AP United States History Eustis High School Paul Smithson smithsonp@lake.k12.fl.us Course Description: The AP U.S. History course is designed to provide students with the analytic skills and factual knowledge necessary to develop understanding and deal critically with the problems and materials in U.S. history. 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. This course will encourage students to develop the necessary skills to arrive at conclusions based on informed judgment and to present reasons and evidence clearly and persuasively in essay format. This course will focus on American History from the Pre-colonial Era to present day issues. The areas of focus include social, economic, and political history as well as cultural and intellectual institutions. Various resources and perspectives will be used to provide a balanced look at history. Please be aware that this will be taught at the college level, meaning you will see a drastic increase in the amount of note-taking, reading, writing, and depth of focus. You will use all levels of thinking skills from memorizing to synthesizing. It is important to remember that history is not simply the past; rather, history is a study of the past: History is a discipline of inquiry and analysis. Doing history is an active process of asking good questions about the past, finding and analyzing sources, and drawing conclusions supported by the evidence. 1 In other words, this is not a course about memorization and testing of knowledge of facts. This IS a course that invites you to experience the past, to better understand the present through your exploration of the past, and to create a dialogue with both the past and present as you continue to grow in your understanding of your role in society. Classroom Expectations: This is a college level course. That said, yes, I understand that you are still high school students. However, it is imperative that you learn now the behaviors and conduct expected of you at the college level. Simply put, I expect my students behave as young adults. This means simply that you need to assume responsibility for your learning by applying yourself, completing all assignments, 1 Mandell, Nikki and Bobbie Malone. Thinking Like a Historian: Rethinking History Instruction. Whitewater, WI: Wisconsin Historical Society P, 2007.
engaging in class discussions, and continually working on improving both your knowledge and your skills. Clearly, in order to succeed, students must leave the child at the door. If you truly need clarification for distinguishing between adult and child behavior, I will be happy to accommodate via individual conferences. But, I have found in my many years of teaching that students do know the difference. Some might refer to this as common sense. Texts: Students will be required to read listed chapters from American History by Alan Brinkley before we discuss those sections in class as well as any primary resource handouts given. Required Materials: blue or black ink pens #2 Pencils (all exams will be done in pencil) highlighters 3-ring binder lined paper Vocabulary: You are in a college course which means there is a great deal of vocabulary. You will complete definitions for each unit of the course. Writing: This class requires a significant amount of essay writing. You will compose inclass essays, including Short Answer Questions, Long Essay Questions, and Document Based Questions, on a regular basis. Other writing assignments will include individual document assessments, thematic comparison of time periods, and personal responses. All writing is expected to show analytical and critical thinking skills, even when your personal opinion is involved. Quizzes: Quizzes will be given, sometimes announced, sometimes not. You should always be prepared by keeping up with all assigned readings, participating in classroom discussions, and taking careful notes. The quiz material could come from lecture, texts, additional readings, or films. Anything covered in class or asked for you to do on your own is fair game. Tests: Tests will be given typically once or twice a month; however, due