Download rhs ap world history syllabus

AP World History
Mrs. Spray
Syllabus
2nd period
Room B162
Email: [email protected] (preferred method of contact)
Office hours: Before school 7:30-7:45, during unit lunch, and after school 2:45-4:00 or by
appointment.
Text
Ways of the World, by Robert W. Strayer, New York: Bedford St. Martin; 2nd ed., 2013
Course Description
The breadth of world history has always posed challenges for AP teachers to create
opportunities for deep conceptual understanding for students while addressing a syllabus
largely driven by sheer scope. The AP World History course outlined in this course and exam
description addresses these challenges by providing a clear framework of six chronological
periods viewed through the lens of related key concepts and course themes, accompanied by a
set of skills that clearly define what it means to think historically.
The course’s organization around a limited number of key concepts instead of a perceived list
of facts, events, and dates makes teaching each historical period more manageable. The three
to four key concepts per period define what is most essential to know about each period based
upon the most current historical research in world history. This approach enables students to
spend less time on factual recall, more time on learning essential concepts, and helps them
develop historical thinking skills necessary to explore the broad trends and global processes
involved in their study of AP World History.
The themes and key concepts are intended to provide foundational knowledge for future
college-level course work in history. Command of these course themes and key concepts
requires sufficient knowledge of detailed and specific relevant historical developments and
processes — including names, chronology, facts, and events — to exemplify the themes and key
concepts. However, the specific historical developments and processes taught in an AP World
History course will vary by teacher according to the instructional choices each teacher makes
to provide opportunities for student investigation and learning for each key concept and
theme.
Advanced Placement Themes
This course highlights these 5 overarching themes, which I label SPICE:
1. S - Social:
Development and transformation of social structures
 Gender roles and relations
 Family and kinship
 Racial and ethic constructions
 Social and economic classes
2. P – Politics
State-building, expansion, and conflict
 Political structures and forms of governance
 Empires
 Nations and nationalism
 Revolts and revolutions
 Regional, trans-regional, and global structures
and organizations
4. C - Culture
Development and interaction of cultures
 Religions
 Belief systems, philosophies, and ideologies
 Science and technology
 The arts and architecture
5. E – Economics
Creation, expansion, and interaction of economic systems
 Agricultural and pastoral production
 Trade and commerce
 Labor systems
 Industrialization
 Capitalism and socialism
3. I - Interaction between humans and the environment
 Demography and disease
 Migration
 Patterns of settlement
 Technology
Advanced Placement Periodization
Students will analyze the processes and causes involved in continuities and changes across
these historical periods.
Periodization
to 600 B.C.E.
600 B.C.E. – 600 C.E.
600 C.E.-1450
1450-1750
1750-1900
1900-Present
Period Title
Technological and Environmental Transitions
Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies
Regional and Trans-regional Interactions
Global Interactions
Industrialization and Global Integration
Accelerating Global Change and Realignments
Grading System
All of the students’ projects, discussions, assignments and activities fall under one of the
following categories:
Homework (25%)
Quizzes (25%)
Participation/Class work (20%)
Exams/Papers/Projects (30%)
Classroom Rules
My behavioral expectations of you:
1. Be Prepared: Bring all books and materials to class.
2. Be Prompt: Be in assigned seat when the bell rings. Turn in assignments on time.
3. Be Proper: Stay seated until directed by teacher.
4. Be Polite: Respect the people, equipment and furnishings of Room 612.
5. Observe all rules in the RHS Student Handbook.
Advanced Placement Exam
Students are encouraged to take the AP World History Exam on AP World History Exam is
May 12, 2015.
The AP World History Exam will consist of:
Part 1: 70 multiple-choice questions to be answered during a 55-minute session. This accounts
for 50% of the overall AP Exam score.
Part 2: Free Response Questions: These account for the remaining 50% of the exam and will be
weighed equally.
1. A Document-Based Question (DBQ) to be answered in a 50-minute session (including
a mandatory 10 minute reading period). “The primary purpose of the DBQ is not to test
students’ prior knowledge of subject matter but rather to evaluate their ability to
formulate and support an answer from documentary evidence. The DBQ is an exercise
in both analysis and synthesis. It requires that students first read and analyze the
documents individually and then plan and construct an appropriate response to the
essay question based on their interpretation of the documentary evidence as a whole.
What is desired is a unified essay that integrates analysis of documents with treatment
of the topic. There is no single “correct” answer, instead various approaches and
responses are possible depending on the students’ ability to understand the documents
and ultimately to judge their significance.” (College Board)
2. A change-over-time (COT) essay covering at least 2 of the periods in the course
outline in a 40-minute session (including 5 minutes to plan and outline the essay). “This
question deals specifically with change over time and is focused on large global issues
such as technology, trade, culture, migrations, and biological developments. The
question may concentrate on one cultural area or several.” (College Board)
3. A comparative essay focusing on broad issues in world history and dealing with at
least two societies in a 40-minute session (including 5 minutes to plan and outline the
essay). “This essay focuses on developments in at least two societies interacting with
each other or with the major themes or events (culture, trade, technology, migrations,
etc.).” (College Board)