Syllabus
AP Human GeogrAPhy
White Station High School
Instructor: Jeremy Bateman
Email:batemanj@scsk12.org
Phone/Text: (786) 567-8466 (Google Voice)
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/bateman-geography/
Remind: Text the message @aphugwshs to the number 81010.
Overview
AP Human Geography is a yearlong course designed to introduce students to World Geography and its concepts. The course will be divided into 16 separate units. Each unit will emphasize varying geographic techniques that are structured according to the most recent College Board AP Human Geography Course Description as of fall 2015. The purpose of the AP Human Geography course is to introduce students to the systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth’s surface. Students learn to employ spatial concepts and landscape analysis to examine human socioeconomic organization and its environmental consequences. They also learn about the methods and tools geographers use in their research and applications.
Goals
The overarching goal of this course is to broaden and strengthen the individual’s interest of the world and to consider the cultural and physical elements that define a place in the world. In order to do this, readings, films, images, case studies and lectures will be employed. The aim of the AP course is to provide students with a learning experience equivalent to that obtained in most college-level introductory human geography courses.
AP Exam
The following information is taken directly from the AP Human Geography Test Prep Series. The AP Human Geography exam is about 2 hours and 15 minutes in length and includes both a 60-minute multiple choice (MC) section and 75-minute free response (FR) section. Each section accounts for half of the student’s exam grade.
The following are the approximate percentages of the multiple choice section that devoted to each area:
I. Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives (5-10%)
II. Population (13-17%)
III. Cultural Patterns and Processes (13-17%)
IV. Political Organization of Space (13-17%)
V. Agricultural and Rural Land Use (13-17%)
VI. Industrial and Economic Development (13-17%)
VII. Cities and Urban Land Use (13-17%)
THE AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY TEST IS TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2018: 12 PM
Materials
Binder with paper. May be loose leaf or spiral. Something to take notes.
One AP Human Geography Study Guide. Just do a simple Amazon or Google Search for the latest editions. Does not have to be the most recent, but it does help. Need it by holiday break.
Writing Utensils
Other materials may be required throughout the year as needed. (such as index cards, poster boards, etc.)
Internet access.
*Frequent access to a computer.
Grading
Homework: I use a point based system. Everything that you do for me will be worth one point. For example, if a homework has 75 definitions, the homework is worth 75 points. If you do not have 75 definitions, then you will only receive points for the work you have completed. This suggests that some homework will have greater value than other work.
Tests: The tests are often very hard for first time AP Students. Tests are divided into two parts: Multiple choice (MCs) and Free Response Questions (FRQs). Each of these will have equal weight totaling 200 points. In the event of no FRQ (which is for some sections) the test will be worth 100 points. The average test is worth 200 points and the average homework is 50, so the impact of a test will still be many times greater than that of homework.
Grading percentages as a total of the overall grade: Tests 40%, Quizzes: 5%, Homework: 25%, Projects: 20%, Class Participation: 5%, and Bell work 5%=100%. Extra credit opportunities will come once a 9 weeks. Extra credit varies from donating school supplies to after school grading.
Rules and Expectations
1. You chose to be in this class. This means that you want to be in here and please do not forget that.
2. Be on time and seated BEFORE the bell rings, every time, and be ready to work, take notes, and most importantly READ THE ENTIRE ASSIGNMENT. I will have some sort of Bell Work that is to be completed by you and not as a group.
3. Do your own work. Do not copy from other people, the Internet, or anywhere.
4. No talking when the teacher is talking. I find it rude, distracting and a waste of my time.
5. No eating in class. This is neither the cafeteria nor a restaurant. Drinks are acceptable but if you spill them you will clean up-completely.
6. Homework is due at the beginning of class. No exceptions. Late work will have points deducted for every week late. For example, if it is due on Monday and you turn it in on Tuesday it will be 10% will be deducted for everyday late. A maximum late deduction will be 30%. Your score then will be based on correct answers; incorrect answers will drop your work below 70%.
