AP
Mr.
James Klipfel: Phone
(661) 297-3900 (ext. 1605); voice mail (ext. 4162); email jklipfe@hartdistrict.org
Texts: The
American Pageant (12th edition): issued by library
The American Spirit Vol. 1
and 2: classroom
copies
The Harper Single Volume
American Literature: classroom copies
Assigned works/novels:
issued by library or checked out/purchased on own
The
Course:
Students
should learn to assess 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 AP US History course 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. Although there is little to be
gained by rote memorization of names and dates in an encyclopedic manner, a
student must be able to draw upon a reservoir of systematic factual knowledge
in order to exercise analytic skills intelligently. Striking a balance between teaching
factual knowledge and critical analysis is a demanding but crucial task in the
design of a successful AP course in history. In addition to exposing students to the
historical content, an AP course should also train students to analyze and
interpret primary sources. Students
should learn to take notes from both printed materials and lectures or
discussions, write essay examinations, and write analytical and research
papers. They should be able to express
themselves with clarity and precision and know how to cite sources and credit
the phrases and ideas of others. ---The College Board
This
course is a one-year survey of American history from the late 1400s to the
present. Students who dedicate
themselves to the course should be prepared to take the AP exam in May. The volume of material necessitates a pace
that will require students to do an extensive amount of work.
Grades:
The
semester grade will roughly match the following: 60% exams (one third of this
will be the final exam), 20% term paper, and 15% homework, and 5%
participation. Also, extra credit
assignments will not exceed 5% of the total points.
The
Exam:
The
exam is three hours and five minutes in length.
It consists of a 55-minute multiple-choice section and a 130-minute
free-response section. The free-response
section begins with a mandatory 15-minute reading period. You are advised to
spend most of that time analyzing the documents and planning your answer to the
Document-Based essay question (DBQ) in Part A.
Suggested writing time for the DBQ is 45 minutes. Parts B and C each include two standard essay
questions that, taken together, cover the period from the first European
explorations of the Americas to the present. You are required to answer one
essay question in each part in a total of 70 minutes. Suggested time to be spent on each of the
essay questions you choose to answer in Parts B and C is 5 minutes for planning
and 30 minutes for writing your answer.
Scores
earned on the multiple-choice and free-response sections each account for half
of your examination grade. Within the free-response section, the DBQ counts for
45 percent, the two standard essays for 27.5 percent each. Both the multiple-choice and free-response
sections cover the period from the first European explorations of the
The calendar below will be
subject to revision as the year progresses, but it should allow students to
plan their readings. The dates listed
are the approximate date that a chapter/unit quiz or
exam will be given. Chapters should
be read several days prior to that date!
Unit
#1: Colonization
Wednesday,
August 17 Chapter
1:
Friday,
August 19 Chapter
2: The Planting of English
Wednesday,
August 24 Chapter
3: Settling the Northern Colonies, 1619-1700
Monday,
August 29 Chapter
4: American Life in the Seventeenth Century, 1607-1692
Friday, September 2
...(30 min. essay exam as well) Chapter 5: Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution, 1700-1775
Unit
#2: New Nation
Thursday,
September 8 Chapter
6: The Duel for
Tuesday,
September 13 Chapter
7: The Road to Revolution, 1763-1775
Friday,
September 16 Chapter
8:
Friday, September 23
(30 min. essay exam as well) Chapter 9: The Confederation and the Constitution, 1776-1790
Unit
#3: The Early Years
Thursday,
September 29 Chapter
10: Launching the New Ship of State, 1789-1800
Wednesday,
October 5 Chapter
11: The Triumph and Travails of the
Thurs and Fri., October 13-14(Midterm: DBQ #1 and 80 MC) Chapter 12: The Second War
for
Unit
#4: Reform
Wednesday,
October 19 Chapter
13: The Rise of Mass Democracy, 1824-1840
Monday,
October 24 Chapter
14: Forging the National Economy, 1790-1860
Friday,
October 28 Chapter
15: The Ferment of Reform and Culture, 1790-1860
Wednesday,
November 2 Chapter 16: The South and the
Slavery Controversy, 1793-1860
Thursday, November
3
..
.. Social Protest Rally
Unit
#5: Growth, Sectionalism, and Civil War
Wednesday,
November 9 Chapter
17: Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy, 1841-1848
Tuesday,
November 15 Chapter
18: Renewing the Sectional Struggle, 1848-1854
Friday,
November 18 Chapter
19: Drifting Toward Disunion, 1854-1861
Monday, November 21
..
DBQ #2: Chapters 13-19
Monday,
November 28 (Chapters 20 and 21) Chapter
20: Girding for War: The North and South, 1861-1865
Chapter 21: The Furnace of Civil
War, 1861-1865
Monday,
December 5 (Chapters 22-23) Chapter 22: The Ordeal of
Reconstruction, 1865-1877
Chapter
23: Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age, 1869-1896
Friday,
December 9 Chapter
24: Industry comes of Age, 1865-1900
December
13, 14, and 15
.... Final
Exam (250
Questions/Scan-tron: Ch. 1-24)
Thursday,
January 12 Chapter
25:
Thursday,
January 19 (Chapters 26 and
23b) Chapter 26: The Great
West and the Agricultural Revolution, 1865-1896
Chapter 23b: Political
Paralysis in the Gilded Age, 1869-1896 (reread 520-526)
Chapter 28:
Friday, January 27
. DBQ or 30 minute essay: Gilded
Age and/or Imperialism (Ch. 23-28)
Unit #8: Progressivism, WWI,
and the Boom and Bust
Friday,
February 3 (Chapters 29 and 30a) Chapter
29: Progressivism and the Republican
Chapter
30a: Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad,
1912-1916 (pp. 687-696)
Chapter 31: The
War to End War, 1917-1918
Wednesday,
February 15 Chapter
32: American Life in the Roaring Twenties, 1919-1929
Thursday,
February 23 Chapter
33: The Politics of Boom and Bust, 1920-1932
Wednesday,
March 1 Chapter
34: The Great Depression and the New Deal, 1933-1938
Thursday, March 2
. DBQ or 30 minute essay:
Progressivism, 1920s, Depression, or New Deal
Chapter 36:
Thursday,
March 16 Chapter
37: The Cold War Begins, 1945-1952
Thursday,
March 23 Chapter
38: The Eisenhower Era, 1952-1960
Friday,
29 April Chapter
41: The Resurgence of Conservatism, 1980-2000
May
8-26 TEAM