AP World

History

(2017-2018)

Course Description Advanced Placement (AP) World History seeks to educate students about the history of the world from 8000 B.C.E. to present day and places an emphasis on worldwide historical processes and connections among human societies. Students will learn about the environment, social, scientific, and political challenges faced by different civilizations across the globe and will study the patterns of human interaction during the different periods under study. At the end of the year students will take the AP World History examination, where they can earn college credit. This examination will take place on the morning of Thursday, May 17, 2018.

Mr. Logan Scisco, M.A.

Room 207

Phone: (859) 238-1308 (Ext. 1207)

E-Mail:

logan.scisco@danville.kyschools.us

Planning

MWF 2nd (9:20-10:20)

TR 2nd (9:10-10:00)

PERIODS OF STUDY The AP World History curriculum focuses on six periods of history. This allows students to focus on changes and continuities over time. The units for this class will roughly follow this schedule. 1. Foundations of Civilization (8000 BCE-600 BCE) 2. The Classical World (600 BCE-600 CE) 3. The Post-Classical World (600-1450 CE) 4. The Early Modern World (1450-1750 CE) 5. The Long Nineteenth Century (1750-1900 CE) 6. The Modern World (1900 CE-present)

What Do I Get to Read? Strayer, Robert W. and Eric W. Nelson. Ways of the World with Sources for AP. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016.

*Additional primary source documents and other materials will be provided to students throughout the course.

How Do I Earn an A? Grading Scale: A = 90-100%, B = 80-89%, C = 70-79%, D = 60-69%, F = <60%

Grading will be based on your performance in four main categories, all of which

carry different weights (which are indicated below). Each nine weeks will be worth 25% of a student’s grade for

the year.

Exams & Major Quizzes (30%): Students will have an exam at the end of each unit of study that will include AP-

like exam questions. In addition, students will have a map quiz on world regions and a dates quiz once per quarter.

Each unit will also feature a vocabulary quiz, where students will write out/define identifications of major terms.

Essays & Major Writing (20%): Students will complete two different types of essays throughout the year, a

document based question (DBQ) essay where students will write an essay based on primary sources and long essay

question (LEQ) essay where students will write an essay on a specific topic. All essays will be written in-class and

under a time limit as prescribed by the College Board. Students will also write a book review during the course,

with those assignments being included in this category. The instructor reserves the right to drop a student’s lowest

essay grade per nine weeks if enough essays have been written during that quarter (usually five or more).

Classwork & Homework (35%): Students will participate in a variety of in-class activities such as discussions,

debates, group work, and lecture. Students will also having reading guides to complete for each section of the

textbook, as well as different projects throughout the course. At the end of a nine weeks cycle, a student’s lowest

classwork/homework grade will be dropped (excluding major projects).

Reading Quizzes (15%): Twice a week students will have an unannounced reading quiz over content. These quizzes

will be formatted like short answer questions on the AP exam. Students may have multiple short answer-like quizzes

to begin classes during a given week that exceed two, but the instructor will decide which days will count like a quiz.

If a student misses a reading quiz, their next quiz will be double counted. At the end of a nine week cycle, a

student’s two lowest reading quizzes will be dropped.

ALL STUDENT WORK SHOULD BE COMPLETED ON TIME. LATE WORK WILL BE ASSESSED A

10% PENALTY EACH DAY IT IS LATE UP TO THREE SCHOOL DAYS. AFTER THREE DAYS OF A

DUE DATE PASS, WORK WILL NO LONGER BE ACCEPTED FOR ANY REASON.

MAKEUP WORK— Students are responsible for obtaining any work from the instructor on day(s) they miss class.

Since students are given the work for a unit up front, any homework due in their absence they are expected to turn in

the day after they return. If a student misses a test, essay, or major quiz (vocabulary, date, map, or constitution), they

have 5 DAYS after returning to school to make it up after school with the instructor.

Exams &

MQs

(30%)

Essays

(20%)

CW &

HW

(35%)

RQs

(15%) Final

Grade

THOU SHALT NOTS...

