AltoonaHigh School Advanced Placement United States History; Instructor: Mr. Boley

Advanced Placement United States History Curricular Requirements

[CR1a] / The course includes a college-level U.S. history textbook. / Yes
[CR1b] / The course includes diverse primary sources consisting of written documents, maps, images, quantitative data (charts, graphs, tables), and works of art. / Yes
[CR1c] / The course includes secondary sources written by historians or scholars interpreting the past. / Yes
[CR2] / Each of the course historical periods receives explicit attention. / Yes
[CR3] / The course provides opportunities for students to apply detailed and specific knowledge (such as names, chronology, facts, and events) to broader historical understandings. / Yes
[CR4] / The course provides students with opportunities for instruction in the learning objectives in each of the seven themes throughout the course, as described in the AP U.S. History curriculum framework. / Yes
[CR5] / The course provides opportunities for students to develop coherent written arguments that have a thesis supported by relevant historical evidence. — Historical argumentation / Yes
[CR6] / The course provides opportunities for students to identify and evaluate diverse historical interpretations. —Interpretation / Yes
[CR7] / The course provides opportunities for students to analyze evidence about the past from diverse sources, such as written documents, maps, images, quantitative data (charts, graphs, tables), and works of art. — Appropriate use of historical evidence / Yes
[CR8] / The course provides opportunities for students to examine relationships between causes and consequences of events or processes. — Historical causation / Yes
[CR9] / The course provides opportunities for students to identify and analyze patterns of continuity and change over time and connect them to larger historical processes or themes. — Patterns of change and continuity over time / Yes
[CR10] / The course provides opportunities for students to investigate and construct different models of historical periodization. - Periodization / Yes
[CR11] / The course provides opportunities for students to compare historical developments across or within societies in various chronological and geographical contexts. — Comparison / Yes
[CR12] / The course provides opportunities for students to connect historical developments to specific circumstances of time and place, and to broader regional, national, or global processes. — Contextualization / Yes
[CR13a] / The course provides opportunities for students to combine disparate, sometimes contradictory evidence from primary sources and secondary works in order to create a persuasive understanding of the past. / Yes
[CR13b] / The course provides opportunities for students to apply insights about the past to other historical contexts or circumstances, including the present. / Yes

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AltoonaHigh School Advanced Placement United States History; Instructor: Mr. Boley

Course Objectives:

  1. Trace the history of the United States.
  2. Describe the proper chronology of major events in the history of the United States.
  3. Form a clear argument as it relates to U.S. historical questions and controversies.
  4. Interpret and apply data from a variety of primary and secondary historical sources to martial relevant support for your arguments.
  5. Prepare for and successfully pass the Advanced Placement United States History Exam.

Course Texts: [CR1a], [CR1b]

  • James West Davidson, William E. Gienapp, Christine Leigh Heyrman, Mark H. Lytle, and Michael B. Stoff. Nation of Nations, A Concise Narrative of the AmericanRepublic, Vol. I & II, 4th ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006).
  • Thomas A. Bailey and David M. Kennedy. The American Spirit: United States History as Seen by Contemporaries. 9th Ed., vol. I & II. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998).
  • John J. Newman and John M. Schmalbach. United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination. (New York: AMSCOSchool Publications, Inc.1998).
  • James West Davidson and Mark Hamilton Lytle. After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection. (Boston: McGraw Hill, 2000).
  • Jim R. McClellan. Changing Interpretations of America’s Past. Vol. I & II. (Dushkin / McGraw-Hill, 2000)
  • Paul Johnson. A History of the American People. (New York: Harper Collins, 1998).

Course Purpose:

AltoonaHigh School offers the Advanced Placement United States History course as a means to challenge students who wish to examine the span of American history; students who wish to receive college credit for this course may take the AP US History Exam in May of the current school year. An excellent description of what this course entails is as follows, quoted from the College Board description:

"The AP U.S. History course focuses on the development of historical thinking skills (chronological reasoning, comparing and contextualizing, 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.”

“The program prepares students for intermediate and advanced college courses by making demands up them equivalent to those made by full-year introductory college courses. Students should learn to assess historical materials - their relevance to a given interpretive problem, their reliability, and their importance - and to weigh the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship. This course is designed to train students in developing the skills necessary to arrive at conclusions on the basis of an informed judgment and to present reasons and evidence clearly and persuasively in essay format."

