Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome to AP Human Geography! I am incredibly excited to be teaching your child this semester. I want
to briefly introduce myself to you. My name is Jessica Friedlander, many of the students call me Ms. Friedy
or Ms. Freed or simply Ms. F. This is my 6th year in Durham and 6th year at RHS, I student taught that first
year, so it’s now my 5th year in the building as a full-time teacher. I love RHS and plan on being here for
many, many more years. I teach AP Human Geography, and every level of American History 2 (junior
year), and I co-advise Student Government with Ms. Tucker.

Disclaimer: I cover A LOT of information in this letter to you. Please read through it all, as this will help
you better understand the structure, expectations, and content of this class. There is a Parent Assignment at
the end, which will give your child 2 one-day extensions for small assignments without penalty.

I encourage you all to peruse my course syllabus, your child has a hard copy, and it is also available under
the AP HuGs tab on my website: http://MsFriedlanderRHS.weebly.com.

A bit about AP Human Geography as a class. First and foremost, it is an AP class, which means it is
supposed to be a college-level course. Your student may be only a freshman, so this is quite a jump from
middle school expectations to college. There will be growing pains, and that is O.K. (and expected)! The
aim of this course is to foster growth, which means challenging your student. This will be a rigorous
course as far as amount of work, expectations for quality of work, and the overall pace. Grades tend to
improve throughout the semester, so please be patient and supportive of your child, especially if this may
be the first time they are not receiving A+’s on everything (or anything). AP courses should be more
challenging than an honors course, so please expect that to be reflected in the amount of work, the class
expectations and the grading. Students will be exposed to college-level work in regard to: workload,
critical thinking, time management, finding solutions independently, self-accountability and responsibility
for work, and analytical reading and writing.

While it is a rigorous course, I have put structures in place to help students find success. For example,
there are at least 2 required 1-on-1 meetings that I have with all students, I offer before school review
sessions on test days, I have linked review resources on my website, and there are required re-learning
opportunities for quizzes, tests, and FRQ’s that receive a 69% or below. I want all the students in my class
to grow, and my job is to help them find successes! I am on their team. I encourage students to self-
advocate, meaning if they have questions or concerns, I want them to bring these up with me rather than
the parents immediately reaching out. Please encourage your child to reach out to me if they are
concerned, I am always happy to meet with individual students to chat about what’s going on.
Additionally, I will talk with your child first, second, and sometimes more often, before reaching out with
any concerns, particularly with homework or time management issues.
Regarding class content, this is a concept based class rather than a content heavy class. This means, we
focus on learning ideas, concepts, theories, and skills, then work in class to practice applying these to
various scenarios. I will not, nor am able to, teach ALL of the possible content. But, we will cover ALL
concepts in class, and students will work on growing their ability to apply what they know to topics they
don’t know. For example, we will learn about population growth, and questions on the exam may be from
Senegal, which I didn’t explicitly cover, but the question requires students to analyze data or make
inferences based off of general knowledge they have about population growth in that region of the world.

Some important components of the class explained:

In-Class Work
This will frequently fall under the Student Work category. Each class is different, sometimes I give notes in
a traditional presentation, but students will also work in teams to make posters to present their peers with
information, they will explore online resources about various countries and regions, they will read and
summarize articles, they will create vocabulary or timeline posters in class, and sometimes we will play
review games as well. Most in class work is a learning activity rather than a to-be-graded-for-accuracy
work. I do reserve the right to grade any and all work at random throughout the semester, to check in on
student learning and progress. For all late student work, which includes homework, 1 day late is a 60%,
after that it is a 50% by the end of the unit. No student work is accepted after the test. While most in class
work is not graded, it is important for students to complete to gain valuable knowledge and practice.

Homework
Your student will receive his/her own textbook and is responsible for nightly readings and note-taking
from it. Homework falls under the category of Student Work, which is 40% of their grade. I check
homework daily at the beginning of class for a completion/effort-based grade. Throughout the semester I
will transition away from daily homework grades to utilizing in class activities and pop quizzes to assess
student’s knowledge. For all late student work, which includes homework, 1 day late is a 60%, after that it
is a 50% by the end of the unit. No student work is accepted after the test. If a student is absent on the day
homework is checked, it is due the following day. All homework is provided at the beginning of the unit in
the Unit Syllabus, this is handed out in class as well as always digitally posted. Students are responsible for
staying current on what is due when.

