If you need more materials to finish up your work on Latin American revolutions, please watch the Crash Course video below, and review the notes I’ve linked to:
See you tomorrow, and we’ll start off by talking about your… beautiful… cities that you created today.
All right, lovely AP World folks– it would appear that we’ve run directly into one of the joys of Spring semester: the snow day. And while I sincerely hope you all enjoy your day and get a chance to rest up a little, I also need to ask you to get some work done for me today.
Here’s what you’re going to do today:
Here are two examples of how past students have organized Mind Maps, but please be aware that the most important aspect of this assignment is that your information be THOUGHTFUL and ACCURATE:
Okay guys, here’s what I need you to do this weekend:
I hope you all had a great first day back at North Cobb High School. Remember, if you’ve got any problems with your schedule (missing classes, duplicate classes, incorrect classes) to let your teachers know immediately this week so we can get you settled into whatever courses are correct for you as quickly as possible.
Tonight, I need you to do a few things for me. First, sit down with your parents or guardians and go over the AP World History Class Handbook which you received today in class. We went over some of it in class, but you should really take a moment to look through the whole thing– and make sure you show it to your parents, as well. (If they’d like their own copy, by the way, they can download a .pdf of the handbook here: AP World History Handbook.) Once you’ve read over the handbook, please sign the acknowledgment sheet you received in class, and put it in your folder to return to me.
After looking over the handbook, please take a few minutes and complete the student information survey linked here. Please provide the most accurate information you can so that I can have a better picture of who you are and how I can best help you be successful in the course.
After completing your student information survey, you’ll need to get to work on your first homework assignment of the semester: establishing a baseline understanding of the geographic regions addressed in this class.
While this course is (clearly) not a geography class, it certainly helps to be able to recognize regions and have a basic geographic knowledge of the world. After all, you certainly don’t want to mess up and write an essay on China when you were meant to write about South Asia. To that end, tonight you will need to read the short article I handed out in class today– “The Myth of Continents” by Peter Morris. Tomorrow, we’re going to start our discussion of world history with some Big Geography, so you need to come prepared.
Hey guys, check this space by about 5:30– I should be able to have the video posted by then. Sorry! I’m at the practice exam right now.
All good. Here’s the Zaption, guys:
And if you’re interested in watching the full documentary (which is excellent), you can check it out here.
CHANGE IN PLANS, FOLKS– MAKE SURE TO READ THIS:
Hey, there. Since our schedule today (and for the next few days) is rather messed up, second period doesn’t have much time in class to work on their infographic, which means they’ll need to focus on that for their homework tonight (5/2). Thus, I would like you to complete the assignment below by the start of class on WEDNESDAY (5/4), rather than the start of class tomorrow (5/3). Sorry for the confusion, guys– I wish I’d known about the bell schedule for today in advance, but I didn’t.
This evening, please review the following material on the Holocaust (or Shoah) as a continuation of our study of World War II:
After reviewing the material above, please listen to the following radio broadcast by journalist Edward R. Murrow on the liberation of Buchenwald in April of 1945. You will find that the sound quality is far from perfect– there are lots of hisses and pops and the whine of interference, as this is the actual recording from 1945. If you would like to, you can follow this transcript of the broadcast while you listen– but please do listen. Sometimes the tone of voice is just as important as the words themselves:
Liberation of Buchenwald, 15 April 1945, reported by Edward R. Murrow (CBS News)
In a thoughtful comment, please respond to the following prompts:
Remember, normal commenting rules apply: one thoughtful comment which addresses all of the discussion points thoroughly will receive up to 95%, while you must comment and leave a response on someone else’s comment in order to earn full credit.
This evening, you’ll need to complete the CCOT outline we began in class on the following prompt:
Using the music video below, analyze the changes and continuities of Western popular music between the the 11th century CE and the present.
This exercise is primarily designed to help you better understand the format of Change and Continuity essays, so I anticipate you being a little creative with this response.
