AP United States History

AP U.S. History (APUSH) Course Description APUSH at _____________ is delivered as a two-year program designed to give highly motivated students college level experience in the study of United States history. APUSH will be framed largely by the College Board’s articulated themes for the course including: the American identity, the evolution of American culture, demographic changes over the course of America’s history, economic trends and transformations, environmental issues, the development of political institutions and the components of citizenship, social reform movements, the role of religion in the making of the United States and its impact in a multicultural society, the history of slavery and its legacies in this hemisphere, war and diplomacy, and finally the place of the United States within a global perspective. The course will conform to these themes throughout the year, emphasizing the ways in which they are interconnected and examining the ways in which each helps to shape the economic, social, political, and ecological changes over time that are so important to understanding the contested record of United States history.

Course Goals The primary goal of the APUSH course will be to satisfy the College Board’s stated purpose for the course: “…to provide students with the analytic skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with the problems and materials in U.S. history.” In this sense, APUSH will mirror the demands and rigor of an introductory, college-level survey course on U.S. history. Additionally, the course is structured to meet the goal of fulfilling the Arizona State Standards for Economics and Government alongside the thorough examination of U.S. history.

Required Text Brinkley, Alan. American History: A Survey. 11th Edition, Boston: McGraw Hill, 2003.

Supplemental Texts In order to ensure that students will encounter multiple interpretations of historical scholarship, the below listed texts and excerpts will be provided and used in critical examinations of the multiple interpretations of United States history. Berry, Wendell. The Unsettling of America, San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1977. Chafe, William H. The Unfinished Journey: American Since World War II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Deloria, Vine. The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Power of Medicine Men, Golden: Fulcrum Publishing, 2006. Foner, Eric. The Story of American Freedom, New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1998. Leone, Bruno, Ed. Opposing Viewpoints in American History, Volume II, San Diego, Greenhaven Press, 1996 Loewen, James. Lies My Teacher Told Me, New York: The New Press, 1995. Lopez, Barry. The Rediscovery of North America, New York: Vintage, 1992. Low, Ann Marie. Dust Bowl Diary, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. O’Brien, Tim. The Things they Carried, New York: Broadway, 1998. Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle, New York: Barnes and Noble Book, 1995 Zinn, Howard and Arnove, Anthony. Voices of a People’s History of the United States, New York: Seven Stories Press, 2004 Additional readings may be added throughout the duration of the course as interest and instruction demands.

Assessments/Assignments Exams: After approximately every two units, an exam will be given. Most often unit exams will be constructed to mirror the APUSH exam format utilizing multiple choice and free response questions. Document based questions (DBQs) may also be included in the exams but will most often appear as supplemental exam components to be completed outside of class. Quizzes: Brief quizzes will be given regularly to monitor student progress in regards to readings and their ability to recall course content. While most quizzes will be announced in advance, the instructor reserves the right to deliver “pop quizzes” at the instructor’s discretion. Document Analysis: According to the College Board, a well-performing APUSH student should be comfortable with analyzing historical documents, or primary source documents. To hone this skill, students will regularly be assigned primary source analyses. In addition to primary source analyses, students may also be asked to discuss primary sources in relation to contemporary secondary sources or other historical literature.

Discussions/Debates/Simulations: Students will regularly engage in organized classroom discussions and debates or other similar activities such as Socratic seminars, mock trials, and simulations. Additionally, students may be involved in online discussions and debates through edublogs.org or twitter.com. Online discussions and debates will be used to hone a student’s ability to express their ideas effectively through writing on contentious topics. Often, discussions and debates will revolve around the multiple interpretations of historical events and represented in historical scholarship. Free Response Questions: At least once per unit, students will engage in a Free Response writing assignment. The FRQs will be assessed in the manner set forth by the College Board. Document-Based Questions: As indicated in the exam section, practice DBQs will be assigned alongside each unit exam. The DBQs will be assessed in the manner set forth by the College Board. Research Project(s): At least once a year, students will be assigned a research paper on a topic or even in United States history. The paper will demand that student conform to the writing conventions of historical research including proper citation and formatting. The length and the requirements of the research paper will be defined at the delivery of the assignment. Additional research projects may also be assigned throughout the year. Creative Projects/History Alive! Projects: In addition to traditional classroom activities, students will also participate in more creative projects falling in line with APUSH content and themes, of course, which may include poster projects, skits, multimedia presentations, and more. Assignments are not listed in the course outline section of the syllabus so as to allow maximum instructor flexibility to craft and deliver assignments that best meet student interest, learning styles, and learning needs. This flexibility, however, will not impact the rigor of the course nor will allow for a digression from major APUSH themes and topics.

APUSH Course Outline