Erika Ellis AP US History 2017-2018

214-708-5366

Google Classroom code: u2doxw

Supplies

  • three-ring binder
  • loose leaf paper (no spiral notebooks)
  • Writing utensils: blue/ black/ red pen,pencil, highlighters
  • 1 box of Kleenex

Purpose

The AP U.S. History course is college-level introductory course which examines the nations’ political, diplomatic, intellectual, cultural, social, and economic history from 1491 to the present. A variety of instructional approaches are employed and a college level textbook is supplemented by primary and secondary sources.

Themes

TheAPUSHistorycourseandexamareorganizedunderseventhemes,whicharetopicsof historicalinquirytoexplorethroughouttheAPUSHistorycourse. Eachoftheseobjectivesareidentified ontheunitstudyguidesandareasfollow:

1. Identity(ID)

2. Work,ExchangeandTechnology(WXT)

3. Peopling(PEO)

4. PoliticsandPower(POL)

5. AmericaintheWorld(WOR)

6. EnvironmentandGeography—physical andhuman(ENV)

7. Ideas,Beliefs,andCulture(CUL)

Historical Thinking Skills

  1. Causation
  2. Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time
  3. Comparison
  4. Contextualization
  5. Historical Argumentation
  6. Use of relevant historical evidence

Periods

  1. 1491-1607 (Meeting of Cultures)
  2. 1607-1754 (The English Colonies)
  3. 1754-1800 (Revolution, Constitution, and the New Republic)
  4. 1800-1848 (Creating and American Culture from Jefferson to Jackson)
  5. 1848-1877 (Manifest Destiny, Sectionalism, Civil War, and Reconstruction)
  6. 1865-1898 (Gilded Age)
  7. 1890-1945 (Progressives, WWI, Roaring 20s, Great Depression, WWII)
  8. 1945-1980 (Cold War and the Age of Dissent)
  9. 1980-Present (Reagan Revolution, Globalization, Terrorism)

Textbooks

●Kennedy, D., Cohen, L. American Pageant, 15 edition. New York, NY: Pearson, 2013.

●Brinkley, Alan. American History: Connecting with the Past.14th ed. New York, NY:McGraw Hill, 2012.

Additional Readings

●Leone, Bruno, and Teresa O’Neill. eds.Opposing Viewpoints:American History Series. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, Inc, 1994.

●Nash, Roderick, and Gregory Graves. From These Beginnings: A Biographical Approach to American History. 6th ed. 2 vols. New York, NY: Longman, 2000.

●West Davidson, James, and Mark Hamilton Lytle. After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection. 5th ed. 2 vols. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill, 2005

●Shi, DavidE.Meyer, HollyA.FortheRecord:ADocumentaryHistoryofAmerica. 5th ed. 2 vols.W. W. Norton & Company,1999.

●Various film clips, photographs, charts, speeches, sound clips

Format of AP Exam

Section I - Part A:Multiple Choice | 55 Questions | 55 Minutes | 40% of Exam Score

Questions appear in sets of 2-5.

Students analyze historical texts, interpretations, and evidence.

Primary and secondary sources, images, graphs, and maps are included.

Section I - Part B:Short Answer | 4 Questions |50 Minutes | 20% of Exam Score

Questions provide opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know best.

Some questions include texts, images, graphs, or maps.

Section II - Part A:Document Based | 1 Question |55 Minutes | 25% of Exam Score

Analyze and synthesize historical data.

Assess written, quantitative, or visual materials as historical evidence.

Section II - Part B:Long Essay | 1 Question | 35 Minutes | 15% of Exam Score

Students select one question among two.

Explain and analyze significant issues in U.S. history.

Develop an argument supported by an analysis of historical evidence.