Your homework tonight is to read, annotate, and comment on the article I handed out in class today– an interview from The Atlantic involving the author of 1491, Charles Mann. Use what you have read to answer the following discussion points:
One of Mann’s central points in his book 1491 is that there is evidence that the population of the Americas prior to European contact was much, much higher than previous studies suggested. Why does Mann say that this is a contentious issue among historians and environmentalists?
What is the “pristine myth” Mann and the author of this article, Katie Bacon, are referring to in the title? Why might it disturb or upset some people to think of native American peoples radically altering their environment?
In what way does Mann think Amerindians were a “keystone species?” What does he mean by that?
Do the Americas Mann describes– one filled with people who radically altered their environment by regularly burning the prairie, managing woodlands, and possibly even planting the Amazon– match with your existing ideas of native peoples prior to contact with Afro-Eurasia? Why or why not?
Remember, normal commenting rules apply: one good comment which adequately addresses all of the above points can earn up to 95%, while a comment AND a reply to a colleague can earn up to 100%. Also, I’ll be working at the Magnet Open House this evening, and will therefore not be on my phone every moment– so if you post a comment and don’t immediately see it, don’t panic. I probably just haven’t had a moment to read and approve it.
Hello, lovely AP World students! If you were absent today, I strongly recommend that you go ahead and try to get a start on what we began today in class– our WebQuest over the Renaissance, Reformation, and Counter-Reformation. You can either follow the previous link, or you can hover over the drop-down menu labeled “WebQuests and Projects” at the top of this page and select the Renaissance and Reformation WebQuest Task Page. Make sure to download the packet of questions at the top of the page, and then proceed through each task, following the directions carefully for each assignment.
We’ll be continuing our work on this project tomorrow, but if you come in tomorrow with a significant amount of your work already completed, you might have time to work on your Source Scavenger Hunt in class, and I could potentially help you find more reliable material.
And– since I forgot it post it on Friday– here’s the Power Point we were looking at regarding the rise of the imperial Russian state: Rise of Russia.
Remember, we’ll be meeting in the classroom tomorrow, NOT the media center– but you’ll still need your headphones for tomorrow’s work!
Tonight, please read the two selections from the Tokugawa Edicts located below:
You will note that there are four questions following each of the passages; please fully answer the questions on a separate sheet of paper. They will be due at the start of class tomorrow.
Additionally, please be aware that you’ve got several things coming due relatively shortly:
For your Black Death DBQ rewrite, you will want to use the Black Death DBQ documents. Remember that you should take the comments you received on your first DBQ to heart, and try to avoid making the same mistakes a second time.
Hopefully, by this point you have read, annotated, and scored the two sample essays included in the packet you picked up on Friday. It’s time now to see how accurate you were in your assessment, so get out the essays and your scores, and let’s see what the College Board says:
Sample 1A — Score: 8
The thesis outlines factors shaping the modern Olympics and correctly places them in the relevant historical context of the time period (1 point). There are four groupings: peace, political interests, economic interests (“incentive for sponsoring as well as hosting the games”), and social reform (female athletes) (1 point). The essay demonstrates understanding of all 10 documents (1 point) and correctly uses evidence from 9 documents to answer the question (2 points). Document 5 is inverted, expressing the effects of the Olympics on Japan, and therefore did not count for evidence of factors that affected the Olympics. There is analysis of point of view for three documents (Documents 4, 6, and 10) (1 point). The request for additional documents from people who were not athletes or people from Africa and South America shows awareness of other factors that could have affected the Olympics in the time period (1 point). An expanded core point was earned for additional analysis of documents through groupings and of point of view (1 point).
Sample 1C — Score: 4
The thesis identifies three factors that shaped the modern Olympic movement: “nationalism,” “host country to show off,” and “feminism” (1 point). There are three document groupings: peace (Documents 1 and 6), nationalism (Documents 3, 4, and 10), and feminism (Documents 2 and 8) (1 point). The essay demonstrates understanding of all 10 documents (1 point). No points were awarded for evidence because the documents are used to support the inverse of the question, i.e., how the Olympics had consequences or effects. There is analysis of point of view for three documents (Documents 3, 4, and 7) (1 point). No point was earned for the request of an additional document because the explanation of how the requested documents would help assess a factor that shaped the modern Olympics is incomplete.
