APUSHReview.com

Your total resource for Advanced Placement United States History Review. This website is the sole creation of Adam Norris and is not endorsed by the College Board, AP, or any school district.

Monday, September 10, 2018

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Students came in having watched Video #3 on Spanish Exploration and Colonization. They also had to complete their outline for chapter 1 of their textbook. I spent a few minutes getting feedback on the format of the outline. I’m making small changes, but the outline seems to be working so far.

After students completed the Encomienda System Quick Assessment, we discussed their answers as a class.

We spent most of the rest of class going over the second part of the Enhanced Video Guide for Video #3. This is the first exposure this group has to an AP history class, so we spent a lot of time discussing HIPP, especially Intended Audience and Point of View for the document. One of my goals this year is to incorporate more documents into my class discussions. In addition to having students analyze documents for their hw, I want to expose them to documents in class as well.

I spent a lot of time looking over old nonfiction books and rereading quotes and/or other info I highlighted. I am taking many of those excerpts and using them in class as a way to analyze secondary sources. I’ve realized that a lot of my reading is heavily focused on the late-18th– mid-19thcenturies. I am a bit obsessed with that period.

HW for tonight:

  • Video #4
  • Begin outlining chapter 2 – due Friday
  • Vocab quiz – Wednesday

 

Have a good night!

Thursday, September 6, 2018

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Today was the first day of instruction for my classes. Yesterday I passed out textbooks and went over course expectations with the Students.

I began my classes by playing Video #1 of the curriculum in order videos. Every year, I play the first video as a class to model for students how they should be watching the videos. I pause/rewind and make sure they circle/star/highlight key terms they should be familiar with. This 5 minute and 33 second video took me about 12 minutes to play.

After watching the video, I introduced them to the part II, or “Enhanced Video Guides.” We examined the blank map of the United States and labeled what life was like for Native Americans in different regions of the country.

Before having them write the answers to the big idea questions, we discussed possible answers as a class. I normally will assign the whole video guide for homework, but I plan on going over part II as a whole class so they know what my expectations are for each type of skill/question.

HW for tonight: APUSH Review: Video #2: European Exploration And The Columbian Exchange. They are only watching the video portion – we will do part II in class.

HW for Monday: Students will outline chapter 1 of their textbook. I used to do guided questions, but I am trying something different that I learned from a past Summer Institute. Students will be given six categories (Politics, Geography, Economics, Social, Immigration/Migration of People, and Religion) and will summarize their chapters into these different categories.

 

Have a good night!

Hosting Issues

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In case you weren’t aware, I had hosting issues yesterday and today. After spending a long time on the phone, everything should be good now. Sorry for the trouble.

 

Have a good night.

How I’m Teaching APUSH This Year

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This year I am teaching APUSH differently than the past couple of years. While attending a Summer Institute for AP World (which I’ll be teaching for the first time), I gained a lot of insight into the World curriculum and how to apply some of that to APUSH.

As I mentioned in my last post, I figured out how much time to spend on each time period based on the amount of instructional days I have. I used to do about a chapter per week from the textbook, but I found I was spending too much time on period 4 (6 chapters which equals 10% of the curriculum) and not enough time on period 5, for example (3 chapters and 13% of the curriculum).

This is how it works for me, yours will vary depending on instructional days you have.

Period 1 = 5% = 6 days

Period 2 = 10% = 12 days including an assessment

Period 3 = 12% = 15 days including an assessment

Period 4 = 10% = 12 days including an assessment

Period 5 = 13% = 16 days including an assessment

Period 6 = 13% = 16 days including an assessment

Period 7 = 17% = 21 days including an assessment

Period 8 = 15% = 19 days including an assessment

Period 9 = 5% = 6 days

I’ve decided to break down the entire curriculum in chronological order. Each video (so far, and it is my goal) is less than 10 minutes and has fewer videos than instructional days. I’ve designed it this way so that I can spend more in class time on Historical Thinking Skills and mastering the content.

Students will still watch these videos for homework, but I’m also requiring they do part II (the “Enhanced Video Guides”) for their homework. I plan on spending the first ten minutes of each class reviewing big ideas and going over their “Enhanced Video Guides” before going on to different activities.

What will these activities be? I plan on having students purchase a copy of John Irish’s Historical Thinking Skills workbook. (NOT an affiliate link) We will go over different aspects of this in class together in the beginning, and later students will work on these in groups or individually. I also plan on having students write thesis statements, contextualization statements, and work with a lot of document interpretation. I have gone through a lot of history books and taken excerpts from them and will have the students analyze what the author is writing.  I’ve found in years’ past that students have struggled more with secondary sources than primary sources.

While students work on these activities, I will be pulling students to the side to review material with them. I plan on giving quick assessments every few days (Here’s an example of Period 1: Quick Assessment For Videos #1-4) and will work with the students that struggle the most.

Students will also use Jeremy Klaff’s No Bull Review Book(NOT an affiliate link) throughout the year and work on the practice multiple-choice questions at the end of each unit.

Like last year, I will be blogging about my daily lessons beginning on Thursday. Wednesday is the first day of school and the real work begins Thursday. If you have any comments, questions, and/or suggestions, I would love to hear from you.

Best of luck this year!

Adam

The Coming School Year

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At the end of June, I attended a Summer Institute for AP World, which I’ll be teaching in addition to APUSH this school year. The Summer Institute was beneficial for World as well as APUSH. As a result, I decided to redo my APUSH curriculum.

To start, I wanted to accurately teach each time period with how much of my instruction it represents.

Here’s the number of class days I will be spending on each time period, including assessments:

147 days of instruction until APUSH Exam

  • 2 personal days
  • 2 conference days
  • 2 snow days
  • 1 ap pre registration day
  • 9 days of review
  • 1 day First day of school
  • 1 day to go over thesis/contextualization
  • 3 days of wiggle room – PSAT Day, Counselor days, etc.

125 days

Period 1 = 5% = 6 days including a quiz

Period 2 = 10% = 12 days including an assessment

Period 3 = 12% = 15 days including an assessment

Period 4 = 10% = 12 days including an assessment

Period 5 = 13% = 16 days including an assessment

Period 6 = 13% = 16 days including an assessment

Period 7 = 17% = 21 days including an assessment

Period 8 = 15% = 19 days including an assessment

Period 9 = 5% = 6 days including a quiz

 

I also realized there were some holes in my instruction with my videos. Although I covered almost everything in my key concept videos, I wanted to go more in depth, so I began doing the videos in order.

I have 4 videos for period 1, but 6.5 days of instruction. For period 2, I have 6 videos and 12 days of instruction. I usually do a video a night, but I may do a video every two days. In between, I plan on focusing more on historical thinking skills. I’ve already started to incorporate them into my Enhanced Video Guides, (for an example, click here: APUSH Review- Video #14- State Constitutions And The Articles Of Confederation After The American Revolution (Key Concept 3.2, II, A-B; 3.3, I, C)) but I will do even more in class.

I also plan to give more timed, in-class essays for my students.

We’ll see how it all works out and I’ll be blogging again this year.

Good luck!

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