AP Thoughts

AP World History is a comprehensive survey of the development and connections of various societies from approximately 1200 CE to about 2010 CE. Although we will briefly cover Belief Systems and the Early Middle Ages, the exam will cover these dates. AP US History covers from approximately 1492 to 2005. We will touch on prehistoric America, early Native American societies, and colonization, but the bulk of the class will be, as the title suggests, on the United States. Students will be responsible for the entirety of the content.

Because this course is Advanced Placement, I will actually be "teaching to the test." I cover all of the basic skills needed to do well on the AP Exam and that dictates the method of my instruction. Two separate "grades" are given for this course: the student's class grade, and the AP Exam, which does not effect the class grade. The exam grade determines whether college credit is earned. As per state and district requirements, all US History students must take the End of Course Test, which represents 20% of the final grade.

I tell students at the very beginning of class that this course is the hardest one they will ever take. For some, my course is their first AP one; for others, my course requirements and skills are markedly different from AP Human Geography. I do not expect students to come to me with all of the necessary skills, particularly in writing expository essays. It is my job to teach them, and these skills will service them through the rest of high school, college, and whatever graduate work they may do. Once they have successfully completed my class, they need never again worry about skills for another class (except maybe Calculus).

These courses have few unit tests, which are comprehensive in scope. Most major grades will come from essays. I grade essays progressively and expect students to write progressively better, following the marks I give them on their papers.

I have four major goals for these courses:

1) To have the students do well on the exam.

2) To teach the students skills they can use throughout their educational career.

3) To give them and appreciation of the richness of world civilizations and their culture, or the culture and society of the United States.

4) To prepare them for AP US History, or AP Government and Economics, next year.

If you have any thoughts or concerns, please feel free to contact me. My number is 355-3455, my email is abarker@greenville.k12.sc.us, or you are more than welcome to sit in on a class, when the schedule permits. My AP classes are 1st Period (8:45), 2nd Period (10:25), and 3rd Period (12:05). Parents have an open invitation and I would love to have you!

Essays

All assigned essays will be timed. For the first few essays, and whenever we tackle a new type, I will give the students a form to follow with the prompt. I expect correct, accepted grammar usage and the ability to construct a paragraph. I grade the essays both holistically and progressively. Students need to address the prompt with proper content and form, as that will be how they are graded on the AP Exam. I will give credit to an essay that has weak content and correct form, as I will also to essays that have good content but improper form. An important requirement is that students read my comments and correct their errors on future essays. Failure to do so will adversely effect their grade in the future.