AP United States History Mr. D. Geil La Quinta High School

AP United States History Mr. D. Geil La Quinta High School [email protected] 10372 McFadden Ave. Mr.Pratt Westminster, CA 92683 [email protected] (714)663-6314

Welcome to APUSH: AP United States History!

“History is furious debate informed by evidence and reason.” – James Loewen

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” – Mark Twain

Course Design Advanced Placement United States History (APUSH) is a challenging course that is meant to be the equivalent of a first year course at a university. It is a survey of American history from the age of exploration and English colonization to the present (1600s – 1990s). In fact, one could argue that it is harder than the average college history course since the textbook and all materials must be completed by the first week of May (requiring a pace of approximately 1½ chapters per week) and because it culminates with a rigorous, comprehensive, nationally administered exam. Strong reading and writing skills along with the willingness to devote time to daily homework and studying, including work over the weekends and an especially concentrated effort at least six weeks prior to the AP exam are necessary to succeed. In truth, most of the responsibility to pass the A.P. exam lies with the individual student. Emphasis is placed on critical reading and thinking skills, essay writing, and interpretation of historical time periods and a thematic understanding. This will require a level of hard work, study and authentic critical thinking that will produce significant rewards for those who endeavor to challenge themselves.

Course Goals There are three (3) goals for this class: 1. that students will gain a love and appreciation of history and the historian’s craft. 2. that students will mature in their abilities to READ, WRITE, and THINK critically, thus preparing students for college rigor. 3. preparing students for the APUSH exam in May.

The Exam The College Board’s APUSH exam will be on Friday, May 11, 2018 at 8 am.

More information regarding the exam, including test format, review sessions, and test preparation will be forthcoming.

Academic Objectives ● Students will learn how to approach history critically and will be able to analyze and evaluate competing sources of historical information. ● Students will study selected historical themes and the context and significance of major interpretive questions. ● Students will be able to express themselves with clarity and precision and know how to cite sources and credit the phrases and ideas of others. ● Students will be prepared for the Advanced Placement United States History Exam.

Student Behavior There is one primary principle in the classroom: Nothing shall interfere with teaching and learning.

In addition, organization, time management, punctuality and excellent attendance are required and necessary to succeed in this class. All school rules apply in the classroom.

Moreover, students must become self-advocates. This means that a student needs to take full responsibility for his performance in the class. Students should immediately communicate with their teacher should any issues arise —such as illness, sporting events, family emergencies/vacations, difficulties with the class—that interfere with class attendance and completion of assignments. Students should contact the teacher if/when he will be absent on the day of a quiz, unit test, midterm or final exam or if/when an assignment will not be completed by the deadline. Students can speak with their teacher before/after school or class, at lunch and via email if there is any problem. The best thing to do is to communicate as soon as possible if a student foresees an inability to complete an assignment or be prepared for a quiz.

All students are expected to behave in a manner appropriate to a college setting. Those who do not can expect fair, consistent, and natural disciplinary consequences for their inappropriate actions or attitudes. Typical consequences include but are not limited to warnings, detentions, referrals, parent phone calls, parent conferences, and behavior contracts.

How to Learn in APUSH and how I will Assess your Learning One of the key lessons that students must gain in high school is to learn how to learn! Each student learns information and acquires knowledge differently, which is why taking AP classes help students figure this out before arriving at college. The outside-of-the-class-work expectation for an AP class is about 30 to 45 minutes per day. The key here is TIME MANAGEMENT! Students will receive each unit and semester’s reading assignments far in advance and will often have several days or weeks to complete an assignment/reading. Therefore, it is essential that students learn to manage their own time to complete assignments and reading on time.

Besides reading the main text, students will also need to regularly review class notes, handouts and study key content vocabulary. To hold students accountable for the reading, students will take frequent quizzes. Interventions will be put in place if students fail multiple quizzes.

