Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Course Objectives:
• Students will be prepared for the Advanced Placement United States History
Exam.
• Students will understand the institutional, cultural, and social forces that have
shaped the people of this nation from the early Seventeenth Century to the present
day.
• Students will learn how to approach history critically and be able to analyze and
evaluate competing sources of historical information.
• Students will practice test-taking skills, including how to successfully take timed
exams.
• Students will learn to take effective notes from both printed materials and
lectures.
• Students will be able to express themselves with clarity and precision and know
how to cite sources and credit the phrases and ideas of others.
Student Expectations:
Students are responsible for their own learning and success in the course and, ultimately,
on the AP U.S. History Exam. Only bright, motivated, disciplined students who enjoy
history can expect to thrive. Students accustomed to getting A’s for simply showing up
and doing all their homework may be in for an awakening. While good attendance and
completing homework are essential to success, they are not enough. Content must be
mastered and learning demonstrated on exams and essays. This will require a level of
hard work and study that is foreign to many students.
Textbook:
Brinkley, Alan. American History: A Survey: Twelfth ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007)
Brown, Dee, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West.
Bantam Books, New York, 1972.
Angelou, Maya. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. Bantam Book. New York. 1971.
Madaras, Larry and James M. SoRelle. Taking Sides: Clashing Views In American
History, Eleventh Edition, Volumes I,II (New York: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin Publishing,
2004.)
Gonick, Larry, The Cartoon History of the United States. Harper Perennial. New York.
1991.
Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States 1492-Present. Harper Perennial.
New York, 1995.
Jim Tomlin. Writing A DBQ: AP U.S. History. Social Studies School Service. (Culver
City, 2007.)
Recommended Supplemantary Texts:
Davis, Kenneth C. Don’t Know Much About History. Everything you Need to Know
About American History, but Never Learned. Avon Books, New York, 1992.
All students will be encouraged to supplement their review sessions for the AP Exam
with the following review books: Kaplan, REA, Barrons, or AP Achiever.
Course Themes:
• Globalization—Engagement with the rest of the world form the fifteenth century
to the present: colonialism, mercantilism, global hegemony, development of
markets, imperialism, cultural exchange.
• Slavery and Its Legacies in North America—Systems of slave labor and other
forms of un-fare labor (e.g. indentured servitude, contract labor) in Native
American societies, the Atlantic World, and the American South and West. The
economics of slavery and its racial dimensions. Patterns of resistance and the
long-term economic, political, and social effects of slavery.
• War and Diplomacy—Armed conflict from the pre-colonial period to the twenty-
first century; impact of war on American foreign policy and on the politics,
economy and society.
Course Organization:
Students will create and maintain an AP U.S. History notebook. The notebook will be of
a loose-leaf type and be divided into two major sections: Section I will contain class
discussions or lecture notes, instructor handouts, class activities, and test
preparation/review materials. Section II will contain identification or definition of terms,
organization and practice of DBQs (Document Based Questions), and organization and
practice of FRQs (Free Response Questions). The notebook will make up a per cent of
the grade.
For each unit studied, students are responsible for keeping up with the required weekly
text book, American History: A Survey, reading and homework assignments. These
assignments include but not limited to outlines, reading guides, interactive journals, or
study guides.
Multiple choice tests will be given over the previous unit studied. In addition, students
will also be required to write an in-class AP U.S. History style essay for each unit
studied. The essay prompts may be previously asked AP U.S. History essay questions.
Essays will alternate between document based questions and standard free-response
questions. Essays will be graded on the typical nine point AP U.S. History rubric. All of
these essays will be in class timed-writes.
Students in Advance Placement classes are expected to attend class regularly, on time,
with their materials and ready to work. If for some reason the AP student chooses to miss
three classes in the semester, he/she will be dropped from the course. All students are
encouraged to express their opinions and thoughts on any topic under discussion. All
students and the teacher will be treated with dignity and respect. Disagreement is
expected and encouraged, as long as that disagreement is conducted in an atmosphere of
mutual respect.
Students are expected to complete class activities on time and will lose credit if an
assignment is turned in late. Students, who fail to take an exam because of an unexcused
absence will lose credit for that particular exam.
Course Units:
*McGraw-Hill Company created a CD-ROM with over 300 primary sources and
documents to accompany Alan Brinkley’s, American History: A Survey. Unless
otherwise specified, the following primary sources and documents will be
referenced from the CD-ROM.
Assessment Unit 3: Multiple Choice Test and a DBQ or FRQ Timed Write
Assessment Unit 4: Multiple Choice Test and a DBQ or FRQ Timed Write
Assessment Unit 5: Multiple Choice Test and a DBQ or FRQ Timed Write
Assessment Unit 6: Multiple Choice Test and a DBQ or FRQ Timed Write
Week 21: The Rise of Progressivism / The Battle for National Reform
Discussion Topics: The Progressive Impulse: Women, Sources, Crusades,
Origins of Progressive Reform; Municipal, State, and
National,
Text Reading: Chapter 21, pp. 565-589
Analyze Primary Sources:
*Map: “Women’s Suffrage, 1869-1914”
*“19th Amendment,” 1920
*“The Jungle Excerpt”, 1906 (in Chapter 22 Sources)
Discuss Secondary Text: Gonick Chapter 14
Assessment Unit 7: Multiple Choice Test and a DBQ or FRQ Timed Write
Week 22: The New Nationalism, the New Freedom, and the “Big Stick”.
Discussion Topics: Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson as Progressive Presidents,
Text Reading: Chapter 22, pp. 593-609
Analyze Primary Sources:
*Map: “US in Latin America, 1895-1994”
*Audio: “Roosevelt Speaks,” 15 Apr 1906
*“Yellowstone Park Est.”
*“Roosevelt’s Open Letter”
*“Neill-Reynolds Report”
*“Meat Inspection Act of 1906”
*“Keating-Owen Child Labor Act”
Assessment Unit 8: Multiple Choice Test and a DBQ or FRQ Timed Write
Assessment Unit 9: Multiple Choice Test and a DBQ or FRQ Timed Write
Assessment Unit 10: Multiple Choice Test and a DBQ or FRQ Timed Write
Assessment Unit 11: Multiple Choice Test and a DBQ or FRQ Timed Write