*Miss Class Regularly Over the years that I have taught this class, students that continually miss score much lower than their peers. If at all possible, attend class!

*Be Tardy This class covers more than 10,000 years of world history and we are engaged in serious work after the bell each day. If you come to class late and are unexcused, you will not be given additional time to complete that day’s test or quiz (if applicable).

*Be Rude Show respect to the instructor and your peers in this class. This includes talking while others are speaking, disrupting class, doing homework for another course, or constantly checking your phone as if you would rather be somewhere else.

*Plagiarize Plagiarism is lifting the work of someone else (e.g. cutting and pasting it off the Internet) and presenting it as your own work. This includes taking sentences from a source, changing a few words, and presenting it as your own work. The only assignment you can work on with peers are chapter guides unless otherwise specified by the instructor. If you are found to plagiarize you will receive a zero on the assignment per school policy.

*Ask to Leave the First Ten or Last Ten Minutes of Class Per our school’s 10/10 policy, you cannot be released during the first or last ten minutes of class so please do not ask because the answer will be no (barring some medical reason/documentation that would otherwise allow you to leave).

*Turn in Late Work As noted on the previous page, turning in late work causes you to lose 10% credit for each school day an assignment is late up to three days. And this is deducted after I grade it so if you turned in a paper that would have been an 80% but turned it in two days late then your grade on that assignment would be 60%.

What Materials Do I Need? • 2.5” to 3” three ring binder + 6 dividers Needed to keep up with course work and binder checks will happen each quarter. • Blue or black ink pens Assignments done in pencil will not be accepted and will need to be recopied. • Lots of loose leaf notebook paper • Optional: Notecards for study terms

Binder Organization

As noted above, there will be binder checks at the end of each quarter and you will be expected to have a well maintained, organized, and kept binder. You should have the following sections of your binder, in this order. 1. Important Class Documents: Syllabus, Key Dates

Sheet, and Nine Commandments of Writing Sheet 2. Lecture Notes (Organized by date in chronological

order) 3. Chapter questions from Ways of the World

(organized chronologically) 4. Writing guides/resources + DBQ & LEQ essays

and their accompanying scoresheets (you should keep rubrics/scoresheets with their essay). These should be grouped together (e.g. all DBQs together and then all LEQs and put in the order they were done)

5. Quizzes grouped together (e.g. vocab quizzes together, reading quizzes together) and organized chronologically within the groups.

6. Classwork (anything that does not fit into a category listed above).

Is Extra Credit Offered? If So, What Is it?

In a way, a student already receives extra credit by enrolling in this course as the school’s Advanced Placement grading formula gives them more latitude. They also receive six GPA points in the school’s weighting formula for class rank if they make an A, five points for a B, and four points for a C. However, aside from this there are three ways that a student can earn extra credit in this course. All extra credit assignments are worth seven points, adding three points to a student’s exam portion of their grade, two points to essays, and two points to reading quizzes. These include: Completing Questions on Crash Course Videos: Students can watch John Green’s Crash Course World History videos on YouTube and complete assigned questions. These videos are typically 8-15 minutes and summarize important concepts for the class. Students can turn in the questions on the day of the unit exam, which will be evaluated for some extra credit. Signed Progress Reports: At the end of the third and sixth week of a nine weeks grading period students will be given a progress report showing their grade in the class. If they get these signed by a parent/guardian and return be the deadline (usually two days after they are handed out) they will receive extra credit. Film Review: Students will be given a list of films that are associated with different eras of World History and can write a two to three page review of the film, assessing the film’s historical accuracy. Note that this is not a summary of the film but a review so what does the film “get right” about its portrayal of the subject? What parts of the film are wrong? Students can submit one film review per nine weeks by the deadline provided by the instructor.

EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENTS ARE NOT ACCEPTED LATE!

Online Resources

You can check out my teacher webpage at http://www.dhs.danvilleschools.net/cms/One.aspx?

portalId=18588&pageId=4956410 which will provide you with links to this syllabus, handouts, websites, and other

class materials.

Extra Help

During the first, third, and (sometimes) fifth Tuesdays of each month

starting at 3:30, I will offer small tutoring sessions for this class after school.