Course Organization: [CR2]

The approach to our study will employ a cross between chronological and thematic examinations of American History. The tables below show the major chronological units and the major themes:

Unit[CR2] / AP Suggested Period / AP Suggested Instructional Time / AHS Instruction Time in School Days / Key Concepts Addressed in the Unit / Thematic Learning Objectives
1 / 1491-1607 / 5 % / 10 / 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 / The learning objectives by theme are listed in the units below.
2 / 1607-1754 / 10 % / 14 / 2.1,2.2, 2.3, 3.2, 3.3
3 / 1754-1800 / 12 % / 20 / 3.2, 3.3
4 / 1800-1848 / 10 % / 25 / 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 4.2,
5 / 1844-1877 / 13 % / 21 / 4.3, 5.1, 5.2
6 / 1865-1898 / 13 % / 21 / 5.3, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 7.3
7 / 1890-1945 / 17 % / 25 / 7.1, 7.2, 7.3
8 / 1945-1980 / 15 % / 21 / 7.3, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3
9 / 1980-Present / 5 % / 14 / 7.3, 8.1, 8.4, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3

Thematic Learning Objectives

Altoona High School endeavors to organize historical instruction in this course around the themes identified by the College Board for historical study. They are:

  • Identity
  • Work, exchange, and technology
  • Peopling
  • Politics and power
  • America in the world
  • Environment and geography
  • Ideas, beliefs, and culture

These themes are linked to content in the Units Outline below.

Learning Activities – The Basics

To learn history, students act like historians – they do what historians do. We form and ask questions, examine evidence, evaluate evidence, analyze evidence, interpret and report findings, and then do it all over again. In short, we are doing the historical thinking skills all the time, every day. Below are explanations of learning activities, alignment of learning activities to AHS APUSH units, and alignment between learning activities and the historical thinking skills.

Historical Thinking Skill / Learning Activity
  1. Study Guide. Students complete, as they read / analyze the text, a study guide. [CR1a], [CR1b] This learning instrument typically requires students:

Historical causation [CR8]
Analyze Continuity and Change [CR9] /
  • To begin with a “Where are we ‘at’?” prompt that requires students to examine the context of the era relative to the previous era and how they “fit” together. [CR8], [CR9], [CR10]

Comparison [CR11]
Appropriate use of relevant historical evidence [CR7]
Interpretation [CR6]
Contextualization [CR12] /
  • Examine primary and secondary source narratives and analyze the context of those narratives. [CR6], [CR7], [CR11], [CR12]

Historical causation [CR8] /
  • Analyze short-term cause and effect and longer-term cause and effect. [CR8],

Historical causation [CR8] /
  • Analyze key historical decisions and turning points, linking consequences to decision-making. [CR8]

Comparison [CR11]
Appropriate use of relevant historical evidence [CR7]
Interpretation [CR6] /
  • Compare secondary text interpretations to primary source visual, graphic, and textual evidence. [CR6], [CR7], [CR11]

Analyze Continuity and Change [CR9] /
  • Compare/contrast key historical actors within and across eras. [CR9]

Analyze Continuity and Change [CR9]
Periodization [CR10]
Comparison [CR11]
Contextualization [CR12]
Interpretation [CR6] /
  • Compare/contrast trends and counter-trends across eras. [CR6], [CR9], [CR11], [CR12]

Analyze Continuity and Change [CR9]
Comparison [CR11]
Historical argumentation [CR5]
Appropriate use of relevant historical evidence [CR7]
Interpretation [CR6]
Synthesis [CR13a], [CR13b] /
  • Synthesize primary sources with secondary source reading in the textbook to form hypotheses and generalizations. [CR5],[CR6], [CR7], [CR9], [CR11], [CR13a], [CR13b]

Appropriate use of relevant historical evidence [CR7]
Interpretation [CR6] /
  • Identify and examine source authors' intent, message, and style. [CR6], [CR7]

Comparison [CR11]
Contextualization [CR12]
Historical argumentation [CR5]
Appropriate use of relevant historical evidence [CR7]
Interpretation [CR6] /
  • Contrast and analyze sources’ authors’ messages and purposes. [CR6], [CR7]

