’s Connection to Topic
40% / 40
- Specifically and accurately explains the article’s relevance to the topic we are currently learning about incorporating details from our class/text
- At least 1 paragraph in length / 20
- Attempted to explain the article’s relevance to the topic we are currently learning about
- Explanation is not at as detailed as it should be / 0
Your Opinion on the Article’s Topic
40% / 40
- Contains an opinion with substantial support and details; many analysis/evaluation statements
- At least 1 paragraph in length / 20
- Attempts to provide an opinion with some support and details; some analysis/evaluation statements
- At least 1 paragraph in length / 0
IV. MLA Citation:
Here is how to cite your current event articles using the MLA format. As you get closer to attending college, it is vital to become more familiar with citing where your research because the consequences of not citing your work can be grave.
* <http://citationmachine.net/> is the best website to help you create any citation for any class. Just type in the URL and follow the directions to get an accurate MLA citation
6
MLA Citation Guide
Type of entry / In-text Citation Form / Works Cited Form (Bibliography)Book. Single author / (Huxley 55). / Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Random House, 1949.
Book. Two or more books by the
same author / (Huxley, Brave New
World Revisited 23). / ---. Brave New World Revisited. New York: Random House, 1954.
Book. Two authors / (Lennon and McCartney 22). / Lennon, John, and Paul McCartney. The Complete Beatles. Liverpool: Penny Lane Publishers, 1968.
Book. Three authors / (Gattone, Whall, and Picheny 22). / Gattone, Lynne, Elizabeth Whall, and Janet Picheny. From Myths to Music. New York: Morrow, 1995.
Book. Four or more authors / (Ross et al. 123). / Ross, Diana, et al. The Supreme Challenge. Detroit: Motown Publishers, 1985.
Weekly magazine article / (Connors 22). / Connors, Robert. “Anxiety” Newsweek. 15 May 1994:22.
Monthly or bimonthly magazine article / (Snyder 68). / Snyder, Mark. “Self-Fulfilling Stereotypes.” Psychology Today. July 1982: 60-68.
Magazine article with no author / (“The Unsinkable” 17). / “The Unsinkable Julie Andrews.” Theatre Week. 30 May 1994:17.
Newspaper article / (Abelson B: 1). / Abelson, Jenn. “High Definition Heroes”. The Boston Globe. 9 June 2004: B1.
Newspaper article with no author / (“Perfectly Strange” 3:44). / “Perfectly Strange.” The Boston Globe. 20 June 1990: sec 3: 44.
Newspaper editorial / (“Questions” 6). / “Questions.” Editorial. The Providence Journal. 15 Mar. 1992: 6.
Letter to the editor of a newspaper / (Safer 2:4). / Safer, Morley. Letter. New York Times. 31 Oct. 1993, late ed., sec. 2: 4.
Scholarly journal / (Britt and Georgi 98). / Britt, M. Anne and Mara Georgi. “History Learning from Textbooks.” Memory and Cognition. 24.5 (1999): 90-110.
Online School Database / (McGowan). / McGowan, Joe."FARMS in the CITY.(EARTH DAY SPECIAL)."Time for Kids13.24(April 18, 2008):6.Student Resource Center - Gold.Gale.Northwestern High School.6 May 2008<http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.
Online Magazine Article / (Levy). / Levy, Steven. "Great Minds, Great Ideas." Newsweek 27 May 2002. 20 May 2002 <http://www.msnbc.com/news >.
Online Journal Article / (Sohmer). / Sohmer, Steve. “12 June 1599: Opening Day at Shakespeare's Globe.” Early Modern Literary Studies 3.1 (1997): 26 June 2002 <http://www.shu.ac.uk/emls.html>.
Online government document / (United States). / United States. Dept. of Health and Human Services. Ctr. for Disease Control and Prevention. Coordinating Ctr. for Health Promotion. Targeting Tobacco Use. Apr. 2007. 20 Jan. 2008 <http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles/pgang.txt>.
Online Scholarly site (a website hosted by a University department or other organization with expertise on the topic) / (Victorian Women Writers Project). / Victorian Women Writers Project. Ed. Perry Willet May 2000. Indiana U. 26 June 2002 <http://www.indiana.edu/vwwp>.
Adapted from Duncan, Joseph. “MLA STYLE: SAMPLE BIBLIOGRAPHIC ENTRIES AND IN-TEXT CITATIONS.” 6 May 2008 <http://staff.lagrande.k12.or.us/~bduncan/mlaworkscited.pdf