Advanced Placement United States History (2100330)
Mr. Shane Bowers
P-15 (904)-547-7300
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Advanced Placement United States History is a one-credit course offered to third year qualifying students. The course provides students with the analytical skills needed to successfully participate in beginning and intermediate level college courses. The material presented is equivalent to that of a survey American History course in college and will be a worthwhile, though challenging, and experience to students who take advantage of the texts, course presentation, and discussions throughout the year. The course will focus on the governmental development, political behavior, cultural patterns, and social institutions fundamental to the history of the United States of America.
TEXT: Brinkley, Alan. American History: Connecting with the Past. New York: McGraw Hall, 2012.
SUPPLEMENTAL TEXTS:
Belmonte, Laura, ed. Speaking of America: Readings in U.S. History. 2 vols.
Belmont, California: Thomson Higher Education, 2005.
Tindall, George Brown, and David Shi. America: A Narrative History. 9th Ed. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2004.
United States History (Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination) John J Newman, John M. Schmalbach
Princeton Review
GRADING POLICY:
Quarter grades consist of:
1. Tests-50% (Unit Tests)
2. Essay work – 30% (DBQ’s/FRQ’s)
3. Quizzes – 20% (Reading Quizzes)
A (100-90) B (89-80) C (79-70) D (69-60) F (59-0)
EXPLANATION OF MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS
1. Tests
a. Part I-Consists of between 20 and 40 multiple-choice questions. Test dates will be announced in class at the end of the unit. Test are timed using the same time as will be given during the actual AP exam in May.
b. Part II- After every test an essay will be given over the content from that unit. FRQs will be used during the first semester. DBQs will be used during the second semester. (These essays will be included in the essay category of your quarter grade.)
c. Midterm Exam- A cumulative test that must be completed by ALL students (no exemptions) and is 10% of 1st semester grade.
2. Writing
* Writing activities in this class are taken from past College Board Advanced Placement exams. Document Based Questions, Free Response Questions and Short answer assess students through their ability to analyze and evaluate a period of history during a timed test. Throughout the semester students will read current historical scholarship that will help develop their analytical skills. In addition, students will encounter a number of primary and secondary source documents that will add to their knowledge of themes and units in American History. These documents will be analyzed in class and/or used to develop essays in the course.
3. Reading Quizzes
* Reading quizzes are essential to this course. The student must stay current with all reading assignments. Chapter readings are assigned at the beginning of every unit. It is the student’s responsibility to read the textbook once the chapters are assigned. Students are quizzed on almost every chapter assigned. Sometimes the quiz is over two chapters. Students are given a few days notice as to when a reading quiz will be given in class. The reading quizzes are timed as students must be prepared to work within time constraints for the AP exam. APUSH Unit Reading is posted at the beginning of each semester. Each unit will cover between 2 – 5 chapters from the textbook.
4. Make up work: Make up work must be completed according to school and district policy. Students are given one day for every day they miss. It is the student’s responsibility to ask the teacher what they missed. Test that are missed may be given in a different format (essay, different version of test, etc.) however, it will cover the same content. Tests and quizzes may be made up before and/or after school when set up with the teacher. If you are unable to stay before/after school then do not miss days when tests and quizzes are given.
CURRICULUM CALENDAR – UNITS OF STUDY
In addition to the chronological units listed below, students should consider themes throughout United States History. These themes include: American diversity, American identity, culture, demographic changes, economic transformations, environment, globalization, politics and citizenship, reform, religion, slavery and its legacy in North America, war and diplomacy. These themes and explanations of these themes are available on the College Board website.
Unit 1: 1491-1607- Brinkley’s American History, Chapter 1
Content: Geography and environment; Native American diversity in the Americas; Spain in the Americas; conflict and exchange; English, French, and Dutch settlements; and the Atlantic economy.
Unit 2: 1607-1754- Brinkley’s American History, Chapters 2-3
Content: Growing trade; unfree labor; political differences across the colonies; conflict with Native Americans; immigration; early cities; role of women, education, religion and culture; and growing tensions with the British.
Unit 3a & b: 1754-1800- Brinkley’s American History, Chapters 4-6
Content: Colonial society before the war for independence; colonial rivalries; the Seven Years War; role of women before, during, and after 1776; Articles and a Constitution; and early political rights and exclusions.
