ADVANCED PLACEMENT WORLD HISTORY COURSE SYLLABUS Instructor: Randy Ellsworth Room A -22 Conference Period: 8 th School Phone: 236-2000 Email: rellswor@episd.org Tutoring is available at lunch. This must be scheduled in advance so that I am aware of what you need. WHAT IS AP WORLD HISTORY? Advanced Placement World History is the College Board college-level survey course that introduces students to world civilizations and cultures. The course guide for the class is the College Board s AP World History course description. A student s performance on the AP World History exam (offered in May) determines a student s eligibility to earn up to six hours of college credit. Course curriculum, materials, and expectations are designed to prepare students for the rigorous three-hour exam. COURSE PHILOSOPY: WHY TAKE THIS COURSE AP World History is a superior preparation for college. While our goal is that you will all receive acceptable scores of threes or higher on the May exam for credit, additional goals include preparing students for eleventh grade AP US History and AP English Language and Composition and the PSAT and SAT college placement exams. My wishes are that you learn to think critically and write as a good historian would. An additional desire is to open your eyes to the world. All students who want to try these classes are welcome provided you understand that we will read extensively and write frequently. I will provide assistance and tutorials if help is needed. And I do believe students with learning challenges can prosper in this class and am willing to make accommodations to meet special needs for students. COURSE PURPOSE The purpose of the course, however, extends beyond the possibility of earning college credit by providing students with the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge that will form a useful foundation for college studies. COURSE DESCRIPTION The tenth grade AP World History course begins with the origin of humans and extends through contemporary times and includes learning the mastery of skills critical to the May AP World History exam.
Traditional historical points of reference in world history are identified as students analyze important events and issues in western civilization as well as in civilizations in Southwest, East, and South Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Students evaluate traditions and institutions, which form the basis of the world s major civilizations and cultures. Students examine the impact of geographic factors on major historic events and identify the historic origins of contemporary economic systems. Students analyze the process by which democratic-republican governments evolved as well as the ideas from historic documents that influenced that process. Students trace the historical development of important legal and political concepts. Students examine the history and impact of major religious and philosophical traditions. Students analyze the connections between major developments in science and technology and the growth of economies, and they use the process of historical inquiry to research, interpret, and use multiple sources of evidence. Students will address the higher level thinking skills or Habits of the Mind and Five Themes common to Advanced Placement social studies classes and the PSAT and SAT admissions tests. THE NINE HABITS OF THE MIND 1. APPROPRIATE USE OF RELEVANT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE 2. HISTORICAL ARGUMENTATION 3. HISTORICAL CAUSATION 4. PATTERNS OF CONTINUITY AND CHANGE OVER TIME 5. PERIODIZATION 6. COMPARISON 7. CONTEXTUALIZATION 8. INTERPRETATION 9. SYNTHESIS HISTORY IS A SOPHISTICATED QUEST FOR MEANING ABOUT THE PAST EXTENDING BEYOND THE EFFORT TO COLLECT INFORMATION. HISTORICAL ANALYSIS REQUIRES FAMILIARITY WITH A GREAT DEAL OF INFORMATION NAMES, CHRONOLOGY, FACTS, EVENTS, AND THE LIKE. WITHOUT RELIABLE AND DETAILED INFORMATION, HISTORICAL THINKING IS NOT POSSIBLE. YET HISTORICAL ANALYSIS INVOLVES MUCH MORE THAN THE COMPILATION AND RECALL OF DATA: IT ALSO REQUIRES SEVERAL DISTINCTIVE HISTORICAL THINKING SKILLS. THE HISTORICAL THINKING SKILLS SHOWN ABOVE PROVIDE AN ESSENTIAL FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNING TO THINK HISTORICALLY. Every part of the AP World History course assesses habits of mind as well as content. Students will take multiple-choice tests and write essays which will include studying maps, using graphs, analyzing art works, and interpreting quotations. Other aspects include assessing primary data, evaluating arguments, handling diverse interpretations, making comparisons, and understanding historical context. THE FIVE THEMES 1) Interaction between humans and the environment a. Demography and Disease b. Migration c. Patterns of Settlement