7. You should keep ALL homework in a binder that will be used as a study guide for the APHG Exam and have it divided and organized by chapters.
8. Homework and daily events will be listed on the APHG class website (see above). This will be the announcement location daily. You are required to check it frequently. Being on a trip, school sanctioned activity, or other activity does not create an excuse. I do not believe that your Internet was down either for the entire time the work is posted.
9. Do not use cell phones in class. Cell phones are to be put up and away and will be handled according to WSHS Student Handbook. Please do not put me in situation where I have to take it up or correct you on this issue.
10. Quizzes will be given usually the day after a reading has been assigned. For example, if a reading is assigned for Monday night, then the quiz will be Tuesday morning. Quizzes are designed to see if you read the material, not educated guessing or deductive reasoning.
11. We are under a time constraint-so there will be many days will be a tremendous amount of lecture. So be prepared to take notes. Notes are an important practice for college, business meetings, or anything when people expect you to listen and learn.
10. If you play, joke and/or goof off during class, spend time texting or checking your phone-you will have a significantly lower score on the AP Exam. Trust me.
Resource/Major Text
Rubenstein, James M. The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography. 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2014.
Internet Resources
Census Bureau: International Data Base http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/informationGateway.php
Census of Agriculture (2007) http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/
Globalis: United Nations IGIS maps http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/
Maps of War – Interactive maps on various topics http://mapsofwar.com
Population Reference Bureau http://www.prb.org/
UN High Commission for Refugees http://www.unhcr.org
World Mapper http://www.worldmapper.org/
The World Bank Group: Data & Statistics http://www.worldbank.org/data/
http://secure.worldbank.org/photolibrary/servlet/main?pagePK=149932 –World Photo Collection
The World Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html
Twitter- https://twitter.com/ Used to follow world leaders.
World Overpopulation Awareness http://www.overpopulation.org/impact.html
Time http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519,00.html
Pearson Prentice Hall Rubenstien Online help website. This will be utilized as homework. http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_rubenstein_humangeo_8/20/5323/1362726.cw/index.html
Approach:
Outline of Time
Unit 1
Introduction to Geography (~4 Weeks)
· Geography as a field of inquiry. What is geography and how is it used as a science? Why does location matter?
· Evolution of key geographical concepts and models associated with notable geographers. (Ptolemy, Sauer, Christhaller, Von Thunen, Malthus, Pattison)
· Key concepts underlying the geographical perspective. What are the 5 themes and how do we use them?: location, place, scale, pattern, regionalization, regions, and globalization
· Key geographical skills-How do geographers view the world? (maps, perspective, scale, map elements,
· Geographic technologies, such as GIS, remote sensing, and GPS
Unit II
Population (~4-5 Weeks)
· Where are the world’s populations located and their implications? Density, distribution, and scale; developing world versus the developed world.
· What is a DTM and how does that help project future trends or patterns? Population Pyramids, Demographic Transition Model, mortality, policy, fertility.
· What are the major implications of a large population? Malthus, neo-Malthusians, Engles
· Migration- isn’t that a headache?
· Why do people migrate? Reasons, distance and characteristics of migrants.
· Where do most people migrate? Global migration, US migration, Internal migration
· Major voluntary and involuntary migrations at different scales
· Theories of migration, including push and pull factors, human capital, and life course
· Socioeconomic consequences of migration
Unit III
Cultural Patterns and Processes (~4-5 weeks)
· What is culture? How do we define culture? Traits, diffusion, acculturation, assimilation, globalization, nation and cultural regions.
Folk and Popular Culture
· Where do folk and popular cultures originate and diffuse?
· Why is folk culture clustered? Influences on spreading.
· Why is popular culture widely diffused? Clothing, architecture, food
· Why does globalization cause problems? Environmental impacts, political impacts, internet censoring
Language
· Where are different languages found around the world?
· Where are English language speakers found? Dialects
· How and why is English related to other languages? Indo-Europeans
· Where are other languages found?
