Expectations and Criteria

Description

The Advanced Placement United States History (APUSH) survey course is designed to provide students with the analytical skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal with the problems and materials in U.S. 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 will learn to assess historical materials – their relevance to a given interpretive problem, reliability, and importance – and to weigh the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship. The APUSH survey course will develop the skills necessary to arrive at conclusions on the basis of an informed judgment and to present reasons and evidence clearly and persuasively in essay format.

AP U.S. History explores American history from the Pre-Columbian period to the present. The class is taught in accordance with the AP U.S. History Curriculum Framework, and is designed to prepare students for the AP U.S. History Exam in May.

This course is a three-term 11th grade course. There are approximately 45 days per term. Each class is scheduled for 77 minutes.

Writing Focus

Historical work at a collegiate level requires students to write proficiently. For this reason, writing is emphasized in every unit of this course. Students receive “essential questions” to frame class discussions; these are often used as writing assignments. Assessment of essays are measured by the following: 

• the degree to which they fully and directly answer the question, 

• the strength of thesis statement, 

• level and effectiveness of analysis, 

• amount and quality of supporting evidence, and 

• organizational quality. 

In addition to these standards, DBQs are graded on the basis of the degree to which a significant number of the documents have been used to support the thesis, and the amount and quality of outside information included in the response.

Textbook (online)

Readings and other documents are adapted from the following.

https://americanyawp.com

https://loc.gov

https://ap.gilderlehrman.org/

Supplemental Texts and Resources*

Kennedy, David and Lizabeth Cohen. The American Pageant. 13th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2006.

Davidson, James West, and Mark H. Lytle. After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection. 5th ed. New York: Knopf, 2004.

Oates, Stephan and Charles J. Errico, eds. Portrait of America, Vols. 1 and 2. 9th ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. New York: Harper Collins, 2003.

*This list is subject to change as new resources are found online and student contributions begin to shape the course based on their learning needs.

Attendance and Preparation

You are required to attend class every day. However, if you are absent, you will be expected to make up any missed work within the same number of days that you missed. For example, if you are out one day, then you have one day to do the makeup work. If you are out two days then you have two days to finish the makeup work. Exceptions to this will be if you miss class the day before a test, you will be required to take the test as scheduled and if you are out the day of a test then you have to make it up the next day. You will not be able to make up a missed pop quiz. However, I will assign you an alternate quiz to make up the grade. Most importantly, it is your responsibility to see me about missed work.

It is very important that you come to class prepared every day. This means that you need to bring your textbook, notebook, handouts, writing utensils, any other assigned materials, and your completed homework. Class time is used to further develop material that has been previously learned via homework. Class time is not used to simply review homework reading. Understand this now and be very clear about it. The goal of class time is to build upon, analyze, criticize, deconstruct, and basically integrate material that you will have read before coming to class. This is the biggest difference between an AP level course and a level 2 course.

Participation

Participation is best summed up by this quote:

“I cannot simply teach or review all that you need to know for this class.  I can guide your learning, emphasize themes, and help you to make connections.  The key to increasing your understanding is your willingness to prepare and ask questions.”  

What kind of questions?

Here is an example of a question that tells me that you are not doing what is necessary to be successful in this class:

What is _______? (This question is simply factual and tells me that you have not done your homework or taken the initiative to look on this site, Internet, or other resources.) 

Here are some examples of questions demonstrate that you are doing what it takes to be successful in this class:

What is the importance of _______? (Why is ______ so important?)

How is ______ connected to ________?

Positive participation is expected. This will be graded on good citizenship, which will include but is not limited to, respect of one’s peers, enthusiasm, behavior, effort, relevant discussions, and working in groups. This is a subjective grade that could be worth around 50-100 points each term depending on the nature of the work completed. 

Grading and Student Work

At the end of each term, the number of points that you earned is divided by the number of points possible to calculate your term average. Each term average is worth 40 percent of your grade. The other 20 percent comes from the final. Our final will be a little different than the rest of the unit exams. Students will complete a project that allows them to reflect and summarize what they learned in the course. This exam format helps transition students into exam prep mode. 

• Grades will be calculated by points. The value of each assignment will be explained when assigned. Points listed below are close estimates. The point value is determined by the amount of instructional time on a topic and the amount of effort and steps it takes to succeed.

• Student progress will be evaluated, on a unit basis, through seminars, homework (5-10 points), writing assignments (15-30 points), quizzes (5-10 points), and tests (30-60 points). 

• There will be formal writing assignments based on the essay formats required for the AP U.S. History Exam. Gradinging is determined according to the AP scoring scale, and essays will be timed with an occasional take home essay.

• Students will be required to do group and individual presentations.

• Homework will be posted on the board and on Google Classroom each day. Although the homework is critical for success in class, not all of it is collected for a grade. Most of the homework includes readings (not graded) and skills packet pages (graded and due at the end of the unit).

• Unit exams include multiple choice, short-answer, or essay questions. 

• Projects come in all shapes and sizes. Class time will be dedicated to completing small projects, while larger ones will require some homework time to complete.

• Participation (see above).

*If a student receives a zero on any assignment, the expectation is that the assignment will be completed or rewritten for a passing grade. Students with chronic issues will be supported according to their individual needs. 

**Students are expected to complete their working on time. When this expectation is not met, communication about the issues keeping the student from succeeding must be made. If students do not accept their present level of achievement and want to rewrite an assignment or assessment, I am more than happy to facilitate. However, if I find that an organizational issue, for example, is leading to low achievement and frequent rewrites, I will have to suggest other means of supporting those students (tutorials, alternate assignments, parental involvement, etc) before reassessment is once again a possibility. 

Organization

Students must have a system of keeping their notes, readings, and any other loose papers organized (binder, spiral, folders, etc.) All homework, handouts, and other course material must be kept so that they can be accessed at home and school each day. I believe in students having a choice because they need to explore their preferences to support their development of intrinsic motivation to be organized.

Review for the AP Exam

Suggested books and sites will be presented to students early in the course. Review sessions will be scheduled based on the needs of students.