ADVANCED PLACEMENT UNITED STATES HISTORY

The Advanced Placement Program in United States History is designed to provide student with the analytic skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with the problems and materials in United States history. The program prepares students for intermediate and advanced college courses by making demands upon them equivalent to those made by full-year introductory college courses. Students should learn to access historical materials--their relevance to a given interpretive problem, their reliability, and their importance--and to weigh the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship. An Advanced Placement United States History courses should thus develop the skills necessary to arrive at conclusions on the basis of an informed judgment and to present reasons and evidence clearly and persuasively in essay format.

ADVANCED PLACEMENT UNITED STATES HISTORY

COURSE SYLLABUS: SEMESTERS OF 2002 - 2003

COURSE CONTENT: Advanced Placement United States History is an eleventh grade course, taught at the college level, for students who display a higher level of interest and competence in the field of history. Students should expect to be challenged in developing their analytical thinking, reading, listening, and writing skills. From this course students will begin to appreciate the complexity and diversity of history: that different views of history emerge as historians interpret events with different perspectives. The capstone of the course will be the National Advanced Placement Examination, which will be administered in May.

TEXTBOOK: THE AMERICAN NATION by JOHN A. GARRATY . In addition there will be a number of supplementary readings and handouts Included along with the text. Students may wish to purchase a textbook so they can write or highlight in the book. You may buy this book at the Navarro College or SAGU Bookstore for personal use.We use the 6 th. and & 7 th. edition in class but the colleges have the 8 th. edition that is almost the same.

THE COURSE: Each week, activities may include formal lectures, class seminars, class activities, and document analysis, both textual and non-textual. Students can expect and average of one to two hours outside work for each class period for readings, essays, research, and other activities. Late work is a minus twenty points per class day and ten points per non-class day, each calendar day that it is late.

EXAMS: Practically every week, we will have a short quiz. Quizzes will emphasize critical and analytical thinking. There will be a major exam every three chapters with the semester exam at the end of the semester. Second semester they will be timed.

RESEARCH PAPERS: There will be a number of short essay papers. Longer DBQ (Document Based Question) essays will also require outside research. In the second semester essays will be timed in class.

GRADES: Nine Weeks:  daily work 25%

extra participation 5%

quizzes 20%

formal papers 25%

major exams. 25%

70% OF GRADE IS EXAMS, QUIZZES, & FORMAL PAPERS