At the end of each unit (lasting approximately 3-5 weeks) students will write an in-class essay to assess mastery of the content. Writing is an essential college and life skill, and a significant part of the Advanced Placement exam is the essay portion. Therefore, considerable time will be spent learning and practicing how to write effectively. Specific essay guidelines and expectations will be handed out at a later date. Those essay guidelines must be carefully followed. These essays will be similar to the type given on the APUSH exam (Short Answers, Long Essays (LEQ’s), or DBQ’s = Document Based Questions) and will be graded on the same 3, 6, or 7 point scale. Students who need to make-up an essay due to an absence can expect a different, perhaps more difficult prompt. The following shows how the rubric’s point values will be converted into a score for the grade book.

Document Based Question: 7=100%6=94% 5=87% 4=79% 3=70% 2=62% 1=55%

Long Essay: 6=100% 5=93% 4=85% 3=76% 2=66% 1=55%

A College Board style multiple-choice exam and short answer questions will be given at the end of each quarter, as a midterm and as a final exam. Students will work up to the ability of completing 55 multiple choice questions in 55 minutes. Each of these tests will be counted as two (2) unit tests.

Grading Categories and Scale Summative Assessments (Unit Tests, Midterm, Final, Projects) = 65% Formative Assessments (Quizzes) = 25% Homework (Assignments) = 10%

Grading Scale 90%–100% A 80%–89% B 70%–79% C 60%–69% D 0%–59% F

Materials* Students will be expected to have a large, 3 or more-subject, spiral notebook, or 3-ring binder, specifically for APUSH to organize important assignments and study guides. This notebook will be checked periodically to ensure students are staying organized. Students may be responsible for completing/printing materials from the internet on their own. If you do not have internet access at home it is your responsibility to schedule time to visit the library.

Textbook Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, Thomas Bailey. The American Pageant, 13th ed. Boston.: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

Newman, John J., John M. Schmalbach. United States History, Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination. New York.: AMSCO School Publications, 2010.

*If any student has any difficulty obtaining any of the above materials, I would be happy to help the student get the supplies recommended for success. It is the student’s responsibility to inform the teacher of any needs as soon as possible.

Academic Integrity While students are encouraged to help each other and work together, cheating will not be tolerated. According to the La Quinta Discipline Code, cheating is defined as, but not limited to “using or giving any form of aid(s) in completing the assigned work and/or tests for a class.” Plagiarism is defined as but not limited to “taking the ideas/work/writings from another source and offering them as your own.” Any student found committing any type of the above academic dishonesty will be given a negative 100% score (which will not be dropped in the case of an exam) on whatever assignment was compromised. He/she will likely also be suspended from class pending a parent conference.

Teacher Biography Mr. Geil is an Orange County local from Fountain Valley. He loves to empower his students to engage with and in debates that affect their lives from the local community to the national level through the study of history and social science. Mr. Geil attended UC Berkeley where he majored in History and Native American Studies. It was there that he realized he wanted to be a teacher. After completing his B.A. he moved back down to Southern California to earn his teaching credential at Cal State Long Beach. Mr. Geil completed his teacher training at Pacifica High School and has been teaching at La Quinta since 2013. He still resides locally and enjoys reading, travel, music, camping, hiking, rock climbing, trying new foods, and spending time with his family (which includes Mr. G. Geil, who you may know from the English department). Mr. Pratt was born and raised in Orange County and loves the area. He attended Arizona State University and graduated with a B.A. in Political Science and a certificate Global Studies. After completing his undergraduate studies, Mr. Pratt traveled extensively throughout Asia. Upon returning he enrolled in UC Irvine’s Masters in the art of teaching program and began student teaching at Pacifica High School in Garden Grove. He loves traveling, eating spicy food, being outdoors, being out of his comfort zone, and of course…. all things history.

Disclaimer The instructors reserve the sole and complete right to modify this syllabus at any time and in anyway they see fit.

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