Historical causation [CR8]
Analyze Continuity and Change [CR9]
Comparison [CR11]
Historical argumentation [CR5]
Appropriate use of relevant historical evidence [CR7]
Interpretation [CR6] /
  1. Document Analysis. Students will examine, compare, analyze, critique, and employ a variety of documents – written, visual, and audio/visual – to both support ideas from the text or to create their own thesis statements based on those documents. [CR1b], [CR5],[CR6], [CR7], [CR9], [CR11]

Historical argumentation [CR5]
Appropriate use of relevant historical evidence [CR7]
Interpretation [CR6]
Synthesis [CR13a], [CR13b] /
  1. Related Readings. These are readings from interpretations as presented in historical scholarship. Students will examine that scholarship and incorporate that information into class discussions, focus questions or other assignments. [CR1b], [CR1c]

Analyze Continuity and Change [CR9]
Comparison [CR11]
Contextualization [CR12]
Historical argumentation [CR5]
Appropriate use of relevant historical evidence [CR7]
Interpretation [CR6] /
  1. Primary Source Readings. These documents will often come from the Bailey text noted above in “course texts” section; they expand on and illustrate the readings from the Davidson text. Analysis performed on these readings take the following forms:
  2. “SOAPS”: students list the ‘speaker’ (author), occasion, audience, purpose, and significance of the document and discus
  3. “APPARTS”: students list that author, place and time, prior knowledge, audience, reason, main idea, significance of the document and discuss.
  4. “Triad”: Students are given three (or more) documents and must explain and analyze the relationship among them.
  5. “Reading Response”: students explain how the reading relates to the era, what the author wants audience to understand, a significant passage, identify and analyze the author’s use of other works as evidence for his/her point.

Historical argumentation [CR5]
Synthesis [CR13a], [CR13b] /
  1. Focus Question. Assigned for each chapter of the course, the focus question is an essay question on a broad theme within the time frame we’re studying; the question may be a DBQ or long-essay. This assignment entails a detailed examination / analysis of the questions, any documents that accompany the question – done as a class or as an assignment. Often, these questions are DBQ’s from previous AP tests, or from the AMSCO text, or from previous student-created DBQ's. Students will always outline the focus questions unless specifically notified otherwise. [CR5], [CR13a], [CR13b]

Assessment

  1. Classroom participation: Be active in class in asking questions, offering clarification, making relevant comments.
  2. Assignments: The above assignments will routinely be collected for a grade.
  3. Chapter quizzes : 15-30 question multiple choice quiz given for each chapter.
  4. Unit Test: 55 multiple-choice questions
  5. Essays (take home or in class, timed). Focus question outlines will be entered into your grade in this category. [CR13a], [CR13b]

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AltoonaHigh School Advanced Placement United States History; Instructor: Mr. Boley

Units Outline

Unit1 / Period 1: 1491 – 1607 Pre-Columbian and Early Colonialism to 1607: On a North American continent controlled by American Indians, contact among the peoples of Europe, the Americas, and West Africa created a new world.
Key Concepts / Learning Objectives[CR4]
Key Concept 1.1: Before the arrival of Europeans, native populations in North America developed a wide variety of social, political, and economic structures based in part on interactions with the environment and each other. / I. ID-4 WXT-1 WXT-4 PEO-1 PEO-4
Key Concept 1.2: European overseas expansion resulted in the Columbian Exchange, a series of interactions and adaptations among societies across the Atlantic. / I. PEO-4, PEO-5, ENV-1, WXT-1, WXT-4, WOR-1
II. ENV-1, ENV-4, WXT-1, WOR-1, POL-1
Key Concept 1.3: Contacts among American Indians, Africans, and Europeans challenged the worldviews of each group. / I. CUL-1
II. ID-4, POL-1, CUL-1, ENV-2
Secondary Source Reading[CR1a] / Primary and Other Readings [CR1b] / Learning Activities [CR1b]
Nation of Nations, Davidson et al.
Chapter 1-First Civilizations of North America
  1. A Continent of Cultures
  2. Innovations and Limitations
  3. Crisis and Transformation
/ McClellan, Chapter 1 “Mysterious Mounds” [CR1c][CR6] /
  • See the Learning Activities descriptions
  • Student Study Guide
  • “Examine A.P. U.S. History Curriculum Framework and compare the description of Period 1 and 2 to table of contents on pp iv-vi. What differences / similarities do you notice?” Discussion and explanation of “periodization” as Students complete chapter study guide (see description above).
  • Focus Question: “The Europeans (Spanish, English, French) who came to the Americas were motivated more by religious fervor than they were by economic gain.” Assess the validity of this statement as being true, false, or a mixture of both. [CR3][CR5]

