AP US History / Honors English 11



AP US History / Honors English 11

2010-2011

Instructor: John Norris

(425) 836-6600 ext 348 — jnorris@

Overview

You are here because you ought to be: you believe it (you registered), your teachers believe it (they recommended you), and I believe it. What are you here for? You are here to discover what is possible for you—possible as a critical thinker, as an observer of the past and present, as an analytical writer. You are here to push yourself beyond the boundaries of “high school” to test and refine your strengths, and to identify and overcome your challenges. Most of all, you are here to learn—to value knowledge and insight because they are an end themselves, and not merely a means to some greater end.

To achieve these marvelous things, you will work harder than you have ever been made to work in your life. The grading standard in this class will be at a college level because the A.P. U.S. History exam (for which students are preparing) is at a college level: many colleges, in fact, offer college credit for passing scores on the exam. The time and energy commitment needed to successfully complete all assignments and to perform at a high level on exams and quizzes is significant. It will be overwhelming at times, but I am here to provide advice and assistance, and your classmates are going through the same things—organize a study group early on to help you succeed. The workload in the history portion of this class is comparable to a yearlong introductory college course in American history. The literature component, while not fully at a college level, will certainly exceed anything you have previously done in terms of depth of analysis and level of understanding.

Requirements

Five major curriculum strands underlie this course: analytical thinking, essay writing, test-taking skills, literary analysis, and, of course, knowledge of US history. To this end, significant time will be spent on all five. Furthermore, expect extensive reading of the text and supplemental materials along with quizzes on the required reading and practice AP exams. Activities will include analysis of historical documents, presentations to the class, critical discussion and debate, and in-class activities based on library research of specific historical events. Your enrollment in the spring A.P. exam is optional but strongly encouraged: students who choose not to take the A.P. exam will take an alternative test.

Texts

Curriculum will revolve around The American Pageant by Bailey, Kennedy, and Cohen. This text is a standard for AP courses around the country. Students will need to purchase Howard Zinn A People’s History of the United States*. Additional supplemental historical documents will be read and analyzed. Selected short stories, poems, and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible will come from our literature textbook, The American Experience. D.H. Lawrence’s Studies in Classic American Literature, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest will be our primary literary texts. All five of those books will need to be purchased by students—if any of these purchases poses financial hardship to your family, talk to me personally and arrangements will be made. There will be one additional book that you will read at the end of the year which students will need to purchase.

• The use of People’s History in this course is for the purpose of providing a historical critique. Students will be provided with several other viewpoints to create balance and allow students to analyze and understand bias.

Evaluation

Essays account for 35% of the grade in fall semester. Unit exams and chapter quizzes also account for 35% of the grade in the fall (unit exams will be weighted more heavily than chapter quizzes). Assorted other projects (individual and group presentations, literature quizzes, graded discussions, binder checks, etc.) comprise 20% of the grade in the fall. The fall semester final will be worth 10% of the grade. These weights may change for spring semester to reflect the changing workload: notice will be given at the beginning of that semester. Grades are not rounded—i.e., a grade of 89.8% will receive a B+, not an A.

A 100-90

B+ 89.9-87

B 86.9-83

B- 82.9-80

C+ 79.9-77

C 76.9-74

C- 73.9-70

D+ 69.9-67

D 66.9-60

F 59.9-0

Course Description and Goals

The objective of this course is to increase the student’s understanding of United States history and culture from the pre-Columbian era to the present, with the goal of having each student pass the AP examination. The areas of concentration include political, economic, and social history, coupled with an intense study of literary, cultural and intellectual history and its development. This is taught as a college course: the major difference between a regular high school class and a college history course is the amount of reading and focus. Many high school courses stress “what happened,” intending to provide enough background to ensure good citizenship. College courses, on the other hand, stress why and how things happen, as well as the consequences of actions. This class also meets Level 5 communications literacies for writing compare/contrast, cause/effect, persuasive, and literary analysis essays for students who need them.