So. How accurate were you? Don’t forget to quickly explain any discrepancy between your original score and the one assessed by the College Board!
Happy Friday, folks! While I don’t want to rain on your parade, I’m afraid I have to remind you that you have your very first document-based question scheduled for next Monday (February 29th). We’ll be doing this as a timed essay, so you will not be receiving the prompt in advance– instead, I’m going to ask that you do a different type of preparation in advance of the coming DBQ.
Today in class you should have picked up the annotated rubric for the 2008 released DBQ from the College Board exam, as well as two sample student essays. (This is the same essay which you outlined for me on Wednesday night.) You’ll need your DBQ documents out in order to complete this assignment– if you’ve lost them, you can download another copy from the link in the post from Wednesday, February 24th.
Here’s what you need to do:
NOTE: First and second periods, I told you that you would also need to analyze your own DBQ outline and give it a grade– and you’re still welcome to do so!– however, I forgot to give third period back their outlines, so that part of the assignment will not be required. 🙂
Have a good weekend, guys, and I’ll see you on Monday!
Sorry for the late post, guys! I had to cover a class during my planning period and then had a meeting after school, so this is the first chance I’ve had to put up this post.
Tonight for homework, please complete the DBQ Essay Worksheet, using the prompt and documents from the Olympic DBQ which you received in class. This assignment will be due at the start of class tomorrow, and you can expect it to take you a fair amount of time to complete. (The first AP-style DBQ is always difficult to put together; I promise it will get much, much easier with practice.)
If you missed our discussion of how to write a DBQ, or if you want to review the process or receive some extra help on the subject, please check the Document-Based Question page under the Essay Writing Resources tab on this page. You’ll find a number of instructional videos and additional downloads which may help to clarify the process. It would also be a good idea to come and talk to me to clear up any questions you have on the process before next Monday– we’ll be writing our first full DBQ at the start of class on February 29th.
Additionally, remember that you need to budget time during the remainder of the week to complete quiz corrections on the Unit Three reading quiz. And– THIS IS IMPORTANT– I goofed on when I told you they would be due! I think I told all three classes that your corrections would be due on Tuesday, March 1st (the day of our next test). However, my policy is to give you five class days to complete corrections, which would mean that corrections should be due on the second of March, not the first! Sorry about that, guys. I’ll address my mistake tomorrow in class.
I know I don’t need to remind you, but: you’ve got an in-class comparative essay tomorrow. We’ll do it the first 40 minutes of class, so make sure you’re (a) present, and (b) not late. I would suggest reviewing the following materials:
You could also watch this Crash Course video!
And this one:
You MIGHT find that the topic has something to do with trade. And religions. So.
Now. On to today’s homework: after reading the above Mongol documents thoroughly and discussing them in your groups today, please respond to the following prompt on a separate sheet of paper (YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO BLOG COMMENTS THIS TIME):
Were the Mongols a beneficial force for Eurasia during the Post-Classical era? Why or why not? Provide five reasons– supported by evidence from your readings– to justify your answer.
Happy mongol-ing, and I’ll see you tomorrow!
First and foremost: congrats to second period for their victory in our first attempt at Thesis Statement Bootcamp! We’ll be starting a new round, so if your class didn’t win donuts this time, don’t despair: you can still win a delicious reward by the end of the semester.
As to your homework– you should have picked up the packet of three examples of Tang and Song dynasty poetry, all on the subject of warfare. As you read each of the poems, think about the historical, cultural, and political context which surrounds each poem. You’ll need to complete the series of questions which follow each poem on a separate sheet of paper– I want you to hold on to the packet as a whole, and just turn in your answers.
If you have lost your packet, never fear: you can follow the links below to each of the three poems and questions:
Happy reading, and stay warm out there!
Ms. Galloway's AP World History 
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