IB History of the Americas Year I
Introduction
HOA1 is both an American history course in keeping with the NYS Regents requirement
for US History and Government AND the first year of the IB History of the Americas curriculum.
As such, this course will be divided into two distinct sections:
1st Semester: The first semester will be a survey of US history from colonial times to the
present in preparation, primarily, for the Regents exam, and, in some cases, the Advanced
Placement exam.
2nd Semester: While, during the first semester we will introduce certain IB HOA skills
including OPVL document analysis and the study of historiography, we will focus more on
developing these skills in the second semester. The second semester will also include a more
in-depth study of three twentieth century topics relating to the study of the history of the
Americas as a whole, rather than the history of the United States alone.
HOA1 has been designed as a college-level course and it will be rigorous. Time
management, reading comprehension, note-taking, and a variety of writing skills will be critical
for those who aspire to achieve at the highest levels. Students will be required to read
intensively on their own time, and prepare for both written and multiple-choice quizzes and tests
for which they will be asked to recall information that may or may not have been discussed at
length in class.
Units of Study:
1st Semester: Regents US History and Government
1. Founding A Nation (1607-1824)
Chapters 3-9
2. The Triumph of Nationalism over Sectionalism (1815-1877)
Chapters 10-17
3. The Emergence of the United States as an Economic Power (1870-1939)
Chapters 18-25
4. Rise of a Global Superpower (1927-Present)
Chapters 26-32
2nd Semester: IB History of the Americas
5. Emergence of the Americas in Global Affairs (1880-1929)
HOA Topic 10
6. The Second World War and the Americas (1933-1945)
HOA Topic 13
7. The Cold War and the Americas (1945-1981)
HOA Topic 16
Textbooks:
1st Semester Texts:
Davidson, James West, Brian DeLay, Christine Leigh Heyrman, Mark H. Lytle, and Michael B.
Stoff. U.S., A Narrative History. Seventh ed. Vol. 1. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Education, 2015. Print.
Davidson, James West, Brian DeLay, Christine Leigh Heyman, Mark H. Lytle, and Michael B.
Stroff. U.S., A Narrative History. Seventh ed. Vol. 2. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2015. Print.
2nd Semester Texts:
Clements, Peter. Emergence of the Americas in Global Affairs, 1880-1929. London: Hodder
Education, 2013. Print. Access to History for the IB Diploma.
Wright, John. The Second World War and the Americas 1933-1945. Second ed. London:
Hodder Education, 2016. Print. Access to History for the IB Diploma.
Sanders, Vivienne. The Cold War and the Americas 1945-1981. Second ed. London: Hodder
Education, 2015. Print. Access to History for the IB Diploma.
Common HOA1 Grading Policies
Grade Breakdown:
 Activities = 20% of grade
o Activities will be assigned at the teacher’s discretion.
o These will likely include a variety of assignments to be completed in class or for
homework.

Quizzes/Projects = 20% of grade
o 1st Semester – Quizzes
 For every chapter, students should prepare to take a brief matching quiz the day
any reading assignment is due.
 Please note that while students should always prepare for the likelihood of a
reading quiz, due to time constraints, there may not be a quiz for every chapter.
o 2nd Semester – Projects
 During the 2nd semester, time permitting, students will be assigned individual
and/or cooperative research projects and/or presentations.
 Grading rubrics will be provided for every project.

Tests = 30% of grade
o 1st Semester – Unit tests will include 2 sections:
 Multiple Choice
 35-38 AP and Regents-style multiple choice questions
 Short-Answer
 2 partial IB Paper 1-style questions
 OR 4 AP-style short-answer questions
o 2nd Semester – format of tests TBD

Writing Assignments = 30% of grade
o For each unit, students will be required to complete a writing assignment for homework.
 1st Semester
 Writing assignments in the 1st semester will be modeled on Regents
Thematic Essays and DBQs and AP Long Essays and DBQs.
 2nd Semester
 Writing assignments in the 2nd semester will be modeled on IB Paper 3
Essays.
 Grading rubrics will be provided for all writing assignments.
Exams:
The US History and Government Regents Exam
All students will be required to take the NYS Regents Exam in US History and Government in
January 2016. Successful completion of this exam is a graduation requirement – all students
must score a 65% or higher or they will have to retake the exam until they do so.
This exam will make up 20% of each student’s final course average.
The Advanced Placement Exam in US History
All students are eligible, though not required, to take the AP Exam in US History in June 2016.
Please note, that while AP content will be studied during this course and AP assessments may be
assigned, this is NOT an AP course. As a result, success on the AP exam will require
students to study on their own in preparation. It is highly recommended that students use an
AP Review Book such as Barron’s or Princeton Review in their preparation for the exam.
The IB Exam in History of the Americas
All students who go on to History of the Americas Year 2 during the 2016-2017 school year, will
be required to take the IB HOA exam in May 2017.
Please note that students are not required to take IB HOA Year 2; they may opt to take
Participation in Government AND Economics OR SUPA Public Affairs AND SUPA Economics
instead. Students who follow this path will NOT take the IB HOA exam.
Other Common HOA1 Policies
Late Work: Late work will be accepted with the following penalties:
 by 3:15 PM on the due date = Full Credit
 Turned in by the Friday of that week= -20
 Anything turned in anytime thereafter will receive no credit.
Test Corrections: To improve test grades, all students will be eligible to make corrections to their unit
tests.
 All test corrections must be written in complete sentences and clearly explain the correct answer.
 Students will receive half credit per correction.
Academic Honesty: Any type of academic dishonesty (copying, plagiarism, cheating, etc.) will not be
tolerated at any time. This applies to homework, writing assignments, projects, AND quizzes and tests.
Any questions – See the CPP academic honestly policy.
CASES OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY WILL RESULT IN AN AUTOMATIC ZERO ON THE
ASSIGNMENT, A DISCIPLINARY REFERRAL, AND PARENT/GUARDIAN NOTIFICATION.
Email Communication – Mr. Hurd will communicate the week’s agenda with students via a weekly email
update. This email will include reminders about assignments, due dates, upcoming quizzes and tests,
etc.
 It is the student’s responsibility to check email regularly.
o Students will be held accountable for all information included in the weekly emails.
 Students are also encouraged to email Mr. Hurd at mhurd@cppmail.com with questions
regarding assignments, etc. at any time if they are in immediate need of assistance and cannot
seek him out in person.
Missed Work – It is the student’s responsibility to seek out all work missed when absent from
class and to make it up within a reasonable amount of time (generally one day per day absent).
 Mr. Hurd will keep all papers and assignments in a file folder in the classroom marked with
the date it was handed out.
o Students who miss class, should retrieve their work from the folder when they return
to school.
 Students who are absent for an extended time, should request that work be sent home.
Additional Grading Policies
 Dropped Grades – In an effort to improve students’ grades, Mr. Hurd will drop the lowest
individual quiz grade per marking period.
 Documentation of Sources
o Turnitin.com – As a plagiarism prevention measure, students will be required to
submit every writing assignment completed outside of class to
www.turnitin.com. Those not submitted to Turnitin.com will receive no credit.
o Works Cited – For all research-based projects, students will be required to submit
an MLA works cited page documenting all of their sources. Those who do not
submit a works cited page will receive no credit.