Grade and Class Requirements

1. Each student will participate actively in any assigned group work and will complete other research and review assignments each semester.

2. Students will arrive at class prepared to discuss any readings assigned for that day—this includes assigned textbook pages, assigned chapters from novels, and any other handouts that may be given. Students will complete pre-discussion assignments and have them ready at the beginning of the assigned class period. Students may be quizzed on assigned readings, unannounced.

3. Students will thoroughly complete required key term worksheets for each chapter of the text.

4. A multiple-choice quiz will be given for each chapter of the history text. If you miss a quiz it must be made up the following Thursday STP. If you have a prearranged activity during this time you must come to me before the Thursday STP to arrange a different time.

5. Students will complete outlines and drafts for each formal essay. For full credit, essays are due on the assigned due date at the beginning of class. Because the assignments are known well in advance, all late essays will be deducted one point on the AP scale per day. If you are absent on the day a major assignment is due, you might ask a trusted friend to deliver it for you, fax it to EHS at (425) 836-6609 (be sure to keep your confirmation page), or email it to me. You may use my email and the EHS fax to turn work in prior and up to the deadline. My teacher mailbox is not an appropriate place to “drop” your work. Email is, by far, my preferred method for these occasions. If your computer or printer breaks down at 1:00am, this does not constitute a valid excuse. Save all of your work, including successive drafts. Back up computer documents. Crashed computers, disks, and lost papers will not serve as an excuse for late work. Kinko’s is open 24hrs and the library here at school is open at 7:00am. Additionally, as a student you have 10MB of storage space on Eastlake’s server; make use of this resource.

6. Each student will maintain an AP American studies notebook. The notebook must be a very large three-ring binder with a set of dividers and should be organized in the following fashion:

Table of Contents (each section named and clearly identifiable)

Section 1: Class notes, free-writes, worksheets dated

Section 2: Key Terms

Section 3: Essays, drafts, essay instructional materials

Section 4: Articles, Primary sources/documents, Review materials

Notebooks will be checked and evaluated at the instructor’s discretion—students will need to be prepared for these occasions. The notebooks should be kept in a professional and well-organized condition—failure to do so will negatively impact notebook grades.

7. Students will take unit and comprehensive exams.

Academic Responsibility

Students are expected to abide by high ethical standards in preparing and presenting material which demonstrates their level of knowledge and which is used to determine grades. Such standards are founded on the basic concepts of honesty and integrity. Any instance of copying, cheating or other dishonesty will require the invocation of the EHS Academic Honesty policy. A first offense results in the work receiving a “0” along with notification of parents, advisor, administrator and activity directors, who may provide further penalties for this transgression. Any subsequent offense ends in immediate failure of the class.

Attendance Expectations

Students are expected to follow all rules and regulations of EHS and to adhere to the EHS attendance policy and school rules regarding tardiness to class. AP US History/Honors English is a fascinating yet demanding subject that will require a significant commitment of time and energy on the part of the student. When absences are unavoidable, it is the student’s responsibility to learn of assignments and due dates—an assignment calendar will be regularly updated at our class’s page at or other teacher websites. Any student who is tardy to class will lose points out of their grade.

Each student starts with 50 points in the assorted other projects category. Each tardy will result in the loss of 10 points from this category. Once those 50 points are lost, points will be taken from other assignments in this category.

Classroom Policies and Expectations

▪ Respect yourself, others, and the classroom at all times.

▪ No food or drink in the classroom.

▪ The use of cell phones is absolutely prohibited in my classroom. Additionally, CD players and other electronic devices are not welcome in the classroom. You will receive one warning; a second offense will result in confiscation of the device. If the problem persists, parents and/or your school administrator will be notified.

▪ The bottom line: Act with respect and dignity, reflecting the mature young adult that you are becoming.

After sharing the above with a parent or guardian, sign below and return to class by _____________________for ten points.

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I have read and understood the policies and expectations for AP History with Ms. Horner.

Student Signature and Date: ___________________________________________

Parent Signature and Date: ___________________________________________

Parent Email (optional but requested):

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