Nation of Nations, Davidson et al.
Chapter 2- Old Worlds, New Worlds
  1. Eurasia and Africa in the 15th Century
  2. Spain in the Americas
  3. Religious Reform Divides Europe
  4. England’s Entry into America

Unit Assessment: Unit 1 Multiple Choice Exam;
Unit 2: 1607-1754 – Europeans and American Indians maneuvered and fought for dominance, control, and security in North America, and distinctive colonial and native societies emerged.
Key Concepts / Learning Objectives[CR4]
2.1: Differences in imperial goals, cultures, and the North American environments that different empires confronted led Europeans to develop diverse patterns of colonization. / I. WXT-2, PEO-1, WOR-1, ENV-4
II. WOR-1, WXT-4, ID-4, POL-1, CUL-1
III. WXT-2, WXT-4, EMV-2, ID-5, PEO-5, CUL-4
2.2: European colonization efforts in North America stimulated intercultural contact and intensified conflict between the various groups of colonizers and native peoples. / I. WXT-1, PEO-1, WOR-1, ENV-1
II. ID-4, WXT-1, PEO-4, POL-1, CUL-1
2.3: The increasing political, economic, and cultural exchanges within the “Atlantic World” had a profound impact on the development of colonial societies in North America. / I. WXT-1, WXT-4, WOR-1, WOR-2, CUL-4
II. WOR-1, WOR-2, ID-1, CUL-4
Secondary Source Reading[CR1a] / Primary and Other Source Analysis [CR1b] / Learning Activities [CR1b]
Nation of Nations, Davidson et al.
Chapter 3 – Colonization and Conflict in the South 1600-1750
  1. Spain’s New American Colonies
  2. English Society on the Chesapeake
  3. Chesapeake Society in Crisis
  4. From the Caribbean to the Carolinas
/ Read: Bailey 4.A.2: A Servant Describes His Fate; 4.A.3: A Servant Girl Pays the Wages of Sin; 4.A.4: An Unruly Servant Is Punished. Consider what each document tells you about the labor situation in the colonies.
Merrell, James. The Indians New World. 1989. [CR1c] /
  • See the Learning Activities descriptions
  • StudentStudy Guide

Chapter 4 – Colonization and Conflict in the North 1600-1700
  1. France in North America
  2. Founding of New England
  3. Stability and Order in Early New England
  4. The Mid-Atlantic Colonies
  5. Adjustment to Empire
/ Read Bailey 3.B.1: Cotton Describes New England’s Theocracy, complete a SOAPS on this document.
Read Bailey 3.B.2: Anne Hutchinson is Banished, complete a SOAPS [CR7] /
  • See the Learning Activities descriptions
  • Student Study Guide

Chapter 5-The Mosaic of 18th Century America
  1. Forces of Division
  2. Slave Societies
  3. Enlightenment and Awakening
  4. Anglo American Worlds
  5. Towards the 7 Years’ War
/

Read Bailey, 5.B.1: George Whitefield Fascinates Franklin, complete a SOAPS

Read Bailey, 5.B.2: Jonathan Edwards Paints the Horrors of Hell, complete a SOAPS. [CR7] /
  • See the Learning Activities descriptions
  • Student Study Guide
  • Compare and contrast Crevoceur and Benjamin Franklin [CR5]
  • “In colonial North America, the economic, religious, and political cultures of the New England, Southern, and Middle regions were more similar than they were different.” Assess the validity of this statement [CR3]