Religion
· Where are religions distributed? Universalizing versus ethnic
· Why do religions have different distributions? Holy places, origin of religions
· Why do religions organize space in distinctive patterns? Places of worship, sacred spaces and use of space
· Why do conflicts arise among religious groups? Religion and government, religion and religion
Gender
· Why are women treated differently? Religion, politics
· Where would you find differences in gender? Saudi Arabia, India, United States
· Gender and economics-are they related? Do women get paid less for the same work?
Unit IV
Political Organization of Space (4-5 Weeks)
A. Territorial dimensions of politics
1. What is territoriality?
2. The nature and meaning of boundaries. What is sovereignty?
3. How are boundaries created? Physical, ethnic or money?
4. Federal and unitary states
5. Spatial relationships between political patterns and patterns of ethnicity, economy, and environment
B. Evolution of the contemporary political pattern
1. What is a nation? What is a state? What is a nation state? Where are they found around the world?
2. Colonialism and imperialism. Is it made in Taiwan or China?
3. Democratization
C. How are territories changed throughout time?
1. Changing nature of sovereignty and how we can create our own state within our class.
2. Fragmentation, unification, alliance
3. Supranationalism and devolution isn’t that a new movie with robot that transform?
4. Electoral geography, including gerrymandering
5. Terrorism
Unit V
Agriculture and Rural Land Use (4-5 weeks)
A. Where did agriculture originate?
a. Origins of Agriculture
b. Subsistence and Commercial Agriculture
B. Where are Agricultural Regions Located? MDC and LDC
a. Shifting Cultivation
b. Pastoral Nomadism
c. Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
d. Plantation Farming
e. Types of farming (dairy, crop, grain, livestock, commercial)
C. Why is farming so hard? Commercial-Subsistence-Urban
D. Landscapes of Rural Settlement and Rural Land Use
Unit VI
Industrialization and Economic Development (4-5 Weeks)
A. How does industrialization grow and diffuse around the world? Where do you find industries?
1. The changing roles of energy and technology
2. The Industrial Revolution? Wasn’t that the last Matrix movie?
3. Evolution of economic cores and peripheries
4. Geographic critiques of models of economic localization (i.e., bid rent, comparative costs of transportation), industrial location, economic development, and world systems
B. Contemporary patterns and impacts of industrialization and development
1.Spatial organization of the world economy
2. Variations in levels of development
3. Deindustrialization and economic restructuring
4. Globalization and international division of labor
5. Natural resources and environmental concerns
6. Sustainable development
7. Local development initiatives: government policies
8. Women in development
Unit VII
Cities and Urban Land Use (4-5 weeks)
A. How do cities develop and expand?
a. Where do cities originate? How do they get there?
b. How do cities grow and where do all the people come from?
c. What are the major cities of the world and where can they be found? How to they interact in a global world?
d. What role do the areas outside of major metro areas play?
B. Are there any patterns to a city?
a. Is there any relation to the number of people in a city and how it compares to other cities? Rank-size
b. Where is a good place to situate a new mall? Central Place Theory
c. How far will people drive for a good hamburger? Gravity Model
d. How does my social circle play a role in my community? Concentric Zone
e. Are their mini-cities within a city? Sector Model
f. Multiple Nuclei Model
g. Changing Employment Mix
h. Changing demographics and social structure
i. Uneven development, gentrification and ghettoization.
C. When looking at a city what are the major elements and design across the space?
a. Housing
b. Transportation
c. Political Organization
d. Patterns of race, ethnicity, gender, employment, socioeconomic status.