These will last until 5:00. However, you must bring questions to these

sessions to review content or ask for help on writing and reading strategies

because once all questions are exhausted, the sessions are over. Therefore, if

you are going to come you need to be an active participant in your learning

because these sessions are not going to be me repeating verbatim the

lecture(s) for that week. YOU have to provide me with the information/help

you need.

PARENTS Thank you for encouraging your child to take an advanced placement course. They will be doing a lot of work this school year, but it will have immeasurable academic benefits for them moving forward, as those students who have taken an AP class are three times more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree than students who do not. Additional encouragement you can provide at home and helping me make sure that students are keeping up with their work is very welcome. Although there will be a lot of coursework, do note that in the four years that I have taught this class, Danville High School students have an average “pass rate” on the AP exam (meaning that they scored a 3 or higher on the exam that all public universities in the state of Kentucky will accept for credit) of 64%, which is well in excess of the national average. For example, last year’s AP World History students had a pass rate of 69% while the national pass rate was 56% so the work that we do in this class is intentional, has a purpose, and it gets results. And more importantly, it does prepare students for the rigor of a college class in their future whether they happen to get a high score on the exam or not.

Last year, the cost of an AP exam was $93 for non-free and reduced lunch students. Free and reduced lunch students usually get their AP exam free or at a significantly reduced price courtesy of the College Board. This money is collected after we return from spring break by the guidance office and instructions will be given to students when money is needed. However, I know that some parents are on a fixed budget and might want to plan for the cost of that exam ahead of time.

I can be reached by phone during my planning period (see the top of the syllabus) at (859) 238-1308 (Ext. 1207). The best way to reach me is through e-mail at logan.scisco@danville.kyschools.us. I return all e-mails and phone calls received on weekdays within twenty-four hours. I do not check e-mail after 5:00 p.m. on weekdays, though, so any inquiries sent after that time will be answered the next day. E-mails sent during the weekend will not be answered until Monday due to the fact that I do not check e-mail during that time period, so please keep that in mind if you do contract me on a Saturday or Sunday. I am always happy to discuss any questions or concerns that you may have and am happy to arrange a conference if that suits your interests.

I send out a weekly parent e-mail newsletter as well, with the first being sent on Wednesday, August 23 at the latest. After this, you will receive a weekly e-mail each Monday morning, barring illness on my part or some other interruption to the school calendar. This e-mail will give a listing of activities planned for the week so that you can be informed of what we are doing as a class and what is being expected of your child. I am a big believer in transparency and see all of you as valuable partners in the educational process. If you would like to be part of this, please include your e-mail on the next page and have your student return it to class. All I ask is that you make your e-mail address as legible as possible on the form below. If there is a problem reaching your e-mail address, I will send home a notice with your student.

AP World History Course Contract

Danville High School follows a policy of open enrollment with Advanced Placement (AP) courses whereby those students who wish to enroll in AP courses may do so without summer assignments, teacher recommendations, or other “barriers.” However, students and parents need to be aware of the requirements for this AP course before the school year gets underway, as an AP course is very different from a general level high school course and even an “honors” course.

The student and a parent/guardian should read each of the bullets below. Please read and affix your initials by each of the following statements. After you have initialed each statement, please sign on the bottom. If parents wish to be on the e-mail newsletter, place your e-mail address below.

This contract is due by Friday, August 18th and is worth 20 class work points for the first quarter.

Student Parent Condition

_____ _____ I have fully read, understand, and agree to follow the requirements in Mr. Scisco’s AP World History syllabus.

_____ _____ I understand that by taking an AP level course that I will likely have homework each night and will have assignments to work on, which I promise to do to the best of my ability. I understand that failure to follow course assignments could result in failure for the year.

_____ _____ I understand that late work will suffer a 10% penalty for each day that it is late in this course up to three days.

Note: For extended medical absences (e.g. mono or hospital stay), the instructor is more than willing to work around this requirement to meet a given student’s needs.

Date: _________________________

Student Signature: ___________________________________________________

Parent Signature: ___________________________________________________

Parent E-Mail Address: