Syllabus & Class Information
Semester 1: DMACC HISTORY 150
A.P. U.S. History (APUSH)
Mrs. Canada Snyder
Email: canada.snyder@dmschools.org
Class Website: www.historylearner.com
In this course the DMACC competencies for History 150 will be covered and students will sign up to receive 4 hours of
DMACC credit in American History.
This course is designed to be an entry-level college survey course in United States History. The students will be prepared to
successfully pass the A.P. United States History Exam, which is given Wednesday, May 14 at 8am. The A.P. test consists of 80
multiple choice questions answered in 55 minutes, and three essays competed in 130 minutes. The free-response essays include
one document-based essay (DBQ) with a suggested writing time of 45 minutes-including a 15 minute mandatory read time. The
remaining two essay questions are divided Pre Reconstruction and post Reconstruction. Students are encouraged to spend
approximately 40 minutes on each essay with a 5 minute planning time for each (70 minutes total).
Resources:
Give Me Liberty: An American History, 2011 by Eric Foner
A People’s History of the United States, 1999 & 2003 by Howard Zinn
Founding Brothers, 2000 by Joseph Ellis
Topics/Course of Study:
American Colonies to 1763
A New Nation, 1763-1840
Slavery, Freedom and the Crisis of the Union, 1840-1877
Toward a Global Presence, 1870-1920
Depression and Wars, 1920-1953
What Kind of Nation? 1953-2010
The grading scale is:
87.5-100% A
79.5-87.4% B
69.5-79.4% C
59.5-69.4% D
59.4% and below F
M/C Tests 22%
DBQ’s 24%
Essays 24%
Class participation, presentations, Homework 18%
History Day Project 4%
Semester Exams 6%
Coursework:
College Credit: Please note that by taking this course you are signing up for college credit. This is a great education
and financial benefit to you and your parents! You will earn 4 DMACC hours.
Reading. Each student is responsible for reading the assigned material. This includes selections from the textbook,
printed readings, and online readings. Cornell notes will be turned in from the text for points when requested.
Note taking. The class is taught in lecture and discussion & debate format, with plenty of opportunities for asking
questions and/or expressing viewpoints. Students are expected to take notes. Writing what you hear requires paying attention
and processing the material. These activities improve your comprehension and retention of information. If you are absent,
please copy someone else’s notes. View the note-taking guide on our class website to learn Cornell note-taking. It works well for
lectures and text reading.
Homework. Many of your assignments will be reading, but you will have written assignments, i.e., ID’s, completion
sheets, and charts, and essays. Some assignments may be overnight; others may be over several days. Copying homework is
cheating. This will result in complete loss of points for both parties. Copying from Wikipedia is shortsighted and often results
in misinformation and misunderstanding. Homework must be completed on time; late work is not accepted.
Participation. Much learning takes place from the exchanging of ideas. Class discussions are an excellent place for
this to happen. Remember, history is analyzing and interpreting the past. Your participation is REQUIRED. Please be prepared
to share your thoughts and ideas. Good class participation could boost that B++ up to an A-.
Projects. By definition, projects are greater (worth more points and requiring more effort) than homework
assignments. These could be oral histories, group presentations, or papers. All projects are due on the day assigned whether
you are present or not. A National History Day project is REQUIRED for this course. The information concerning this project
can be found at www.nhd.org. This can be completed in a group or individually. You may choose a paper, documentary, exhibit,
performance or a website based on the theme of Rights and Responsibilities in History. This project is completed in
collaboration with Advanced American Literature. More information concerning this project will be given during class but please
note it is REQUIRED or you will NOT pass the course!
Testing. Tests will be primarily multiple choice questions to prepare you for the AP test. Taking tests late is not a
good idea, and will be seriously frowned upon. Make-up tests, by nature, tend to be harder. In order to do well on AP exams,
students need to be at least at the C level.