Dear Parents,
My name is Jeremy Bateman and I will be your student’s Advanced Placement Human Geography Teacher at White Station High School. I hope that you have explored our syllabus, rules/expectations, and materials needed for this year. If you ever have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at 901-497-5964. Our daily agenda, due dates, and general announcements will be posted on our class website. Please use this as your resource as well to help motivate them throughout the year. Please feel free to also sign up for Remind. This will be the place I announce last minute changes that will be sent directly to each student.
https://sites.google.com/view/bateman-geography/
I would like to take this opportunity to discuss some important items that I feel will beneficial for you and your student. This class requires teamwork between you and me. Teaching requires support from the parents to provide the best education possible and I need your help. I am requesting that you talk to your student about the rules that have been established for this class. I am also requesting that you discuss with your student the level of responsibility of an Advanced Placement class. This class is not to be taken lightly and the students, to an extent, will be treated as college students. They will be held responsible for all assignments and be held accountable for due dates. This class is the student’s responsibility, not yours. Please encourage the student to talk to me directly if there is a problem. Let the student learn to be an advocate and a voice for themselves. Please look at Parent Connect and our class website to know due dates and daily activities.
Please discuss cheating with them. Many students think that if they tell a student in a later class the content from the test it is not cheating. I disagree and feel telling others what is on the test is cheating. Plus, it only hurts the GPA of the one who told, not the one who received the information. Sometimes students can find information on their homework from the Internet or from certain websites. Although this is the answer, the student is denying themselves the process of learning. Writing the answer down is not learning the answer. Please discuss that these are not acceptable behaviors. Finally, please discuss the importance of getting work in on time. Late grades will be given. Also, please check Parent Connect for grades and progress. I will enter grades as soon as I can. If you see a zero that indicates I never received the work. I also return the papers as soon as they are graded. Please ask the student to see the returned work before emailing or contacting me. If they cannot provide the returned work and I have no record of it, well there might be a problem.
I look forward to this new school year and hope that every student gets a 5! I know I will do my absolute best to make it happen. I just need to make sure the student does too!
Thank you for your time and I look forward to meeting you.
Thank you,
Jeremy Bateman
AP Human Geography Academic Honor Code
The objective of the AP Human Geography Honor Code is to build trust among students and to maintain an academic community in which a code is shared.
The Honor Code is given here: As a student and citizen of White Station High School, I agree to the following when I sign the agreement on the following sheet.
• I will not lie, cheat or steal in any of my academic endeavors;
• I will oppose each and every instance of academic dishonesty
• I will not request, receive or give aide in examinations/tests/quizzes;
• I will not give or receive unpermitted aid in class work, homework, in the preparation of reports, or in any other work that is to be used by the teacher as the basis of grading. I understand, or will seek to learn, the difference between studying or reviewing with others (which often is acceptable) and producing written documents that are submitted under my name for credit (which can only be done alone);
• I will not copy from or collaborate with others in completing homework. When I put my name on a homework assignment, I attest that all of the work on the assignment is my own original;
• I will never use any “study aids” such as online materials, or others materials as a substitution for, or aid to, reading the work or doing homework. I will do the reading for myself and strive to understand it for myself;
• I will give prompt (and confidential) notification to the appropriate faculty member or the Principal if I observe academic dishonesty in any course. I will let my conscience be my guide if I should make such a report;
• I join the entire student body of AP Human Geography and White Station High School in a commitment to this Code of Honor.
Portions of this honor code are derived from the current Duke University and Stanford University honor codes. The faculty on its part manifests its confidence in the honor of its students by refraining from taking unusual and unreasonable precautions to prevent the forms of dishonesty mentioned above. As the teacher, I will also avoid, as far as practicable, academic procedures that create temptations to violate the Honor Code. On some occasions, teachers may ask students to write “HC” (Honor Code) on the heading of their assignments to remind them of the details and spirit of this honor code. Since academic dishonesty is viewed as a very serious offense, even first offenders may be punished with failing grades or office referral, depending on the severity of the violation in addition to receiving a zero on the assignment. In first cases of academic dishonesty the teacher will meet with the student to review what the student did and reinforce the student’s commitment to ethical academic behavior. Further instances of academic dishonesty will result in parental contact and meetings, and a third offense will be based on Shelby county Schools Policy. In addition, I have read and will honor the syllabus as written.
Signature of Student____________________________________________________Period_____________Date__________________
Signature of Parent_____________________________________________________Date_____________________________________
Please use this space for any comments or concerns I should be aware.