Unit 4: 1800-1848- Brinkley’s American History, Chapters 7-12
Content: Politics in the early republic, parties and votes; reforms and social movements; culture and religion; market capitalism and slavery; growth of immigration and cities; Transcendentalism and Utopianism; women and Seneca Falls; and Territorial expansion and Mexican War.
Unit 5a & b: 1844-1877- Brinkley’s American History, Chapters 13-15
Content: Tensions over slavery; reform movements; politics and the economy; cultural trends; the Civil War, rights of freedmen and women, Reconstruction, and freedmen’s bureau; and the KKK. Focus on white supremacy before and after the Civil War.
Unit 6: 1865-1898- Brinkley’s American History, Chapters 16-19
Content: The 1877 Railroad strike; rise of labor unions and the Populist Party; general themes of industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and imperialism; and Indian wars, the Spanish American War, and conquests in the Pacific.
Unit 7a, b, c: 1890-1945- Brinkley’s American History, Chapters 19-26
Content: The formation of the Industrial Workers of the World and the AFL; industrialization and technology, mass production and mass consumerism, and radio and movies; Harlem Renaissance; Native American culture and boarding schools; political parties and the transition from classical liberalism to New Deal liberalism with the capitalist crisis of the 1930s; and WW II, demographic shifts, the role of women and nonwhites, and battles for economic rights.
Unit 8a &b: 1945-1980- Brinkley’s American History, Chapters 27-30
Content: The atomic age; the affluent society and suburbs; discrimination, the Other America, and the African American Civil Rights movement; Vietnam and U.S. imperial policies in Latin America and Africa; the Beats and the student, counterculture, antiwar, women’s, Chicano, American Indian, and gay and lesbian movements; summer riots and the occupation of Alcatraz; LBJ’s Great Society and the rise of the New Right; Ronald Reagan and the rise of poverty; and the Cold War and U.S. role in the world.
Unit 9: 1980-present- Brinkley’s American History, Chapters 31-32
Content: Summary of Reagan’s domestic and foreign policies; Bush Sr. and the end of the Cold War; Clinton as a New Democrat; technology and economic bubbles and recessions, race relations, and the role of women; changing demographics and the return of poverty; rise of the prison industrial complex and the war on drugs; 9/11 and the domestic and foreign policies that followed; and Obama: change or continuity?
Review: AP Exam
We will be doing review for the AP exam in class prior to the test date. The students are also to be reviewing throughout the year. Their binder is a constant review for them and there will also be supplemental on the website and given in class. Students are expected to take the AP exam given by the College Board at the end of the year. The test date is Friday May 6th in the morning; this is a 3 ½ hour test that will have 55 multiple choice questions and 4 short answer questions and 2 essays (1DBQ and 1 FRQ). Scoring a 3 or higher on this exam could give the students college credit.
Class Rules: All hats, cell phones, musical devices or video toys (IPods, PSP, etc.) must be turned off and put away. Raise your hand and wait to be called on before speaking. No profanity. Restroom visits are limited to 5 minutes with your signed planner. All work should be turned in on time. Late work will not be accepted and the grade of zero will be given.
Discipline: All rules as stated in the Student Code of Conduct and by the administration will be strictly enforced. Tardiness and disruption of class will not be tolerated and will be dealt with immediately and according to the policies of Creekside High School and the district Student Code of Conduct.
Tardies: All students are expected to be in the classroom and in their seat ready to begin the learning process when the bell rings. Three tardies to class will result in a disciplinary referral and could lead to detention or Saturday School.
ESE & ELL: Accommodations will be addressed within the classroom.
In Closing:
Please keep in mind that the following document is a guide and situations will always present themselves for us to re-evaluate our policies, procedures, and course of study. Again the spirit of this is to help alleviate some of those first day questions and concerns so that a smooth transition into the new school year can take place. I look forward to a rewarding experience for all of us and for us to foster a positive learning environment among our peers and with the instructor.
QUIZ!!!!!!!
Please read through this document and share the information with your parents. Once that has been completed, I ask that both you and one of your parents sign that you have read and understood this document. Thank you for your cooperation.
“My high school diploma will reflect genuine learning. By signing below, I acknowledge that I will not cheat on any academic assignment. Cheating includes providing or receiving answers to quizzes and/or tests via any means, as well as plagiarism, defined as ‘the deliberate or reckless representation of another’s words, thoughts, or ideas as one’s own without attribution in connection with submission of academic work, whether graded or otherwise.’”
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