5
™
5 STEPS TO A
AP U.S. History
TEACHER’S MANUAL
Peggy Syers
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Copyright © 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-07-180406-6
MHID:
0-07-180406-4
AP, Advanced Placement Program, and College Board are registered trademarks of the College Entrance Examination Board,
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Introduction
You can use 5 Steps to a 5: AP U.S. History in a variety of ways to assist you in teaching
this challenging class. You can use it as a supplement to any AP textbook. It suggests
ways and means of teaching the AP U.S. History curriculum and is very adaptable to
this specific material. It is especially helpful in syllabus and curriculum preparation, and
it can easily be adapted to each teacher’s unique instructional style. It can also be used
by students to underscore and enhance their learning. It provides them with a guide for
successful preparation for the national AP exam. 5 Steps to a 5 has been written taking
into consideration time constraints, differing class sizes, teacher preparation time, and
student interest and retention. This manual is meant to accompany 5 Steps to a 5 and
add further specifics and suggestions.
I. Getting Started
There always comes that moment when you as a teacher walk into a classroom full of
new students for the first time. At that moment, the words role model take on their full
impact. What you wear, the expression on your face, the tone of your voice . . . all of
these come under the full glare of student scrutiny. The classroom itself has already
made an impression on your students as they filed into the room for the first time. In
any class, but especially in one with the very challenging expectations and requirements
of an AP curriculum, it’s very important to begin immediately to create a special, nurturing atmosphere that will enhance student learning. Here are several suggestions in
several areas that can help you establish a positive rapport with students in a comfortable, interesting room, a special place where they will learn history, learn to respect the
teacher, experience pride in their personal accomplishment, and feel at ease.
Students should be given a syllabus on the first day of class. They need to understand that this syllabus is a “road map” showing how the class will proceed. It can
indicate how the class will be paced. It can help students plan their time and anticipate
upcoming topics of study. The following expectations should be discussed in a clear,
straightforward manner:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The amount of reading required and its importance
Planned assessments, including essays, quizzes, tests, and supplemental work
The amount and type of homework given each week
The end-of-term AP exam
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Chapter 1 of 5 Steps to a 5 should be assigned reading within the first week of class.
In this chapter, students will find a thorough explanation of the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
An overview of the AP exam with the most frequently asked questions about it
An explanation of the multiple-choice section of the exam
An explanation of the essay section of the exam
An extensive outline of the content covered by the exam
Overall test-taking strategies
Your Classroom as a Learning Environment
Never underestimate the power of visual learning. Learning often takes place almost
subconsciously as students experience a variety of visual stimuli in the classroom each
day. As a teacher, you can provide and use visuals to underscore historical material.
Students must learn early on that the study of history is not just about mastering facts
and memorizing dates. History is about people, and students must learn to make a
human connection to historical people and events if they are to learn and recall information meaningfully. Photographs, timelines, and maps provide color and stimuli that
should engage students. Photographs especially can help students remember important information by giving them a face to attach to a name. Also, maps are essential.
If your classroom comes equipped with roll-down maps, don’t keep them rolled up.
Maps should be kept in front of students as part of the ordinary classroom appearance. Students will absorb geographic information just by looking at the maps each
day. As a general rule, brighter is better. Fill your room with color, maps, pictures, art,
plants—any trick you know of to get students to feel that the classroom is an interesting place to be.
An informal reading center can be an effective addition to the history classroom.
On a table, place current newspapers, a variety of fiction and nonfiction paperbacks,
cartoons, copies of magazine articles, and occasionally drawings and maps. This material should be updated regularly, and students should feel free to browse during any
downtime. This eliminates the problem of students who finish their work early, who
arrive before the others, or who, hopefully, drop by your room because it represents
a place where they can work, read, or meet in study groups. Materials can easily be
acquired from a number of sources: libraries that discard paperbacks, friends who have
books that they no longer want, garage sales, programs that deliver free newspapers to
classrooms, or your own papers and magazines from home.
Establishing the Basics
Chapter 1 of 5 Steps to a 5 makes it clear that it is important early on to set goals, discuss
the national AP exam, and establish a practical, workable syllabus that spells out a time
frame for successfully covering all of the necessary information.
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Consider distributing copies of old AP exams and reviewing the format of the exam
and the challenging nature of its content. You should expect every student to take the
exam, and you should set this as a primary goal from the first day of class. Not taking
the exam would be rather like training for the Super Bowl, but all the while planning
to sit on the bench. From day one, students should understand that they are preparing
to do their best on the exam. Earning college credit is a strong incentive to getting a
high score.
Also keep students’ parents in mind. You might want to send home to parents a full
explanation of the AP program, the advantages of participating in an AP class, and the
challenges of taking AP U.S. History. Personal contact with parents through a meeting
or a telephone call is even better. Telephone calls in particular take up teachers’ time,
but they can prevent later misunderstandings and confusion. Most parents are very
unfamiliar with the AP program.
It’s asking a great deal of high school students to master college-level historical
material. It lightens the load to make certain that students are provided with a clear
time frame—a schedule that ensures that all the necessary knowledge can be acquired
in the time provided. Distribute a syllabus on the first day of class and discuss it with
students. Strictly adhering to the syllabus is very important. Time is crucial in an
AP class, and it is all too easy to fall behind. The syllabus is simply a road map, a timepiece to ensure that the class has been completed and that all the necessary information
has been studied. Failing to finish the course curriculum, which encompasses the period
from 1607 to the present, is sending a student into the national exam unprepared. As a
general rule, in a two-semester time frame, the Civil War should have been covered by
winter break. It’s very difficult to finish if you are too far behind that landmark.
