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SYLLABUS Goals The AP program in United States History is designed to provide students with analytic skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with the problems and materials in United States history. The program prepares students for intermediate and advanced college courses by making demands upon them equivalent to those made by full-year introductory college courses. Students should learn to assess historical material their relevance to a given interpretive problem, their reliability, and their importance and to weigh the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship. An AP United States History course should thus develop the skills necessary to arrive at conclusions on the basis of and informed judgment and to present reasons and evidence clearly and persuasively in essay format. Students Admission to an Advanced Placement course should depend upon a students commitment to the subject as well as such formal credentials as high aptitude scores or outstanding grade records. Many students lacking outstanding credentials have successfully completed Advanced Placement courses and obtained college credit or Advanced Placement through the Advanced Placement Examination. The aim of an Advanced Placement course should be to provide the student with a learning experience equivalent to that obtained in most college introductory United States History courses. All students should develop an impeccable work ethic and become responsible for his or her success in the course. Time should be set aside daily to review course information and prepare course material. The Advanced Placement Course Although there is little to be gained by rote memorization of names and dates in an encyclopedic manner, a student must be able to draw upon a reservoir of systematic factual knowledge in order to exercise analytic skills intelligently. Striking a balance between teaching factual knowledge and critical analysis is a demanding but crucial task in the design of a successful AP course in history.
Assessments Students will be assessed by a series of Document-Based Questions (DBQs) A quarterly DBQ is required. (Student choice is from one of the quarter units.) Test will consist of a thematic essay, and / or multiple choice questions, depending on the length and indepthness of the unit. Analytical Essays: One thematic essay is required per unit. It may be one of the essential content questions or based on other thematic content. Multiple Choice questions: Usually 33 MC items, five choices each. Group Presentation Projects: All groups will be assessed according to the criteria rubric that is presented with the assigned projects. Projects include Biographical Profiles, Cultural Literacy, Debate Issues and others deemed by the instructor. Reading Assignments: Reading assignments are assigned from primary and secondary sources, handout excerpts, and various reader text and internet sources. Each Student will turn in one Conceptual Assessment Portfolio per semester. The Portfolio Packet will be received at the beginning of each semester and due at its end. Only quality work will be accepted! 1st semester, Decade in Crisis and the Civil War 2nd semester, The Civil Rights Movement Note: Each assignment will be accompanied by an in-depth rubric that describes the detailed explanations of the assignments format and grading scale. Note: All projects, portfolios debate issues, etc., MUST be approved by the Instructor before any work is initiated. Textbooks One Textbook is furnished to the students: Out of Many Prentice Hall (2004) TSBN 0-13-09892-5 Students can check out supplemental textbooks for supporting reading including: American Pageant Heath Publishing ISBN 0-669-33892-3 Course Units of Study include: 1. Discovery, Settlement and Colonial Society 2. Conflicts, Revolution and the Creation of Government 3. The Constitution and the New Republic 4. The Revolution of 1800 and the Age of Jefferson 5. Age of Jackson and the Growth of Democracy 6. Expansion Across the Continent and Reform Movements 7. Decade in Crisis, Civil War, and Reconstruction 8. The Gilded Age and the Rise of Industrial America 9. The American West and Native Americans 10. Populism and the Progressivism
11. Imperialism and World War I 12. The Roaring 1920s and the Great Depression 13. World War II and the Post war Era 14. The Cold War 15. The Civil Rights Movement 16. The Contemporary World
Essential Questions: Discuss foreign policy under Jeffersons administration. Include foreign intervention and decisions made for domestic expediency. Discuss to what extent the Federalist assumed support for state rights as opposition to the Democratic-Republicans toward the end of the War of 1812. From Madisons point of view, the War if 1812 achieved none of its original aims. Explain why its consequences were important for the future development of the United States. Major Assignments and Assessments: Group Constitutional Case Brief Project: Choose one of the Supreme Court cases below and present a case brief to the class. Include: Case facts, Constitutional question, Courts decision, and Courts reasoning. Abide by the rubric criteria. (a) Marbury vs. Madison (b) Fletcher vs. Peck (c) McCulloch vs. Maryland (d) Dartmouth College vs. Woodward (e) Gibbons vs. Ogden Unit Test: MC / Thematic Essay DBQ Exercise: Students are to write the First Quarter DBQ. Instructor choices include: Discovery and Settlement, Conflicts and Revolution The Constitution and the New Republic, the Age of Jefferson
Essential Questions: The sectional compromises of the first half of the nineteenth century were not in fact compromises but rather sectional sellouts in which the North gave in to the insistent demands of the slaveholding South. Assess the validity of this statement. Analyze the impact of two of the following in the ending of slavery during the Civil War. (a) President Lincoln, (b) U.S. Congress, (c) Slaves and former slaves Explain why and how the role of the federal government changed as a result of the Civil War with respect to two of the following during the period 1861 1877. Major Assignments and Assessments: Group Role Play Debate Project: The class will role-play the Congressional debate that led to the Compromise of 1850. Students will be assigned to research one of the major players and role-play their position during the debate. Abide by the debate criteria rubric. Civil War Portfolio: Abide by the Rubrics located in the Civil War Packet Unit Test: MC /Thematic Essay DBQ Exercise: Students are to write the Second Quarter DBQ. Instructor choices include: Age of Jackson and the Growth of Democracy Expansion across the Continent and Reform Movements
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Last of the Mohicans, Dancing with Wolves, Glory, Citizen Kane, the Grapes of Wrath, The Patriot, Dr. Strangelove, etc.