to unforeseen issues that tend to arise, the schedule is tentative. You will be made aware of upcoming tests a week before they are given so that you have time to prepare. Do not wait until I announce a test to start studying you should study every day. Study Guides: These are available on Schoology. You can find them in the folder titled APUSH PDFs STUDY GUIDES. These are required. The study guides are designed to help you identify, reflect upon, and recall important information and concepts from each chapter. It is imperative that you not fall behind on the study guides. If you sincerely engage them throughout the reading process, you will benefit when it comes time to discuss and write about historical events, questions, concepts, etc. Ultimately, the study
guides will help you to improve your performance on the AP exam, thereby earning you college credit. That said, let s discuss how study guides fail to work, or are least effective. If you wait and complete the notes at the last minute, you will not have time to internalize, reflect upon, and discuss the material. Sure, you ll earn participation points for completion, but this approach renders the study guides as busy work. If you so choose, you can reduce any task to busy work. However, doing so negates any value the exercise had to begin with, and it does nothing to help you improve your knowledge and critical thinking skills (yes, these are real-world qualities you will need for success). Due dates for each study guide is outlined on the syllabus. Be prepared. Late guides will not be accepted. Tentative Schedule: While I plan to stick as closely as possible with the reading schedule below, we should remember that the school year is unpredictable. That said, the schedule should remain very close to what we are doing in class. I have planned days for essays and multiple choice exams, but these also are subject to change, and we are not limited to the number outlined on the schedule. If you are absent and wondering where we are in class, refer to this schedule. WEEK ONE (8/13 thru 8/17) Introduction to course. Review district policies. APUSH themes. Debating the Past: Why Do Historians So Often Differ? Chapter 1: The Collision of Cultures WEEK TWO (8/20 thru 8/24) SAQ The Short Answer Question Chapter 2: Transplantations and Borderlands Debating the Past: Native Americans and the Middle Ground WEEK THREE (8/27 thru 8/31) Period 1 Study Guide is due 8/27 at the beginning of class. Chapter 3: Society and Culture in Provincial America Debating the Past: The Origins of Slavery SAQ & Multiple Choice Practice WEEK FOUR (9/3 thru 9/7) LABOR DAY 9/3 Chapter 4: The Empire in Transition Consider the Source: Tea Parties SAQ & Multiple Choice Practice
WEEK FIVE (9/10 thru 9/14) Period 2 Study Guide is due 9/10 at the beginning of class. Chapter 5: The American Revolution Debating the Past: The American Revolution America In the World: The Age of Revolutions SAQ WEEK SIX (9/17 thru 9/21) Chapter 6: The Constitution and the New Republic Constitution and the Bill of Rights Eleventh Amendment Debating the Past: The Meaning of the Constitution Multiple Choice Practice LEQ The Long Essay Question WEEK SEVEN (9/24 thru 9/28) Chapter 7: The Jeffersonian Era Twelfth Amendment America in the World: The Global Industrial Revolution LEQ WEEK EIGHT (10/1 thru 10/5) Period 3 Study Guide is due 10/1 at the beginning of class. Chapter 8: Varieties of American Nationalism LEQ WEEK NINE (10/8 thru 10/12) Chapter 9: Jacksonian America Debating the Past: The Age of Jackson Patterns of Popular Culture: The Penny Press DBQ The Document-Based Question DBQ document analysis WEEK TEN (10/15 thru 10/19) Teacher Work Day 10/15 Chapter 10: America s Economic Revolution Consider the Source: Nativism and Anti-Immigration Sentiment DBQ draft and peer review WEEK ELEVEN (10/22 thru 10/26) Chapter 12: Antebellum Culture and Reform DBQ final draft Consider the Source: The Rise of Feminism America in the World: The Abolition of Slavery