AP Exam Grades

The Readers’ scores on the free-response questions are combined with the results of

the computer-scored multiple-choice questions; the weighted raw scores are summed

to give a composite score . The composite score is then converted to a grade on AP’s

5-point scale:

AP GRADE QUALIFICATION

5 Extremely well qualified

4 Well qualified

3 Qualified

2 Possibly qualified

1 No recommendation

* APUSH College Board

Grading Policy

Erika Ellis AP US History 2015-2016

214-708-5366

Each unit will contain some of the following activities; however, there are activities that are not reflected here for the sake of brevity, but will still fall into one of these categories. These are merely some examples to illustrate the category.

Analyzing Historical Sources and Evidence10%

Content & Sourcing (Format, Context, Audience, POV, Purpose)/ Interpretation

  • Primary Source Analysis:Students analyze primary sources using notecards on which they identify, analyze, and evaluate each of the sources. Students analyze the sources for two or more of the following features: historical context, purpose and intended audience, the author’s point of view, type of source, argument and tone. (Appropriate use of historical evidence.)
  • Author’s Thesis Paper:Students are provided with opposing viewpoints expressed in either primary or secondary source documents and in writing must determine the following:

The Thesis

  • What is the main argument of each author?

The Evidence

  • Looking at the supporting evidence, analyze whether they are logically interpreted by the authors. Do they clearly support the thesis?

Critical Analysis

  • What do the sources add to your own understanding of the topic?
  • What points are strongly made and well documented?

Final Analysis: (Your opinion is expressed here without any use of the pronoun “I”.)

  • Which of the sources makes the most convincing case and why?

For each source, complete the thesis, evidence, and critical analysis sections.

Making Historical Connections10%

Comparison/ Contextualization/ Synthesis

  • Lecture and discussion of topics:Students will participate in discussions based on course topics that will be covered in online video lectures. Students will be held accountable for those lectures through the Cornell Note taking Method.
  • DBQ Deconstruction:Students, working in groups, will read the sources from and debate the question posed by the DBQ.

Chronological Reasoning10%

Causation/ Continuity and Change over Time/ Periodization

  • Six Degrees of Separation:Students will be provided two events spanning decades, but related by theme. They will select six events in chronological order that link the first event in the series with the last. Students will write the name of each selected event, and use their research and knowledge of the time period to create an argument to support the events selected. Students must emphasize both cause and effect and/or demonstrate continuity or change over time in their linking. There will be at least one Six Degrees of Separation assignment per six weeks. Some events can and will include environmental impact data. This assignment provides students with the opportunity to observe continuity and change over time.
  • Chronological Reasoning Lesson: Students are provided with ten events, in no particular order, which they will then place in order, name the decade in which each occurred.

Students will complete the exercise by providing the following:

  1. Identify the period in which these occur.
  2. Identify continuity and change over time exemplified by the selections
  3. Identify the theme(s) under which these issues and developments might be categorized.

Creating and Supporting a Historical Argument10%

  • You Be the Judge
  • Students analyze disparate primary source documents on the same topic. Students then compare and contrast the viewpoints expressed in the documents, and-supported by the evidence presented, and in context of the historical period-determine which authors made the better case and why.
  • Socratic Seminar: Claim Sheet Preparation and Participation

Six Weeks Exam30%

Multiple Choice Test:One exam per six weeks of 30 multiple choice questions in 30 minute exam period, and one short answer question.

Test Corrections

All test corrections are due one week from the day the test is released to students. Test corrections will not be accepted late. You will receive back ½ of the total points lost on the test (i.e. original score of 50, corrected and credited score of 75) Corrections are graded “all or nothing” so you will get 0 points for any corrections which are inaccurate or missing parts. Submit corrections in this order starting with the top: scantron, corrections, test. All parts must be stapled together in that order. The procedure for corrections is as follows:

  1. All test corrections must be handwritten and on notebook paper.
  2. In the left margin, write the number of the question missed.
  3. Write out the entire question.
  4. Identifywhy you got it wrong:
  5. Parentheses must reflect detail of question.
  6. Column 1 is acceptable for only a few questions. Column 2 shows deeper reflection of the question.

