AP European History
Introduction & Course Description
AP European History is an intensive survey course that provides Batavia High School sophomore students with an opportunity to acquire college-level knowledge of and appreciation for the major events and movements that have shaped Western/European Civilization from approximately 1450 CE to the present. The course explores these events and movements through the lens of a college-level European history textbook, primary sources and multiple secondary source interpretations written by historians or scholars interpreting the past. Major emphasis will be placed on students’ thematic acquisition of a body of knowledge of Modern Western History and development of their abilities to think like historians. We will attempt to explore Modern European History through five themes: Theme 1: Interaction of Europe and the World (INT); Theme 2: Poverty and Prosperity (PP); Theme 3: Objective Knowledge and Subjective Visions (OS); Theme 4: States and Other Institutions of Power (SP); & Theme 5: Individual and the Society (IS). Throughout the course students will develop, apply and master the following four historical thinking skills: (1) chronological reasoning, (2) comparison and contextualization, (3) crafting historical arguments from historical evidence and (4) historical interpretation and synthesis. Lastly, this course is designed to help prepare students to successfully take the Advanced Placement European History Exam which may earn them up to 6 hours of college credit.
For more information about AP European History please visit the following link on the AP
College Board site:
HERE
Student Responsibility & Time Commitment
Success in this class will require a level of responsibility, cooperation, and interaction which may not have been required of you before. It is very important that you complete all the required readings and the related assignments, save all the handouts (including this syllabus) in a binder (or two) and attend study sessions outside of class. The coursework is at a college level, regulated by the AP College Board. While our 90-minute block schedule allows us to devote a significant amount of instructional time every day to reinforcing key concepts, it does require us to cover all of the historical content and develop all of the historical thinking skills in roughly half the calendar time afforded to most AP Euro students. Because of the rigors of this course and because of the limitations of our schedule, it will be necessary for you to be extremely organized, remain mindful of your personal schedule, plan ahead and routinely devote an average of 1-2 hours of work each evening reading and studying. While this may seem daunting, you must remember, you CAN do this!
My Commitment to You
Put simply, I am committed to providing you with a top-quality learning experience. As high school sophomores, I realize you will need me to help you build your context for Modern European history, support you with reading/note-taking strategies, guide you on how to approach and analyze the sources of history, and instruct you to write like a historian. I also know that you will rely on me to help you organize, guide your studies, and make sense of what is a complex discipline.
I WILL BE THERE FOR YOU!!!
If there is ever anything that you do not understand, let me know and we will try to figure it out together. Ongoing, if there are any changes that you feel need to be made to enhance your experience, please make me aware of those as well. I take your concerns very seriously and am always willing to listen to you. Over the past 5 years, I have poured thousands of hours in preparation to meet your learning needs and I expect that with your suggestions, I can continue to improve this course to benefit you and all of my students.
General AP European History Course Documents:
000master_syllabus-ape-2015-16-final.pdf | |
File Size: | 782 kb |
File Type: |
AP European History Course Overview (AP College Board Website)
AP European History Course & Exam Description Guide (It's Long)
AP European History Course & Exam Description Guide (It's Long)