WEEK TWELVE (10/29 thru 11/2) Period 4 Study Guide is due 10/29 at the beginning of class. Chapter 11: Cotton, Slavery, and the Old South Debating the Past: The Character of Slavery SAQ WEEK THIRTEEN (11/5 thru 11/9) Chapter 13: The Impending Crisis DBQ document analysis DBQ draft WEEK FOURTEEN (11/12 thru 11/16) Chapter 14: The Civil War Thirteenth Amendment DBQ final draft Debating the Past: The Causes of the Civil War Consider the Source: Wartime Oratory FALL BREAK (11/19 thru 11/23) WEEK FIFTEEN (11/26 thru 11/30) Chapter 15: Reconstruction and the New South Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments Debating the Past: Reconstruction Consider the Source: Remembering Black History SAQ WEEK SIXTEEN (12/3 thru 12/7) Period 5 Study Guide is due 12/3 at the beginning of class. Chapter 16: The Conquest of the Far West Debating the Past: The Frontier and the West Chapter 17: Industrial Supremacy Consider the Source: Philanthropy LEQ WEEK SEVENTEEN (12/10 thru 12/14) Chapter 18: The Age of the City America in the World: Global Migrations Chapter 19: From Crisis to Empire Patterns of Popular Culture: The Chautauquas Debating the Past: Populism DBQ
MIDTERM EXAMS (12/17 thru 12/21) Period 6 Study Guide is due at the beginning of assigned exam period. Exams. Teacher Work Day 12/21 WINTER BREAK (12/24 thru 1/2) WEEK EIGHTEEN (1/7 thru 1/11) Chapter 20: The Progressives Debating the Past: Progressivism America in the World: Social Democracy WEEK NINETEEN (1/14 thru 1/18) Chapter 21: America and the Great War Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Amendments Consider the Source: Race, Gender, and Military Service WEEK TWENTY (1/21 thru 1/25) Chapter 22: The New Era Nineteenth Amendment America in the World: The Cinema Patterns of Popular Culture: Dance Halls WEEK TWENTY-ONE (1/28 thru 2/1) Period 7-A Study Guide is due 1/28 at the beginning of class. Chapter 23: The Great Depression Twentieth and Twenty-First Amendments Debating the Past: Causes of the Great Depression America in the World: The Global Depression Patterns of Popular Culture: The Films of Frank Capra WEEK TWENTY-TWO (2/4 thru 2/8) Chapter 24: The New Deal Consider the Source: Banking Crises Debating the Past: The New Deal WEEK TWENTY-THREE (2/11 thru 2/15) Chapter 25: The Global Crisis, 1921-1941 America in the World: The Sino-Japanese War, 1931-1941 Debating the Past: The Question of Pearl Harbor WEEK TWENTY-FOUR (2/18 thru 2/22) Chapter 26: America in a World at War Consider the Source: The Face of the Enemy Debating the Past: The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb
WEEK TWENTY-FIVE (2/25 thru 3/1) Period 7-B Study Guide is due 2/25 at the beginning of class. Chapter 27: The Cold War Debating the Past: Origins of the Cold War Debating the Past: McCarthyism WEEK TWENTY-SIX (3/4 thru 3/8) Chapter 28: The Affluent Society Patterns of Popular Culture: On the Road Patterns of Popular Culture: Lucy and Desi WEEK TWENTY-SEVEN (3/11 thru 3/15) Chapter 29: Civil Rights, Vietnam, and the Ordeal of Liberalism Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth, and Twenty-Fifth Amendments Debating the Past: The Civil Rights Movement Debating the Past: The Vietnam Commitment Teacher Work Day 3/15 SPRING BREAK (3/18 thru 3/22) WEEK TWENTY-EIGHT (3/25 thru 3/29) Chapter 30: The Crisis of Authority Twenty-Sixth Amendment Patterns of Popular Culture: Rock Music in the Sixties America in the World: The End of Colonialism Debating the Past: Watergate WEEK TWENTY-NINE (4/1 thru 4/5) Period 8 Study Guide is due 4/8 at the beginning of class. Chapter 31: From the Age of Limits to the Age of Reagan Patterns of Popular Culture: The Mall WEEK THIRTY (4/8 thru 4/12) Chapter: 32: The Age of Globalization Twenty-Seventh Amendment Patterns of Popular Culture: Rap Debating the Past: Women s History America in the World: The Global Environmental Movement WEEK THIRTY-ONE (4/15 thru 4/19) Period 9 Study Guide is due 4/22 at the beginning of class. Review and MC Practice
WEEK THIRTY-TWO (4/22 thru 4/26) SAQs Review for exam. WEEK THIRTY-THREE (4/29 thru 5/3) LEQs Review for exam. WEEK THIRTY-FOUR (5/6 thru 5/10) DBQs Review for exam. APUSH EXAM 5/10 WEEK THIRTY-FIVE (5/13 thru 5/17) WEEK THIRTY-SIX (5/20 thru 5/24)