Quizzes: You will have chapter quizzes, 8 ID Quizzes and a top 40 events quiz. The chapter quizzes will be “pop”
quizzes over the reading material for the week. You will be able to use your notes on some of the quizzes, but not all. The terms
for the ID quizzes are listed on our class website. You must research who, what, when, where and significance for each term.
Create a review guide to study. You may work ahead. ID quizzes are fill in the blank, matching and full definition. They are
worth 19 points. The top 40 events quiz will test your knowledge on important US historical dates. The dates are online. The
first time you take the quiz, you can miss 3 to earn full credit (excluding the presidential years). You may take 1 retake on this
quiz, but you can only miss ONE on the retake. If you miss more than 1 on the retake, it will be a ZERO in the gradebook. You
will take 2 top 40 quizzes, one for each semester and the dates are the same for each semester.
Syllabus: A syllabus is an outline of a course and the topics covered—see below. It is my expectation that we will follow
this syllabus with few changes. You are expected to have the chapter listed below read by the first of the week so you can
engage in meaningful class discussions and complete assignments.
Part One: American Colonies to 1763
Aug. 22-Aug 23
Week One: Introduction of the course, Summer Assignment, Note taking
Foner: pp. 1106-1118: Reagan and Conservative Rise
Aug 26-Aug 30
Week Two: Chapter 1: A New World: Native Americans, the Spanish and French and
Dutch
Sept. 3-6
Week Three: Chapter 2: Beginnings of English America, 1607-1660
Sept 9-13
Week Four:
ID QUIZ #1 B day
Chapter 3: Creating Anglo-America, 1660-1750
Sept. 16-20
Week Five: Chapter 4: Slavery, Freedom and the Struggle for Empire to 1763
ID QUIZ #1 A day
****Unit 1 TEST****
Part Two: Creation of the United States
Sept. 23-27
Week Six:
Sept. 30-Oct. 4
Chapter 5: The American Revolution, 1763-1783
Week Seven: Chapter 6: The Revolution Within
*Founding Brothers: Preface and chapter 1
ID QUIZ #2 A Day
Oct. 7-11
Week 8: Chapter 7: Founding a Nation, 1783-1789
Founding Brothers Chapters 2-3
ID Quiz #2 B day
Oct. 14-18
Week Nine:
Founding Brothers ch 4-6
Chapter 8: Securing the Republic, 1790-1815
****Unit 2 TEST****
Oct. 21-24
Week 10:
Chapter 9: The Market Revolution: 1800-1840
*No school Friday
Oct 28-Nov.1
Week 11:
****America’s
Chapter 10: Democracy in America: 1815-1840
Top 40 Quiz October 31 and Nov. 1
****Unit 3 TEST****
Part Three: Slavery, Freedom and the Crisis of the Union, 1840-1877
Nov. 4-8
Week 12:
ID Quiz #3 A day
Nov. 11-15
Week 13:
Chapter 12: An Age of Reform, 1820-1840
ID QUIZ #3 B day
Nov. 18-22
Week 13 ½ : Finish Chapter 12-intro chapter 13
***Unit 4 TEST***
Nov. 25-Nov 26
Week 14:
Chapter 11: The Peculiar Institution
Chapter 13: A House Divided
Dec. 2-6
Week 15:
ID Quiz #4 B day
Chapter 14: A New Birth of Freedom: The Civil War 1861-1865
Dec. 9-13
Week 16:
Chapter 14 continued…
ID QUIZ #4 A day
****Unit 5 TEST****
Part Four: Toward a Global Presence
Dec. 16-20
Week 17:
Chapter 15: “What is Freedom?”: Reconstruction, 1865-1877
Jan. 2-3 & 6-7
Week 18:
Chapter 15: Reconstruction Continued…
Jan 8-15
Review and Semester Tests
Mark your calendars!!!
***Thursday, February 13 is Central Academy’s History Night!*** You are required to attend if you are going to
History Day competition!
***Saturday, April 5 is History Day district competition at GrandView University!