Ap Government Pre-Class Assignments Syllabus

AP GOVERNMENT PRE-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS SYLLABUS

Welcome to AP GOV! We are starting a little early due to the fact that there is a ton of information to learn and not a lot of time to learn it. My hope is that if you all can begin learning this now, it will open our class time up for other fun things!!

1) Read Jeffrey Toobin's book about the Supreme Court entitled The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court (PAPERBACK edition) AND complete the 15 study guide questions below. COMPLETED STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS SHOULD BE EMAILED TO [email protected] by midnight on January 2nd , 2018. NOTE: This book is widely available and you should have no problem finding it on Amazon.com or in a local bookstore or library. You must read it, know it and be prepared to write about it from memory the first week of school. You will be asked to examine in free response fashion some of the main ideas of the book as presented in the 15 study guide questions attached. You must review them thoroughly before the first time that we meet. YOU WILL BE TESTED ON THESE QUESTIONS ON THE VERY FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL!

2) Memorize the following lists: You will be tested twice on these lists, once during the first two weeks of school and once at the end of the semester. There will be a word bank for the first set of tests but not the final.

-Monster Vocab: Memorize each term on the list and be able to identify each on a matching test. (Friday of week 1) -Ratified Amendments: Be able to identify the core impact of each amendment (the information in bold) for a matching test week one. (Friday of week 1. -Supreme Court Cases: Be able to complete a 40-question quiz about the SCOTUS case regarding the background and precedent set from the case. (Friday of week 2) I encourage you to explore and research these cases more than what is given to you. -Important Legislation: Be able to match the important legislation with the background and details of the legislative acts. (Friday of week 2)

3). Read each of the following primary sources and complete the Guided Questions: (due in my email by midnight on January 2nd 2018) John Locke: Excerpts from the Second Treatise of Civil Government Montesquieu: Excerpt from The Spirit of Laws 1748 Rousseau: Excerpt from The Social Contract 1763 Thomas Paine: Common Sense Virginia Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence 4). Keep close track of the major events in national politics. You will be very lost if you come in not knowing some of the issues and politicians that are shaping our country. Here are a few ideas for how this can be accomplished:

1) Bookmark the following websites and check them regularly throughout the course of the summer: www.allpolitics.com (this is run by CNN); www.onpolitics.com (this is run by the Washington Post); www.realclearpolitics.com (this is a compilation of the best political writing on the web), www.npr.org ;

2) Get into the habit of watching one of the Sunday morning talk shows (Meet the Press on NBC, This Week on ABC, Fox News Sunday on FOX, etc.). Another good habit is to occasionally watch daily political shows like The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC (for news with a liberal slant) and anything on FOX news (for a conservative outlook). ITS VERY IMPORTANT TO GET BOTH SIDES OF STORY, THE TRUTH LIES SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN

3) For those who like political humor, check out clips of The Daily Show from Comedy Central, and from HBO, Real Time with Bill Maher and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The Saturday Night Live crew also does great political skits.

From this wide variety of sources, you will begin to meet some of the more prominent political actors and commentators on the national scene. You need to be familiar with them before you enter the AP Govt classroom for the first time. Pay close attention to the following:

What are the major issues being debated at the national level? Who appears to be defining the agenda of which issues are important and which are not? Where does Donald Trump stand on the key issues? What are Trump’s priorities? What pieces of legislation is he actively fighting for? Who are the major players in both parties in the House & Senate? Does the Congress appear to be nudging the president in a more conservative or a more liberal direction? How might this be explained? What major decisions have come down this spring/summer from the Supreme Court?

AP Government can be an interesting, thought-provoking and intellectually stimulating experience, but it requires a group of students who are committed to working at the college level, AND WHO HAVE A DEEP INTEREST IN OUR NATIONAL POLITICAL LIFE. If you have no interest in politics, this course will be neither fun nor interesting – it will just be a lot of very hard, very time-consuming work! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail me OR come by my room and we can chat.