How to Teach APWH (for New Teachers)

Summer Assignment, yes or no? if so what?

• Yes - Helps cover materials in an already busy year. Also sets the tone for the course (if they can't/won't read two books over the summer will they really want to read a chapter a week?)
• No - Let students have their summer. Some school districts prohibit summer assignments, some schools require it for AP courses
• What

Timing

"To those struggling with timing, The best thing to do is have a calendar- counting back from the exam date, with approx. weeks filled in for each unit. Keep in mind that the Acorn book weeks are unrealistic- esp. for those of us starting around Labor Day. Right now, we've just started Unit II and will finish right before Thanksgiving, giving us until mid-Jan for Unit III. (Then semester exams etc and we start again the last week of Jan). There is no good way to do this.

There are many of us who work in a different environment- one where test scores ARE important and we are accountable for having kids earn favorable scores on the exam. We too deal with weather problems, class interruptions for a myriad of reasons as well, and we ALL love teaching world history, but do not have the luxury of blithely declaring the test to be irrelevant. And it IS important to teach kids how to answer mcq's. So--- look for as many questions as you can from a variety of sources- other people's tests (mentioned frequently on this list), the Acorn book, released exam, SAT II World history exam....I give about 12 essays per year--multiply that by 105 kids----so there is always grading to do....also---purchase the units from Ap central--they are excellent.

Pick and choose what areas you want to focus on and keep saying --you do NOT have to cover the entire history of the human race, as some contend. That is NOT what this course is about."

Laurie Mannino, Rockville, MD

How to Help Students Organize the Information - Especially for Comparisons (Authors cited when known)

PERSIA

P-Political

E-Economic

R-Religion/belief systems

S-Social class and gender

I-Intellectual and cultural

A-Arts (including Architecture)

SPRITE

S-Social class and gender

P-Politics

R-Religion

I-Intellectual and cultural (includes arts)

T-Technology

E-Economics

SPIRITED - by Dale Griepenstroh

S-social

P-political

I-intellectual (all art, literature, philosophy, education)

R-religion

I-interaction

T-technology

E-economics

D-dependence on environment. (lame, I know but they get it)

AGMSPRITE - By John Maunu

Art

Geography

Military

Social and gender

Political

Religious

Intellectual

Technology

Economic

PIGSEAR By the students of Tim Fay at Rancho Buena Vista HS

P olitical

I ntellectual

G eography

S ocial

E conomics

A rtistic

R eligion

RECIPES - by Rachel Hughes

• Religious --how people explain, relate to, and cope with the mysterious or unknown: what they believe or accept on the basis of faith; a way of making things understandable when rational means are not enough.
• Economic--how people “make a living,” that is, supply the material necessities and wants of individuals and society: food, shelter, and clothing; the production, distribution, and exchange of goods.
• Cultural--how people express themselves through the creation of objects and experiences that reflect, evoke, and intensify their thoughts and feelings through painting, sculpture, music, dance, theater, and literature.
• Intellectual--how people form ideas and theories; how they see or create mental patterns and designs to order their experiences and make sense out of them; an understanding that is sufficient to cope with life. Inventions or discoveries in science, math, philosophy or technology.
• Political--how people are governed; matters of authority and obedience, including who makes the laws, decides on foreign relations such as war and peace, collect taxes, dispenses justice, and provides services needed by the general public.
• Environmental--the physical or material conditions in which people find themselves; the terrain, soil, weather, climate, geographical features with which people are confronted, and of which they must make the best or move on.
• Social--how people organize themselves in society, that is the interrelationships among individuals, groups with individuals, and groups with other groups; a society results initially from the need to cooperate in order to survive. Includes social pyramids, relationships among men and women and within families. (often referred to as the “social fabric”)

GRAPES - By Alisa A. Bourne

1. Geographic Influences

• Location, types of geographic features, resources available

• Migration and patterns of settlement

• Demography (population)

2. Religious Influences

• Belief systems, philosophies, and ideologies

• Origin, organization, basic beliefs, rituals, gender, sacred texts

• Development and interaction (spread of)

3. Achievements

• The arts and architecture

• Science and technology

4. Political Structures

• Forms of governance

• Empires

• Nations and nationalism

• Revolts and revolutions

• State-building, expansion, and conflict

• Regional, transregional, and global structures and organizations

5. Economic Structures

• Agricultural and pastoral production

• Trade and commerce

• Industrialization

• Capitalism and socialism

• Creation, expansion, and interaction of economic systems

• Labor systems

6. Social Structures

• Social and economic classes

• Family and kinship

• Racial and ethnic constructions

• Gender roles and relations

• Development and transformation of social structures

How to Introduce Students to Skills (Authors cited when known)

I follow 3 basic steps when teaching any skill for the first time:

1. Introduce it in a fun, non-threatening way

2. Have the students apply the skill to their own life

3. Add history stuff

That way they aren't learning 2 things at once--the skill and the facts. So, for example, our first compare/contrast is done aloud, as a whole group, with two stuffed animals that happen to be sitting around the classroom. Next, they might choose two friends and compare and contrast them. Then finally, they'll get a "real" topic. Try to make the first one easy, like "compare and contrast the religions of Egypt and Mesopotamia" or whatever.

Michelle Peck Williams

AP World History & Humanities Teacher

Arts & Humanities Dept. Chair

Paul Laurence Dunbar HS, Lexington, KY USA