Sample Lesson Plan 2: AP AMERICAN HISTORY

BEGINNINGS (1491-1607)

1.2. Factors of Exploration and the Contours of Contact

(Lecture Base)

Objectives:

  • Describe the characteristics of European society on the eve of contact
  • Describe the characteristics of early West African empires and identify their religious and social structures
  • Define the term “Columbian Exchange” and explain its impact on the emerging Atlantic World

Read more

SAMPLE LESSON PLAN: AP AMERICAN HISTORY

BEGINNINGS (1491-1607)

1.1. Pre-Columbian Era: New World Groups and Societies

(Lecture and Informal Class Discussion)

Objectives:

  • Explain and discuss the characteristics of the various New World groups and societies who occupied the region prior to contact with Europeans.
  • Emphasize how these groups represented diverse cultures and societies that built complex civilizations.
  • Push students to move away from a monolithic view of Native American peoples.

Read more

The Nature of Historical Work and the Art of Teaching History: A Look at the Recent Changes to the AP U.S. History Exam and Framework

I. AP U.S. HISTORY PAST AND PRESENT

Approximately 500,000 students take the AP U.S. History (or APUSH) exam each year.[1] The purpose of the exam is to give high-school students who have displayed a sophisticated level of knowledge in the subject the opportunity to earn college credit. For many years, however, teachers of APUSH complained about the wide-open style of the exam and the course’s framework. According to Trevor Packer, head of the College Board’s Advanced Placement Program, many teachers found it hard to resist the temptation of filling students’ head with every stray fact out of fear that it would be on the test. In response, Packer decided to initiate a review process of the exam and course guidelines with what he described as “an incredibly expensive and exhaustive effort that any business analyst would have deemed insane given the steady, healthy annual growth in AP participation.”[2]

Read more

Teaching Resource: Historiography 101

I: FRAMEWORKS

A. Introduction 

Historiography–The critical examination of the various philosophies, theories, and methods that influence historical scholarship.

Historical Agency–This concept refers to whom or what a historian believes to be the primary agent of historical change.

Historicism—The aim to understand the worldview of the culture that produced the primary source materials. Embedded in this concept is that idea that the past is a different world that needs to be studied in its own terms.  

Famous Schools of History…

  • Empiricist
  • Idealist
  • Progressive
  • Marxist
  • Consensus
  • Nationalist
  • Annales
  • New Left
  • New Social History
  • Post-Structuralism
  • Post-Modernism

B. Philosophy of History Trends

Popular History–Based on entertainment value; emphasize drama and excitement

Academic History–Critical analysis and investigation

Nationalistic–Seeking to build a sense of national unity and patriotism among citizens by teaching them about a common past

Moral–History as a means to instill values and moral beliefs

Identity–Historical research as a way to understand beliefs, lives, and ourselves by comparing our lives to those from different places.

Read more

Teaching and Research Resource: History of the Great Lakes States

 

HistGrtLks2

For an excellent teaching and research resource on the Great Lakes region, check out History of the Great Lakes States website.

As the site’s creators put it, the site “is an online library for the history of the region once called the ‘Northwest Territory,’ that in the early 1800s became the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.”

The site houses various primary sources such as memoirs, travel journals, magazine articles, novels, biographies, maps, etc. Its extensive list of historical subtopics includes religion, politics and government, culture, society, and economics.

For more information watch the below video, or visit the site.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdniFLbjPlY