Advanced Placement US II

Advanced Placement US II

Mrs. N. Avery, Room A 111

2015-2016 School Year

@historyteacher 4

Description of course:The twentieth century has been described by historians as being a time period that witnessed the world’s most dramatic changes. These changes reshaped the price of war, the meaning of freedom, and the roles of gender, race, and class in society. Certainly, the United States has been the epicenter of many of these momentous events. This course will explore United States history from the late 1800s to 2010.

This is a challenging course and is designed for students planning to take the Advanced Placement United States History exam in May. The course will focus heavily on using primary sources including readings, pictures, songs, audio, and video and historical scholarship to analyze the past and explore modern United States history. Special emphasis will be placed in this course on the development of writing and critical thinking skills.

AP Test Date: May 6, 2016. The test consists of multiple choice questions, a document-based question, a long essay, and short answer questions

Grading: At the end of the marking period, your grade will be calculated as follows:

Total number of points earned/Total points possible

Tests: 75-100 points

Quizzes: 30-50 points

Essays: 30-75 points

Participation: 40 points (per marking period- 20 points twice per marking period)

Projects: 25-100 points (depending on type)

Homework: 5-10 points (All homework should be turned in on hard copy, not electronically submitted, unless otherwise stated).

Reading Checks:5 points – I may give out unannounced reading checks if I feel that students are not completing the nightly reading.

Readings: Boyer, et al., The Enduring Vision, edition 6 and supplementary primary and secondary sources

-Recommended: 2015-2016AP US History Test Preparation book (REA and Princeton Review are very good)

Required materials: You must bring a three-ring binder (1.5 or 2 inches), pens/pencils, and notebook paper to class every day. You can organize your binder however you want, but please label one section “AP test prep.” This is where you will file the practice we do of sample AP test items. You do not need to carry your textbook to class with you unless I tell you ahead of time to bring it in.

Homework: Even though you will be required to read the textbook every night, you will only occasionally be given questions to answer. Rather, I will often assign supplemental readings which will often come with an assignment and be graded and collected. These readings will be challenging, and you will have to set aside time every day for this class. All homework assignments will be posted on the class calendar and available on Schoology. All homework should be turned in at the beginning of class in hard copy unless otherwise directed. The unit guides on Schoology contain thematic questions and identifications. These are meant to be your study guide; you will not be expected to complete these for homework.

A word about late work: I accept late work up to five days after the due date, but you will lose 10% on your grade per day. The five days includes weekends as you can e-mail me your assignment if necessary. See me privately if you can’t complete your homework because of a computer issue/malfunction. When turning in late work in class, please use the date stamp to stamp your paper before handing it into me!

Work load: In this class you will be expected to work on long-term projects as well as nightly readings simultaneously. You may receive more work in this class than you have in any other course. The key to completing your assignments will be to not procrastinate and to plan your homework schedule around your after school activities. If you start to fall behind on your work it will be increasingly difficult to “catch up.”

Google Apps: Please check Gmail every evening for any reminder e-mails I may send to the class. You are welcome to contact me with questions about class or school-related concerns at any time, but if you e-mail me late in the evening, I will not respond until the next morning! When e-mailing me, keep in mind that I am your teacher; you’re not sending a text message! Please don’t share documents with me that you create on Google Drive; turn in a hard copy or to Schoology, depending on directions.

Schoology: I primarily use Schoology in this class, and we will use it frequently. All homework assignments can be found on our class page, so you should check it every day. When turning in written homework, remember that all answers should be composed using complete sentences. Spelling and grammar count!

Schoology Discussion Forums: Often, you will be required to answer a discussion question on Schoology for homework. When this happens, you will be expected to provide your own original answer to the question as well as comment on a classmate’s post unless otherwise noted.

Behavior: Students are expected to be ready to work from the beginning of a class period to its end. Students should not pack up to leave class before the bell rings. You will be expected to give your full effort each and every day in class.

