Session III: US History 

Ben Franklin stated that there are “only two sure things in life- death and taxes.” He was wrong. He should have said – “death, taxes and educational curricular change.” As educators we know this to be true and thus we need to be prepared to tackle the challenges presented by College Board’s new United States History curriculum and exam introduced for the first time this past school year. Changes such as Anglicization, Pueblo Revolt, the Seven Historical Thinking Skills – these are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of changes made to the AP US history Curriculum and test. The purpose of this week is to acquaint you with those changes and to give you time to either tweak your existing class with exposure to new exam taking techniques and classroom pedagogies or establish a strong foundation if you are beginning to teach your very first class. Everything from Short Answer tips to how to integrate and spiral DBQ activities will be introduced. There will be time to plan out your syllabus for the year, as well as develop lesson/unit plans. All new AP US History teachers will also need to submit a new syllabus for the AP Audit; this week will give you time to take care of that task. We will also engage in discovering the most applicable websites for our course. Active learning activities and the sharing of professional ideas will be the cornerstone of why this weeklong institute will be invaluable to participants. You are encouraged to bring as many of your curricular materials as possible (for example, textbooks, favorite resources, websites, laptops, activities). In sum, participants will be well prepared to help their AP students succeed in the course.

Instructor: Christopher Averill