Quizzes & Tests

Both announced and pop quizzes are possible throughout the semester. At the beginning of the semester,
notes will be allowed to be used on some pop quizzes, encouraging good note-taking. As the semester
progresses, notes will no longer be allowed. Quizzes, tests, and projects together are 40% of their grade.
Tests and quizzes can include multiple choice, identification, short answers and/or essays. There will be
regular map quizzes so students learn all the countries and regions. If a quiz or test is missed, students
have only 1 week to make it up, otherwise they receive a 0. They must schedule the make-up with me
individually, not during class time.

There is a teacher made FINAL EXAM, that will be given at the end of the semester. This is 20% of your
child’s grade. They can be exempt from the exam according to DPS attendance policy, if they have an “A”
average and no more than 3 absences or if they have a “B” average and no more than 2 absences. Any
absence counts toward the limit, except school sponsored field trips, sports, or school approved activities.

Projects
This class is very small project based, meaning students will frequently work in class on exploring a
concept. Many of these small projects are learning activities rather than graded activities. I reserve the
right to collect/check binders for these assignments and grade for completion or accuracy as needed
throughout the semester. There will be a few larger projects throughout the semester, either powerpoint
presentations or interactive creations, such as our Religions of the World project in Unit 3. Larger projects
lose 10% points for being late.

FRQs (Free Response Questions)

An incredibly important component of this class is the writing, focused mainly on FRQ style writing. These
will be given during timed sessions to prepare students for the AP exam. Their first FRQ is given out on the
first day, and we learn from it together. Students will sometimes write FRQ’s in partners, take them home,
or they may grade their own or peer grade anonymously. By the end of the semester students will be
practicing writing 3 FRQ’s in the 75 minutes they’ll receive on the AP exam. During the first quarter, there
will be occasional re-write opportunities, these will be scored and averaged with the initial grade. FRQ’s
can lose up to 10% points for being late.

Other Writing Assignments

Writing is a large focus of this class, encouraging students to explicitly answer the prompts and provide
clear and specific evidence to back up their writing. These skills are beneficial in all subject areas going
forward. Aside from FRQ’s, students will be constantly writing, whether summarizing main ideas from
class or articles, setting individual goals, and reflecting on personal growth throughout the semester. Some
assignments will be graded simply for completion, whereas others will receive an accuracy & depth of
content grade. Students will also complete at least one larger research paper during the course.

The AP Exam
On the AP exam, 50% of the grade comes from 3 FRQ’s, and the other 50% comes from 75 multiple choice
questions. These sections are timed, students will receive 1 hour and 15 minutes for the FRQ’s and 1 hour
for the multiple-choice questions. Scores come available in late June or early July, make sure your student
collects their AP Central Board log in to check their scores. A score of a 3, 4, or 5 are considered passing,
and something to be incredibly proud of. Many colleges will accept a 4 or a 5 for class credit, this varies by
school. The AP exam score does not impact your child’s grade in this class.

If you want more info please peruse my website or reach out to me at Jessica.Friedlander@dpsnc.net

Your (Parent/Guardian) assignment:

Your completion of these 2 tasks by Friday, Sept. 7 provides your child with 2 one-day extensions for small
graded assignments with NO grade penalty.
1. Email me answering the following questions (you can use the syllabus as well):
• What are the late work policies (homework, in-class, projects, FRQ’s, quizzes/tests)?
• What do you understand the expectations of this class to include?
• What skills (academic and social) and/or content can you anticipate your child leaving this
class having gained?

2. Write (either email or otherwise) a brief introduction of your student. Help me get to know your
kid a bit more – think: strengths, aspirations, struggles, extra-curriculars, any important medical or
learning disabilities I must know about, etc. Take this opportunity to brag, as kids don’t typically
toot their own horns. ☺