IDK= I didn’t know. / DUD= Didn’t understand distracter (choices)
DUH= Silly mistake. / MUW= Mixed up with (another term/concept)
DUQ= Didn’t understand question. / ND= Narrowed down (picked wrong one)
  1. Select one word in the prompt or answers and define it. This can be a historical vocabulary word or an operative word that you just weren’t sure of. N/A is not an option. Reference the terms list given at the beginning of the unit for a relevant term to define if you are at a loss.
  2. Create a multiple choice question that covers the same concept or topic but where the wrong answer you picked is now the correct answer. Do not simply rephrase the original and have 5 answer choices. You can’t reuse more than 3 of the original answer choices.

EXAMPLE:

Unit 1 Test Corrections

11) 1. What was the first battle of the American Revolution?

2. MUW Switched Battle of Yorktown and Lexington and Concord because I always get the battles confused

3. Saratoga- The 1777 battle where Benedict Arnold became a hero

4. In this 1781 battle the British General Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington

a) The battle of Quebec

b) The battle of Yorktown

c) The battle of Trenton

d) Lexington and Concord

e) The Boston Massacre.

Essay Test30%

Essay/ DBQ Exams (Given on the same day as the MC test.)

●One, timed, written test per six weeks administered in class.

●Prompts given one week in advance.

●45 minutes for DBQ

●35 minutes for FRQ

●No correction opportunity.

Absences

  1. MAKEUP CLASSWORK: If you are absent you have as many class days as you were absent to make up the work.If you are absent in the first three weeks of the grading period, then that makeup work must be completed before grading deadline for progress reports.
  2. MAKEUP TESTS:

If it is a planned absence (i.e. school program), then prior to your planned absence you must schedule a date and time to take the test either before the absence or no later than the school day following the test day.

If you fail to makeup the test by the following school day, then you will receive the exam for corrections only. This means your maximum grade is a 50.

Chronic test day absences will be referred to grade level chair and Mr. Mackey for remediation.

Academic Honesty

Work should be a reflection of individual student ideas. Students should not look at another student’s work or share their work with others. Receiving or providing answers for an assignment, essay, quiz, or test is cheating and academic dishonesty—regardless of its form. Any such action will result in a referral to the office for further review and possible additional disciplinary action.

Cheating includes:

  • Copying, faxing, emailing, or in any way duplicating assignments that are turned in, wholly or in part, as original work.
  • Exchanging assignments with other students, either handwritten or computer generated, whether you believe they will be copied or not.
  • Using any form of memory aid during tests or quizzes without the express permission of the instructor.
  • Giving or receiving answers during tests or quizzes.
  • Taking credit for group work when you have not contributed and equal or appropriate share toward the final result.

Violation of any rule will result in the following consequences:

First offense – Warning (this includes calling the student’s name during class)

Second and third offenses – Parent contact and 20 minute detention after school

Fourth and fifth offenses – Referral and parent contact

Sixth offense – Referral and student/teacher/parent/administrator conference

Tutoring

Go to Fill out the form. You will receive a confirmation email when your session is scheduled.

Permission for Viewing Video Clips in APUSH

The showing of videos and films in classrooms: 1.The use of videos and films must be relevant to the curricula students are currently studying and 2. All videos and films must be G rated unless a permission slip is signed by a parent. Throughout the year, we will view clips from several films that have a higher rating than G. By signing this syllabus, you authorize your son/daughter to view these clips. If you have additional questions, don’t hesitate to email me at

Our signatures below indicate we received and read the course syllabus and the associated Classroom Discipline Management Plan. We understand and agree to the terms of the course.

Parent Section:

_____ I have read my child’s syllabus and plagiarism policy and understand the basic requirements for this class.

Parent(s) Name: ______

Parent(s) Signature: ______

Parent(s) email: ______

Home Phone: ______Cell Phone: ______

Student Section:

_____ I have read my syllabus and plagiarism policy and understand the basic requirements

for this class.

Student Name: ______

Student Signature: ______

Student email: ______

Please remove this back page to turn in. Keep the syllabus in the front of your binder for the duration of the school year.