Participation:

You will be graded twice per marking on participation. Please see my participation rubric on Schoology for more detail. Generally, to earn an “A” in participation, you are expected to do the following:

• Be in your seat with your notebook out when the bell rings
• Stay on task the entire class period
• Take notes actively during class
• Engage in class discussion by volunteering with comments and questions
• Not distract other students
• Only use laptops for educational purposes

Notes and paperwork: Since the AP exam is cumulative, you should keep all materials from this course, especially notes and handouts as you will need them to study for the test. You should also hold on to all of your US I information as well. You cannot “cram” effectively for the AP test; therefore you should think about reviewing old notes periodically as part of your studying.

Punctuality: I follow the school policy on tardiness. Once you are late to my class three times, you are assigned a detention.

Absences: If you are absent from school, you have two days for each day you were absent to complete the work for full credit. Upon returning to school, make sure to ask me or a classmate what you missed. It is YOUR responsibility to find out what you need to make up. Check Schoology for what you missed. All homework assignments and most assignments done in class will be posted there. Please note that if you are absent for a test, you should e-mail me that same day (unless there is an emergency) to schedule a make-up. If you are tardy on a test day and miss the exam, see me that same day as you only have 24 hours to make up the test. If you do not make up the test within 24 hours, you will be docked a 10% penalty per day.

Electronics in the classroom: Please do not use any cell phones, audio devices (iPods), and other related material unless given permission to do so. You may bring your own laptop to class daily, but if you are off-task, this privilege may be revoked. If your cell phone or other device is out without approval, you will receive a warning and then be subject to one or more of the following penalties: points taken off your participation grade, central detention, and/or phone call home.

Academic Integrity Statement:
Academic integrity and honesty are critical components of any class. Students must know that their unique ideas will be respected as their own, and students are expected to show the same respect to the intellectual property of others. Therefore, there is no tolerance for cheating or plagiarism in this class. Any student found copying from any source, be it another student's paper, a website, an article, etc. will be given a zero on the assignment and will be referred to the vice-principal for further disciplinary measures. In addition, any student who allows another student to copy from his or her paper will be punished according to the same standards.
While there is often great temptation to lift text from the Internet and present it as one's own, this is simple plagiarism and constitutes intellectual theft. You would never think of stealing someone's clothing, therefore, stealing someone's ideas is equally inappropriate. If you find very useful information or ideas online or in another format that you wish to use, you simply must cite that source and give credit to the appropriate author.
Please note that there is a difference between collaboration on homework or assignments and cheating. It is often helpful to have discussions with your classmates about a question you find to be difficult or to bounce ideas between one another. However, you are all expected to write your answers in your own words for all assignments, unless otherwise stated.

Three Key Rules of Mrs. Avery’s Classroom

1. You learn more by listening than by talking. Listen and respect everyone’s opinions.

2. Always ask “why?” and never accept everything that you read.

3. KIC (Keep it complicated)

Tentative Schedule

Unit I: The Frontier and Factory/Gilded Age

Unit II: Imperialism

Unit III: Progressivism

Unit IV:WWI and the 1920s

Unit V: The Great Depression and New Deal

Unit VI: World War II

Unit VII: Early Cold War and 1950s

Unit VIII: Social Change in the 1960s

Unit IX: The 1970s -present

College Board has listed a series of skills that students of AP history should learn. These skills are listed below and will be developed throughout the course of this year and next year via various individual and group activities. AP test questions will be derived from these skills. All essay questions you answer will revolve around one or more of these skills!

Skill type / Specific historical thinking skills
Chronological reasoning / -Historical causation
-Patterns of continuity and change over time
-periodization
Comparison and contextualization / -comparison
-contextualization
Crafting historical arguments / -historical argumentation
-appropriate use of relevant historical evidence
Historical interpretation and synthesis / -interpretation
-synthesis

All essays on the AP College Board exam will focus on one of the four following skills:

-Causation

-Comparison

-Change and Continuity Over Time

-Periodization

Extra help: If you ever have any questions about the course or need help with the material, you are always encouraged to come see me! I can meet with you by appointment before school (any time after 7 am) or after school at your convenience. I am also free during lunch, again by appointment. If you have questions while studying, see me in advance.

“Success is how high you bounce when you reach bottom.”- George Patton