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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the syllabus?
(Here it is!) Although everything it covers is on this FAQ sheet, so it is kind of redundant.
What is this course?
AP US History
When and where does this course meet?
Period 3 and 4
In person: Room 230
How can I contact the teacher?
Email is best: justin.benolkin@moundsviewschools.org
At school I am usually available by 7:45AM, during 2nd period, and after school until 3:30PM
What type of content will be covered?
Often history is perceived as simply a study of names and dates in a progression from point A to B. Yet history is far more than this. History, like all sciences (yes history is a science—hence the “Social Sciences”) is every growing and changing. With each passing year more and more evidence is used to reshape and reinterpret our understanding of the past. History is basically the study of change through time and choices. How one event, person, idea, belief, choice, etc. affected later events, people, beliefs, etc. is what history is in a nutshell. The goal or purpose of this course is to help you develop the historical thinking skills that will allow you to better understand the present and the past.
The course is divided into different segments of time (we will call them Units) and goes chronologically from 1500 to the present. The course will focus on themes and questions like:
How has the collective understanding of what America is and what an American is changed over time?
What role does power and prestige pay in who gets to define what America or an American means?
How have groups with power tried to control and define what it means to be American?
How have marginalized people throughout American history challenged this definition?
What will we do in this course?
While I would love to not think about the AP History exam, what we do in this course is heavily influenced by the AP Board's curriculum for the AP Exam. As a result, we do the following:
Read a college level textbook to gather base knowledge and information. Readings will happen both during and outside of class time.
Analyze primary documents, particularly looking how the context of the time period, the audience of the document, the purpose for the documents creation, and the point of view of the author affected what is in the document.
Practice different forms of writing such as short-answer responses, long-essay questions, and finally document-based essays.
Do a lot of practice around writing like argument development, supporting arguments with evidence, interpreting historical documents and events, and debating the practice, beliefs, and significance of events.
Expect to have a lot of discussions with your classmates. This is not a class for independent learners. History is a dialogue between competing conceptions of truth. To grow you will have to flex this truth through constant analysis and dialogue with your fellow classmates.
What is the textbook?
Give Me Liberty! An American History By Eric Foner Third Edition.
What is the attendance policy of this course?
This upcoming school year of 2020-21 will be "unique" to say the least. Some students will be in class in the blended model, while others will be at home in the distance model. With that said, attendance for this course (in the form of attending during the class period either in-person or digitally via Google Hangouts or Zoom) is incredibly important. If you know you will not be able to make it to class (due to illness) try your best to email me or follow online as best you can.
Where will assignments be posted?
All assignments will be posted in Google Classroom. In addition, lesson plans for each day will be posted on the links above for This Week's Lessons and Previous Week's Lessons.
Can I collaborate with others?
Absolutely! But, and this is super important, the line between collaboration and cheating or academic dishonesty can be very thin at times. Do not cross it! Pay close attention to when you are instructed to do something independently. If you do it with others, even with good intentions, you could be violating the schools academic dishonesty policy (see the student handbook). A big part of this course will be doing reading notes. Try your hardest to gather all the information for those notes by actually reading the material and taking your own notes. You can reach out to others (including your teacher) for a handful of the questions on the study guide, but if you are doing more than that your understanding will suffer.
What do I have to do to illustrate I have mastered the material?
We take assessments to measure your level of understanding. Our assessments or exams will model the type of exam you will see with the AP Exam. This means you will demonstrate your level of understanding through document based multiple-choice questions, Short-Answer Answers, Long-Essay Writing, and finally Document-Based Writing. We will talk about which type of assessment you will take for each unit and will
What goes into my grade?
20% Practice: Daily Readings, Writing Practice, Reading Quizzes
65% Performance: Unit Exams
15% Final/Midterm
Are there reassessments in this course?
There are reassessments. Students have one week to complete retakes on any performance assessment. Students retake based on learning targets, so they may retake certain parts of the exam instead of the entire exam. To do this students:
Complete the Relearning Tracking Form
Complete the Unit Study Guide & any additional relearning you wish
Fill out the Reassessment Agreement Form and discuss it IN PERSON with your Teacher no later than ONE DAY BEFORE you are retaking the assessment. (make sure you have all the evidence of your relearning completed by this time).
Is this course going to be hard?
AP US History is not the hardest class you will experience at MVHS or even experience during your Sophomore year. It can, however, be one of the most time consuming. Students find that most readings take about an hour to complete well. If you know you will have substantial time commitments for other courses (you are taking multiple AP or ARCC courses) you may want to consider your school/personal life balance. If you know that you have struggled in the past to manage this balance, then you may want to talk to me about continuing in the course or your other high level courses. You should never feel pressured to take a course at the cost of your mental health or personal relationships. The courses you take, the grades you earn, the activities you are involved in, DO NOT DEFINE YOU.
AP US History is not meant to be a self inflicted wound. Taking it is not necessary to be a whole and complete person, and anyone who attempts to make you this is mistaken.
With that said, I will work with you to make sure you are successful and to help you if you feel overwhelmed. AP US History, and what you learn in it, is amazing, and I don’t want anyone who wants the opportunity to experience the course to miss that.
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