Welcome to Shepton Humanities!  

Humanities is the core class for 9th and 10th grade students in the PACE program.  Over two years, we combine the curricula of three different courses:  Pre-AP English I, AP World History, and Humanities.  You’ll find as the year progresses that the three courses overlap and complement one another effectively;  writing, reading, critical thinking, creativity, speaking, listening, and analysis—of historical documents, texts, artworks, or artifacts—are essential skills that permeate this course.  

 The class is organized chronologically following the periodization established by the College Board for the AP World History course.  We’ll begin this year with the Early Modern period (sometime in the 1600s) and continue to the present.  In the other half of the course (next year for freshmen or last year for sophomores), we begin with the Ancient and Classical periods and finish up with Post-Classical and the beginning of the Early Modern period.  While we’re studying the world’s history, we’ll also explore the humanities of each period—the artistic and intellectual history of world civilization.  The humanities portion of the course explores the literature, drama, visual arts, architecture, music, dance and philosophy that form the foundation of our culture today.  

 For a more complete description of the AP World History course, check out the complete course description on the College Board’s website. 

Our combined interdisciplinary emphasis on English, history, and the humanities will provide students with a broader knowledge base and a more comprehensive skill set useful for success on the national AP World History exam.

CREDITS:  

Although the curricula of AP World History, Humanities, and Pre-AP English will be blended over the two-year cycle of the course, the students will receive the following credits:

            9th grade:       Pre-AP English I credit (1.0 honors credit with maximum 4.5 GPA)

            10th grade:     AP World History credit (1.0 AP credit with maximum 5.0 GPA)

GRADING and HOMEWORK:  

Each nine-week grading period your humanities grade will be determined as follows:

60% major grades (tests, projects, papers, presentations)

40% daily grades (reading quizzes, journals, daily assignments) 

Note:  Humanities has two district semester exams during school year.  The Humanities semester exam will include an essay and multiple choice questions from the content and skills of Pre-AP English, AP World History, and Humanities.  

Most of your homework for Humanities will consist of reading and note-taking or writing.  We will endeavor to keep “busy work” to a minimum.  You should expect a daily-grade reading quiz as a follow up to your reading assignments.  Keeping up with reading is essential for success on the tests (and eventually on the AP World History test at the end of your sophomore year) and for participation in class activities and discussions.  

 In addition to the routine homework, we’ll ask you to extend your classroom experience by completing four Humanities Arts Experiences (HAEs) during the school year.  The HAE requires students to observe a professional artistic performance/exhibit and critique the performance or exhibit based upon their knowledge of the humanities.  You’ll get plentiful information about the HAE later in the semester, and your first one won’t be due until later in the semester. 

 The national AP Exam will be administered in May for sophomores who are in their second year of Humanities.  The cost is approximately $100.  We encourage every sophomore to take the exam.  If the cost of the test is a hardship for you, please see Miss Havins; there are many resources that can help with this.  We will spend two to three weeks reviewing immediately prior to the exam.  Successful performance on this test may result in college credit; each college or university has its own standard for the credit awarded for AP test scores.  

TEXTBOOKS:

We will use three textbooks in this course: 

Strayer, Robert. W. and Nelson, Eric W. Ways of the World:  A Global History with Sources.  4th Edition. Bedford, Freeman and Worth: Boston, 2019. (ISBN: 978-1-319-17349-4)

Fiero, Gloria K. The Humanistic Tradition Vol. I:  Prehistory to the Early Modern World. 7th edition. McGraw Hill Education: New York, 2015. (ISBN: 978-1-259-36066-4) 

Fiero, Gloria K. The Humanistic Tradition Vol. II:  The Early Modern World to the Present. 7th edition. McGraw Hill Education: New York, 2015. (ISBN: 978-1-259-35168-6)

 Glencoe World Literature.  McGraw-Hill: New York, 2009. (ISBN: 978-0-07-845605-3) 

The Humanities and AP textbooks are frequently used in upper-level high school and college courses; thus, the reading will be more demanding than the textbooks in your other classes.  You should be prepared for unannounced daily quizzes over the reading assignments and will be responsible for the material on tests and quizzes.  If you are having difficulty, we will happily work with you to develop strategies for approaching challenging reading material.  

In addition to the textbook, we will read several novels and plays, including Romeo and Juliet and Yann Martel’s Life of Pi.  We will also read numerous poems, short stories, literary excerpts, historical documents, and essays which will be made available in class or online.  

SUPPLIES:  

You will need the following supplies to be a successful participant in Humanities:

• a 70-sheet three-hole 8 ½” x 11” spiral notebook to use for Humanities classwork ONLY 

• something on which to take notes over reading 

• a binder with some sort of organizational system (dividers are standard, but you know what works best for you)

• a pencil, some pens (blue or black only, please), and colored pencils

• notebook paper (lots of it, not torn from a spiral) 

• an AP World History review text (not required but strongly recommended)

ABSENCES, and MAKE-UP WORK:

Because the curriculum in Humanities progresses quickly, you must be especially conscientious about handing in assignments on time.  For extracurricular absences, you should get assignments in advance and have them completed on return to school unless other arrangements are made with the teacher prior to the scheduled absence. If you are absent, please be responsible for getting the assignments and completing the make-up work in a timely manner.  Tests and quizzes must be made up in an expedient manner as our instruction often depends on using test or quiz information for remediation or review.  

We believe strongly in the importance of academic integrity.  We will not tolerate cheating in any form.  Cheating includes any activity in which a student uses information from another student or from an outside source without acknowledging that assistance; this includes assisting others.  Academic integrity violations include sharing answers during or after a quiz or test, copying assignments or answers, reproduction of others’ work by any means, turning in work that is not one’s own, using another person’s notes for a reading assessment, and plagiarism.  All parties involved in cheating or academic violations will receive a zero on the assignment in question.  

TUTORIALS:

We offer tutorials the afternoon before and the morning of an exam.  Any student wanting help on content or on study skills is encouraged to attend. We are also available by appointment most days, from 8 am to 5 pm.   The format and content of a tutorial session will be based on the needs of the students who attend, so if you have any special requests, let one of us know in advance.

STAYING IN TOUCH:

You may access up-to-the minute information about this course, including calendars, handouts, assignments, helpful web links, and more, in our Google Classroom. We will use this site extensively to communicate with you and to allow you to communicate with us and with one another about the course and your ideas.