AP European Syllabus 2009-2010

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APEuropeanHistory

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Mr. Jason NeifferCapital HS Social Studies

Room 23 (4th-6th)

Student Lounge (2nd-3rd, 7th-8th)

406-202-2761 406-324-2568

jneiffer@helena.k12.mt.us

http://www.geekteach.com

Welcome to AP European History at CHS!Welcome to the wonderful and challenging world of AP European History. This

is the fourth year of the AP European History program at Capital High School itis my pleasure to accompany you on this journey.

I am making some broad assumptions about you, the students of AP EuropeanHistory. First, by nature of reading the course description, you understand thatthis a very challenging curriculum. We have approximately 140 class days to coverEuropean history from the Renaissance to today in considerable depth. The testoffered in May is very challenging and will test your ability to study for a compre-hensive exam, reconstruct knowledge in a time-pressured format, and apply specific

skills.

Second, you understand that an Advanced Placement course is, by nature, home-work intensive. We will read a textbook cover to cover (averaging just over 8 pagesper class day), read hundreds of pages of primary source documents, analyze hun-dreds of maps and paintings and discuss questions of historical, political, economicand social import.

Third, I expect you to look inside yourself and maximize your potential. I choosenot to place any limits on you and I ask you to do the same.

2009-10 Syllabus

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Class Texts

We will utilize a number of resources this yearto assist us in our journey. The Western Heritage:Ninth Edition, by Kagen, Ozment and Turner,is the mail classroom text. You will be assignedregular reading assignments from that text.

I have several other classroom resources avail-able to you upon request including other Europeanhistory texts to help increase understanding, studyguides for the AP exam and other reference books.

I will also be handing out regular readings withprimary source documents and interesting articlesfrom historical journals and the like. These arealso required reading, unless otherwise noted.

Classroom Webpage/Paperless Classroom

http://www.geekteach.com

http://www.europeanessaynation.com

It is my intent to make these two websites the alternative textbook in the course. In an attempt to usless paper, here are the two ways I will be attempting apaperless classroom.

Electronic Essays: Until the beginning of March, wwill be doing all of our essays electronically. You wiltype them electronically and I will grade them electronically. I will take you into a lab soon to show you

how.Electronic Handouts: I intend to limit paper hand

outs in my classroom this year. I will show you placesthat these materials are on the Internet and I will havea workshop in my classroom if you would like to printhem. Otherwise, you are on your own. This will takeorganization on both of our parts!

Grading

I adopt the standard grading scale (90% A, 80% B70% C, 60% D). You receive the grade you earn but do reserve the right to bump up close grades, howeverI will never do it at the request of the student. Be advised that there are no freebie points in this class: noworksheets, no packets, no participation grades. Youneed to give every assessment your utmost attention toguarantee that you get the grade that you want.

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Something about

my philosophy

you need to know:

I believe that

classes are as fun

as you make them.

Do you want this

class to be hard

and boring? It

will be hard and

boring. Do you

want this class to

be challenging,

informative and

entertaining? I

can be that too. Iwill do my best to

make it as inter-

esting as possible

(I am wacky that

way) but what

you to bring to

class is just as

more important.

Keys to Success in AP Euro

You need to take notes. Good, quality lecturenotes are an absolute must. You will have someopportunity to develop your skills in this regardbut if your notetaking regime is not working, itis important to retool to make it work.

You need to read. Simple fact: the more you

read (the textbook, the supplemental reading,outside reading), the higher your AP score willbe.

You need to write. Writing skills are extraor-dinarily important on this exam. Learning tobecome a better writing is critical for success inthis course.

You need to be self-motivating. Can you slackin this class and get an A? Sure. Its possible.Can you slack and pass the exam? Sure, its pos-sible. Your chance for an outstanding grade andgreat score on the AP exam are dramatically lessthan if you blow off this class. A certain guaran-tee: you wont find this class as valuable, educa-tional or fulfilling if you dont put effort into it.

You need to have a positive attitude. I am byno means a super happy positive guy, but I be-lieve any student can be successful in this classand any student can pass the AP European His-tory exam. I cant be positive for you, though.You need to bring your positive attitude everyday to class, even when challenged by the cur-riculum. My motto? PLAY LIKE A CHAM-PION.

Other Class Opportunities

Consider the AP World History exam! In the

last three years, 14 students have taken the APWorld History exam, and 10 passed! Much ofthe content is the same as AP European Historyand the format is similar. This year, we will bestudying more closely. Consider joining us.

Join us for coffee and studying! Last year, Ihosted coffee at The Red Atlad before nearly ev-ery class exam. We went over notes and talkedabout the units content. If there is interest, Iam happy to do it this year as well.

Consider Model United Nations! CHSsModel United Nations group is one of the big-gest in the state. We go to the Montana MUN

conference in November for two days of inter-national negotiation and wacky fun.

Consider the school newspaper! This is notrelated to European History, but I am the ad-visor. We are looking for smart, hard-workingfolks to help us build the best newspaper in thestate. See me ASAP. :)