Mr. Wisniewski Room 207
Advanced Placement US History
Course Outline for 2012-2013
Course Description:
AP U.S. History is an advanced survey course in United States History, beginning with the first inhabitants of the American continent through current times. The course is considered a college course in regards to expectations and requirements. Students will be expected to complete the curricular requirements established to prepare students for the AP U.S. History exam in May of 2013. All students are required to take the AP Exam in May. College credit may be obtained with a score of 3 or better on the exam.
Purdue North Central Concurrent Enrollment Program/Dual Credit (Hist 15100 and Hist 15200)
This course has been offered to you for college credit through Purdue North Central’s Concurrent Enrollment Program (CEP). You will be eligible to receive 3 college credits in history for each semester through PNC. These credits will be transferable to any public college or university in the state of Indiana. The following are PNC’s objectives and goals for the course:
1. Students gain the ability to be lifelong learners with basic historical literacy and interpretive abilities.
2. Students gain the ability to communicate effectively orally and in written work, utilizing their historical literacy.
3. Students are better able to contextualize current events.
4. Students are better able to understand others, their histories, and cultures.
AP Curricular Requirements:
1. Study of political institutions in United States History
2. Study of social and cultural developments United States History
3. Study of diplomacy United States History
4. Study of economic trends United States History
5. Use of themes and/or topics as broad parameters for structuring the course:
(those in bold will be primary focus of the course)
Mr. Wisniewski Room 207
a. American Diversity
b. American Identity
c. Culture
d. Demographic Changes
e. Economic Transformations
f. Environment
g. Globalization
h. Politics and Citizenship
i. Reform
j. Religion
k. Slavery & Its Legacies in North America
l. War and Diplomacy
Mr. Wisniewski Room 207
6. The analyzing of evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship
7. Instruction in analysis and interpretation of a wide variety of primary sources, such as:
a. Documentary material
b. Maps
c. Statistical tables
d. Works of art
e. Pictorial and graphic materials
8. Frequent practice in writing analytical and interpretative essays such as document-based questions (DBQ) and thematic essays
Required Resources
Textbooks:
Bennett, Dr. William J. America: The Last Best Hope (Volume I): From the Age of Discovery to a World at War. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006.
Bennett, Dr. William J. America: The Last Best Hope (Volume II): From a World at War to the Triumph of Freedom. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007.
Primary Documents:
You will be provided with various primary and secondary source documents that will be a large portion of your reading assignments.
Other Resource:
Meacham, Jon. American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation. New York: Random House, 2006.
Mr. Wisniewski Room 207
The following unit topics will be covered:
Mr. Wisniewski Room 207
1. Early America
2. Founding the United States
3. U.S. Expansion
4. Divided Nation
5. Turn of the Century/Industrialization
6. The American Identity
7. The Depression and World War II
8. Cold War and the 1950’s
9. Civil Rights Movement
10. 60’s Revolution/JFK Era
11. Vietnam War
12. Post-Vietnam World to 9-11 and Beyond
Mr. Wisniewski Room 207
Assessments:
1) Unit Exams (Short Answer, Identifications, True/False, Matching, Listing, etc)
2) Quizzes, homework, and any other work including practice DBQ’s
3) Quarterly Movie Essay
4) Quarterly Project
Grades will be weighted as follows:
Unit Exams/Tests = 20% Participation = 10%
Quarterly Project = 30% Binders = 5%
Quarterly movie paper = 15% Homework, Quizzes, and Misc Assignments = 20%
Grading Scale
Min Score
Mr. Wisniewski Room 207
A+ 100%
A 93%
A- 90%
B+ 87%
B 83%
B- 80%
C+ 77%
C 73%
C- 70%
D+ 67%
D 63%
D- 60%
F Below 60%
Mr. Wisniewski Room 207
Missed Unit Exams Note: Any missed Unit Exam that needs to be made up will be of an all essay format no matter the reason for the absence (illness, field trip, court, etc). This is non-negotiable. Most Unit Exams are 50 points thus the make-up essay version of the exam will have five 10 point essay questions to answer.
The timeline for making up Unit Exams will follow the handbook policy except for those missed due to a school sponsored event. Units Exams missed due to a school sponsored event will be made up the day of the student’s return to class.
Materials Needed:
In addition to all textbooks and readings students are expected to keep a three ring binder updated with all work and related materials. This includes lecture materials, additional readings, handouts, and class work.
Course Expectations:
This course is a higher-level thinking course and so should be your behavior. You are to be prepared each and every day for class. Outside work and readings are a must and you need to keep up with them to be able to participate in discussions. Plagiarism will result in a failing grade of zero on any assignment where students present the work of others for their own, plus you will be referred to the office for discipline as related to the student handbook. Typical sources for plagiarism are the work of other students, information copied or cut and pasted off the Internet (not cited), or work from a publication (not cited).
Please also refer to the “Class Guidelines” handout for further classroom rules.
Other Classroom Items
1. No food or beverages allowed in the classroom except bottled water.
2. You should read the Welcome Board upon entering the room as well as the Agenda Board.
3. Be sure to periodically check out the class web site available through the school web site:
http://www.lakes.k12.in.us/lscs
Availability outside of class
Please ask questions when you are unsure of anything pertaining to the course. I am available before school every day after 7:00 a.m. After school I am available until 3:45 p.m. every day. If you are planning on coming in early or staying after school for help please let me know in advance. I am also available at my school email address: or at
AP Exam:
All enrolled students are required to take the in AP Exam in May. Your class grade, however, is separate from the AP exam.
The exam will consist of the following items:
1) 80 Questions on the Multiple Choice test
2) Free Response Questions: students will be required to choose one of two essays.
3) DBQs: Document-based Questions uses primary and secondary sources in addition to historic evidence to construct a response.
AP Exam Prep:
In order to prepare you better for the APUSH exam in May you have been placed in an AP Prep Homeroom for 2nd period. 1-2 days a week we will do some sort of prep work for the exam. The other days are to be spent working on either stuff for our class or working on material for you other classes. Your Homeroom will not be a half our of free time. A schedule will be established on Thursday or Friday every week for the next week so you can prepare for the next week’s allotted AP time in Homeroom.