Unit Assessment: Short Answer Essay comparing Northern, Middle, Southern Colonies; Multiple Choice Exam
Unit 3: 1754-1800 – British imperial attempts to reassert control over its colonies and the colonial reaction to these attempts produced a new American republic, along with struggles over the new nation’s social, political, and economic identity.
Key Concepts / Learning Objectives[CR4]
3.1: Britain’s victory over France in the imperial struggle for North America led to new conflicts among the British government, the North American colonists, and American Indians, culminating in the creation of a new nation, the United States. / I. ID-4, POL-1, ENV-2, ENV-4, CUL-1
II. ID-1, WXT-1, POL-1, WOR-1, CUL-4
III. WOR-5, POL-2
3.2: In the late 18th Century, new experiments with democratic ideas and republican forms of government, as well as other new religious, economic, and cultural ideas, challenged traditional imperial systems across the Atlantic World. / I. ID-1, POL-5, WOR-2, CUL-4
II. WXT-6, POL-5, WOR-5
III. ID-4, WOR-2, POL-5, CUL-2
3.3: Migration within North America, cooperative interaction, and competition for resources raised questions about boundaries and policies, intensified conflicts among peoples and nations, and led to contests over the creation of a multiethnic, multiracial national identity. / I. ID-5, ID-6, PEO-5, POL-1, WOR-1, WOR-5
II. POL-1, PEO-4, WOR-5
III. ID-5, WXT-2, WXT-4, POL-2, CUL-2, ENV-3
Secondary Source Reading[CR1a] / Primary and Other Source Analysis[CR1b] / Learning Activities [CR1b]
Nation of Nations, Davidson et al.
Chapter 6 - Toward American Independence
The Seven Years’ War
Imperial Crisis
Toward Revolution /
  • Read the documents in Bailey, 6.C.1 & 2 – Complete SOAPs on each of those documents in your notes. [CR7]
  • Read the docs in Bailey, 7.B.1-3 “The Tempest Over Taxation”. Identify the evidence that Bailey’s title for this section is accurate. [CR7]
/
  • See the Learning Activities descriptions
  • Student Study Guide
  • “The North American colonists had developed an independent sense of identity by 1763.” Assess the validity of this statement. [CR3] [CR5]
  • Compare and contrast the American and British views regarding the results of the French and Indian War.
  • Document Triad: VA and Suffolk Resolves, Olive Branch Petition, “Join or Die” cartoon [CR7]

Nation of Nations, Davidson et al.
Chapter 7 - The American Revolution
Decision for Independence
Fighting in the North
The Turning Point
Struggle in the South
American Victory /
  • J. William T. Youngs. Divided Loyalties, “American Realities” Vol 1., (New York: Longman, 2001). [CR1c] [CR6]
  • McClellan, Chapter 14 “The Declaration of Independence” [CR1c] [CR6]
/
  • See the Learning Activities descriptions
  • Student Study Guide
  • “Was the American Revolution a Conservative Movement?” [CR5]
  • Compare and contrast the background of two groups of Americans: those who became Loyalists and those who became Patriots.
  • Center for Learning “Social Effects of the Revolution” activity. Students read primary and secondary sources and analyze those effects.

Nation of Nations, Davidson et al.
Chapter 8-Crisis & Constitution
Republican Experiments
Question of the West
Republican Society
Confederation to Constitution /
  • John A. Garraty, Was the Constitution an Economic Document?, “Historical Viewpoints: Notable Articles from American Heritage, Vol. I 3 ed., (New York: Harper and Row, 1979). [CR1c][CR6]
  • Examine and discuss Shay’s Rebellion (demands of the Shaysites) in Bailey 9.A.3 [CR7]
  • Read the document “The Federalist #10” in Bailey, 9.E.2 and complete the outline handout. [CR7]
  • How does the Federalist ‘answer’ the demands of the Shaysites?
/
  • See the Learning Activities descriptions
  • Student Study Guide
  • Analyze the role and influence of TWO of the following in the debate over the ratification of the Constitution: Anti-Federalists,
  • The Federalist Papers, Bill of Rights compromise [CR5]
  • Analyze the political / economic conflicts of the 1780s and explain how they were resolved.

Nation of Nations, Davidson et al.
Nation of Nations, Davidson et al.
Chapter 9-The Republic Launched
1789: Social Portrait
The New Government
Expansion and Turmoil in the West
Emergence of Political Parties
John Adams’ Presidency / Read the documents in Bailey, 10.A.2-3; 10.B.3; 10.C.1-2. Prepare for role play cabinet meeting.[CR7] /
  • See the Learning Activities descriptions
  • Student Study Guide
  • Discuss a continuum of anti-Federalists and federalists, Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians; their fears and how those fears were addressed (based on the “Balancing competing interests CoL activity).
  • The Alien and Sedition Acts revealed the bitter controversies of 1790’s American politics.” Explain.
  • American politics were rooted in the social conflict between rural agriculture and urban commerce. Assess the validity of this statement.[CR7] [CR5]

Unit Assessment: Multiple Choice Unit Exam; Short Answer Unit Exam.

Units Outline, Continued