What should I expect to learn in this class?

The AP Art History course welcomes you into the global art world to engage with its forms and content as you research, discuss, read, and write about art, artists, art making, and responses to and interpretations of art. By investigating specific course content of 304 works of art characterized by diverse artistic traditions from prehistory to the present, you will develop an in-depth, holistic understanding of the history of art from a global perspective. You will learn and apply skills of visual, contextual, and comparative analysis to engage with a variety of art forms, developing understanding of individual works and interconnections across history and cultures.

The College Board has identified 8 Art Historical Thinking Skills that they identify on the AP Art History Exam in May. You will be assessed on these same art historical practices for the grade you earn in AP Art History class as well. 

1. Identification: Identify known works of art by title, artist, culture, style, date of creation and materials.

2. Visual Analysis: Describe visual elements of art from the course content and beyond.

3. Contextual Analysis: Explain contextual influences and contextual elements.

4. Comparison: Identify and describe relevant similarities and differences between artworks.

5. Artistic Traditions: Explain continuity and change in artistic traditions within and across cultures.

6. Attribution: Attribute and justify a specific artist, culture or style to unknown artworks.

7. Interpretations: Describe and explain relevant art historical interpretations of known works.

8. Argumentation: Develop and justify art historical arguments using claim-evidence-reasoning

Grading: AP Art History follows standards based grading. The overall course grade will be a numeric score for each of the College Board’s 8 Art Historical Thinking Skills for AP Art History that are converted into a letter grade. Your level of proficiency will be reported for each standard using the following scale:

A+ 4 C+  2.60 - 2.79

A  3.70 - 3.99 C  2.0 - 2.59

A- 3.50 - 3.69 C- 1.80 - 1.99

B+  3.40- 3.49 D  1.0 - 1.79

B   3.00 - 3.39 F .anything lower than a 1.0

B- 2.80 - 2.99 

Tests: You can count on a test about every other week in APAH. Standard 1, Identification, is on every test as will be one of the remaining standards 2-9. You will always know the works of art and the standards being tested in order to focus your study.

Test Retakes: You may retake any one test as many times as you like, but not on the same day. You may retake as many different tests on the same day as you like. You will always keep your highest score. Please use Trojan Time or schedule an appointment with me for your retakes.

Making up Tests: Please use Trojan Time or schedule an appointment with me to make up tests. There are no time constraints as to when you make up your missed tests, but please know they will be 0s in the gradebook until made up. 

Late Work: Everyone gets one week of grace beyond a due date with no asking needed and no grade penalty. After one week, you will need to ask me for an extension to guarantee no grade penalty. After one week without an extension or if an extension deadline is broken, the work will be penalized in that the highest score possible becomes a 2.0 or a C. 

Cheating: If you cheat on a test or work, your score will be 0. No retakes or resubmissions will be allowed. 

Tardy Policy: If you arrive after the bell, you are tardy. 

Behavior: I expect you to be on your best behavior while at school. This includes working only on AP Art History while in AP Art History. If you do work for another class during instruction in AP Art History, I may confiscate the work. 

Electronics: During instruction you may not have earbuds in your ears or headphones over your ears regardless of whether or not you have music playing. During independent work time you may enjoy your earbuds and headphones. Likewise, during instruction you may not be on your phone. During independent work time you may enjoy your phone. If you use your phone during instruction in AP Art History, I may confiscate it. Sometimes we might use our phones during instruction for learning activities.