d. Technology 2) Development and Interaction of Cultures a. Religions b. Belief Systems, Philosophies, and Ideologies c. Science and Technology d. The Arts and Architecture 3) State Building, Expansion, and Conflict a. Political Structures and forms of government b. Empires c. Nations and Nationalism d. Revolts and Revolutions e. Regional, Transregional, and Global Structures and Organizations f. 4) Creation, Expansion, and Interaction of Economic Systems a. Agricultural and Pastoral Production b. Trade and Commerce c. Labor Systems d. Industrialization e. Capitalism and Socialism 5) Development and Transformation of Social Structures a. Gender Roles and Relations b. Family and Kinship c. Racial and Ethnic Constructions d. Social and Economic Classes CLASS STRUCTURE AND EVALUATION Students who take this course should realize that AP courses are taught and graded at the college level; this includes all pre-ap tests and essays. Consequently, the courses exceed the demands and expectations for typical high school courses. But the class is truly manageable and I am aware that you have other classes as well as extracurricular activities. A. Class structure We have a 45 minute class day five days per week. A typical day will include a warmup exercise (SOAPPS-Tone/APPARTS, OPTIC, BPQ, WHISTTOREEAAC,or Quiz), followed by one of two different activities. One will usually involve a lecture for around 30 minutes and the third time block will be an exercise to check your understanding of the content. There will be no time to do homework in class so make sure you come with your assignments completed. All work assigned is due at the beginning of class. All assigned reading should be done prior to class as well. B. Nine-Weeks Grades and Exercises (indicates amount each nine weeks and their weights) 1. 60% Grade
a. All timed (30-40 minutes) in-class essays b. Multiple Choice Tests and other test such as geography tests. 2. 30% Grade a. Writing Exercises b. Quizzes c. SOAPPS-Tone, OPTIC Exercises d. Individual assignments including outlines 3. 10% Nine Weeks exam or Semester Final C. Notebooks and Spirals: You will need to have a 3 ring binder to use as a carry all for what you need for class. Your notebook should be as follows: a. Two 70 page spirals for notes. One for class notes and one for reading notes. b. Separate sections should be maintained for syllabus, SOAPPS and OPTICS, returned quizzes and exams. Use of dividers is encouraged to help keep things clear. A list of materials for the course will be provided. EXAM FORMAT AND GRADING Exams will conform to the standard AP format of 40-60 multiple choice questions with five answer choices in 45 minutes to the extent possible. Quizzes will be in a similar format. All essays will be graded with the official College Board AP World History rubrics. Short writing assignments will use a rubric modeled on the official rubrics. This is college level work. Because I must be honest with you on the quality of your assessments, before I figure your final grades, I will curve your tests. For example, to a test average of 81 I will take the square root or 9 and multiply by 10. The grade you will receive is a 90. This applies only to tests and quizzes. CLASSROOM ETHICS Any form of cheating or plagiarizing will not be tolerated. You are expected to do individual work on all but group assignments. Penalties for violating classroom ethics may range from a zero on the specific assignment for all involved to removal from the AP World History program. Naturally, each case will have to be investigated to determine what if any penalty would apply. I would certainly prefer you come to me for help if cheating seems to be your only way to be successful. Together we can work toward a better outcome for you. EXTRA CREDIT Test corrections: any multiple choice exams may be corrected for extra credit to that test score. Particulars on this will be handed out during the first week of class.
Other extra credit: Other work may be assigned by the instructor for extra credit on request of the student provided the student has NO ZEROES or incomplete work. I will not assign extra credit if students have not attempted to do the actual assigned work. Nor will extra credit be assigned in the first three week of the fall semester. THE MAY NATIONAL EXAM The AP National exam is in May. All students must take the exam. The test is cumulative and comprehensive. Students should maintain a notebook, participate in after-school reviews, form student study groups, and work your review books. Final responsibility for preparing and passing the exam is of course the student s. REQUIRED TEXTS Our primary text is World Civilizations: The Global Experience (3rd Edition) by Peter N. Stearns. Supplementary text are Documents in World History Volume I and II (3 rd Edition) by Peter N. Stearns. Midyear reading assignment is The World that Trade Created (2 nd Edition) by Kenneth Pomeranz. My lectures are based on materials from our textbook, The Princeton Review Cracking the AP World History Exam 2012, as well as lessons constructed by other AP College Board teachers. I will supplement your text with primary sources and documents. I also use materials from on-line sources. ON-LINE PRIMARY SOURCES Many of my historical documents, which we will analyze, will come from The Internet History Sourcebook Project: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ STUDY GUIDES While I do not endorse any one of the study guides to accompany AP World History, I do suggest you buy one of the test preparation guides. There are many good ones and they are listed on my website with direct connections to Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com. COLLEGE BOARD AND THE ACORN BOOK ON AP WORLD HISTORY All students should access a copy of the official AP guide, called the Acorn guide. This information is available on-line at http://www.collegeboard.com/apvisit the site; there is a great deal of information about the AP philosophy, the program, and materials or hints for students.
SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS The single most important contributor to student success is whether he/she completes each reading assignment and its accompanying work. There is no substitute. Do the reading faithfully. At first it may seem time consuming and difficult, but practice makes perfect! And use a dictionary every time you do not understand a word. Although we are in high school, this is a college course. We will discuss topics that may be new and different. Please keep an open mind. You do not have to agree with what you read and hear, but you will need to think historically and critically. Keep an organized notebook for both semesters and use it to review. Proper prior planning prevents poor performance. This is especially true of college courses. Work at mastering writing styles. In that one-half of the AP grade is writing, you must be able to write if you want to pass. Come to tutorials if you need help. Do not worry about your grade unless it is failing. This is a college course and universities know the difference on transcripts between regulars and Advanced Placement classes. University Admissions will tell you they would rather see a C in an AP than an A in a regulars class. AP classes earn higher grade points. Consequently an 87 in an AP class is worth a 97 in a regular class. Form and join an informal study Group with students in the same class. These are very successful. The group is not a substitute for reading or the work, but two heads are often better than one. This also allows you to get missing notes. And exchange phone numbers so you can call each other if need be. If you have a question or concern, call, email me, or come by. I will help you all as much as is possible, but you have to see me outside of class. Please do not have parents call me until you yourself have tried to resolve a concern. My conference and tutorial times are posted. And I am usually at school before classes start and after school. Some thoughts to close: Learning is cumulative. No one will come into the class and be successful unless they are determined to achieve more than they assume they can. In particular, writing is extremely important to your success at AP World History. In order to cultivate this, our approach to writing the essays will be taken in steps. Because there are three distinct types of essays we will learn three distinct styles of historical essay composition. At the beginning of the year we will be learning how to analyze documents using formulas that have been proved to be successful. We will then discover how to create a thesis for historical essays. We will then proceed over time to learn how to write Document Based Question Essays, Compare and Contrast Essays, and Change and Continuity over Time Essays. Each of these will take time and effort on your part. I urge you to not become overly discouraged if it seems as if
you can t get it on the first try. I certainly didn t get it the first time. In addition to writing skills, several other factors will determine your success in this class. Reading assigned material and note taking go hand in hand. The method of note taking we will be using and using it correctly will help you to correlate and synthesize the data efficiently and effectively. This will give you an advantage in the multiple choice testing that goes with the course. Although you should be aware of this, it is extremely important that you do the reading prior to the class or classes in which it will be discussed and analyzed. Copying notes from others and downloading them without doing the reading is not a good use of your time. This holds true for other assignments that you will be doing. About your instructor: I have been teaching at Coronado since 2009 and I started my teaching career at Bowie High School in 2001. As with many folks, teaching is my second career previously having worked in Security Sales management, Production Management, and as an Officer in the United States Army. Over the last eleven years I have taught many different social study courses all of which I have enjoyed very much. These include: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS FOREIGN POLICY AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS US GOVERNMENT WORLD HISTORY AP WORLD HISTORY AP US HISTORY ETHICS My Bachelor of Science degree from UT El Paso is in Criminal Justice. I have a Masters in Education from the UT El Paso. I was born and raised in El Paso. I graduated from Eastwood HS. Both of my sons are Coronado T-Birds. I have coached the following sports Football Track Soccer Cross Country Basketball My goal for you is simple: to achieve at least a 3 score on the AP test. If you are willing to do what is necessary on your part to achieve this I assure you I will be doing what is necessary for my part.