Summer Assignments

The AP curriculum is far too broad to be covered effectively in just the class time we have together.  Therefore it's important that you develop a familiarity with the main themes of the course, embrace some of the skills of close reading and analysis that are necessary for the class, familiarize yourself with resouces that will be helpful throughout the course, and begin to cover the required content over the summer.  Hopefully, this summer assignment will help you do these in a meaningful way.  It's basic requirements are the following:

1) Complete hand-written notes while reading Chapter 1 of Howard Zinn . You should also be able to complete the study guide. (this can be done within your reading notes, please just highlight the questions to differentiate them). Notes should be clearly organized and labeled. Be prepared for a quiz on this material on the first day of class.

 

2) Questions regarding the reading will be posted.  Respond to postings use examples from the text or other historical readings. Then repsond to other posting procedures for academic discourse include: 

• support the idea/point just made by a student by presenting a fresh example. 
• ask each other questions
• pose alternative points of view
• disagree directly, but politely with each other
• make an interesting connection to another point made previously, or from something you read in the textbook or heard in a prior class -- connect the "infor/data dot!"
• identify a pattern or bias that you notice in the document(s)
• make a well reasoned prediction or hypothesis a pattern or any bias that you notice in the document
• go beyond the obvious, articulate the complex, the subtle, the nuanced - dig deeper into the document -- what's missing?  waht don't they tell you? etc..

3) Explore the textbook webspace. Read the study strategies that the author suggestions. Watch the podcasts for chapter one, complete the map activities for chapter one.