Your syllabus should reflect a style that is most compatible with your style as a
teacher. Its most important characteristics should be practicality and student usability.
A very simple, straightforward syllabus listing only weeks and topics often works best.
However, many teachers prefer a much more detailed syllabus. Many examples of very
detailed syllabi can be found at the main website of the College Board, AP Central
.com. A simple, student-friendly syllabus is included here as a sample. The key is to
ask yourself what format students will find easiest to use as a time frame for planning
their course of study. Chapter 2 of 5 Steps to a 5 further discusses time management
and provides several pathways for approaching the class. Whichever syllabus or plan
is presented to students, it should be one that encourages and enables them to plan
their own study schedule, to take responsibility for their own time management, and
to understand the pace that the class will maintain. Chapter 2 of 5 Steps to a 5 offers
several methods of pacing that are helpful and adaptable for both teachers and students.
Sample AP U.S. History Syllabus
First Quarter:
Week 1: English Colonization—Chapter 5 of 5 Steps to a 5
Week 2: The Puritan Experience and Dissention—Chapter 5
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Week 3: American Culture in the Seventeenth Century—Chapter 5
Week 4: The Colonies on the Eve of Revolution—Chapter 6
Week 5: The Fight for North America: France vs. England—Chapter 6
Week 6: The Road to Revolution—Chapter 7
Week 7: The American Revolution—Chapter 8
Week 8: Experiments in Government—Chapter 9
Week 9: Growing Pains—Chapter 10
Second Quarter:
Week 1: Jefferson’s Era—Chapter 10
Week 2: War and Prosperity—Chapter 11
Week 3: Jackson Changes the Presidency—Chapter 11
Week 4: Manifest Destiny—Chapter 12
Week 5: Bleeding Kansas: Closer to Disunion—Chapter 12
Week 6: The Peculiar Institution—Chapter 13
Week 7: Civil War—Chapters 13
Week 8: Union Victory and Reconstruction—Chapter 14
Week 9: Reform, Immigrants, and the Great Push West—Chapter 15
Third Quarter:
Week 1: Agricultural Revolution in the West—Chapter 15
Week 2: The Gilded Age—Chapter 16
Week 3: The Industrial Revolution—Chapters 16
Week 4: American Experiments in Imperialism—Chapter 17
Week 5: “That Damned Cowboy in the White House”—Chapter 17
Week 6: The Progressives—Chapters 18
Week 7: World War I and the Roaring Twenties—Chapters 19–20
Week 8: Isolationism and Approaching Depression—Chapter 21
Week 9: FDR, the New Deal, and the Shadow of War—Chapters 21
Fourth Quarter:
Week 1: World War II—Chapter 22
Week 2: The Cold War—Chapter 23
Week 3: Ike—Chapter 24
Week 4: JFK and LBJ: The Social Revolution and Vietnam—Chapter 25
Week 5: Hubris: The Rise and Fall of Richard Nixon—Chapter 25
Week 6: Reagan and the New Right—Chapter 26
May 5, 8 a.m.: The National AP Exam in U.S. History
Notice that there are several weeks in which students are asked to study more than
one chapter. There will inevitably be more chapters than you have weeks in which to
cover them. It’s very important that you map out a workable schedule based on your
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individual time schedule. You can’t rely on using a textbook table of contents as a guide
because of the time constraints. The simplest syllabus works best.
Chapter 3 of 5 Steps to a 5 provides a diagnostic test that includes a thorough explanation of each type of question found on the AP exam. This test can determine how
much historical knowledge your students have and the areas in which they are strongest
and weakest. It’s helpful for students to have a realistic view of how much knowledge
they bring to the class at the beginning. This can act as a gauge and a source of encouragement as the class progresses and student learning increases. Specific questions can be
taken from the diagnostic test and used for class discussion or student group discussion.
A diagnostic test can be useful as long as it does not alarm and discourage students
whose initial performance is poor. The purpose of the test should be made known to
the students, and you may not wish to award a grade for it. You can offer other diagnostic tests throughout the semester to measure students’ progress. Another approach is
to create a series of diagnostic tests of increasing difficulty, beginning with one that is
not especially demanding. As with the syllabus, your diagnostic tests should be geared
to what’s best for your own students’ situations and their levels of mastery.
Furthermore, Chapters 2 and 3 of 5 Steps to a 5 address how to approach the
multiple-choice section of the exam. Especially important is the fact that some multiplechoice questions have more than one answer that is arguably or technically correct. In
such cases, the correct answer is the most important or significant answer. This kind of
question tests for depth of historical knowledge.
Finally, it is very important that you as a teacher appear energized and positive.
Body language counts. First impressions count. If teachers look and behave as though
they think what is taking place in the classroom is important and interesting, they
convey that message to students.
II. Access All of Your Resources
Faculty, Staff, and Administrators
Too often, teachers isolate themselves and their students from resources that can enrich
the historical material that is being presented. Teachers can become very territorial and
fall into a “this is my classroom; stay out” frame of mind. An attitude of “just shut
the door and teach” deprives students of a more eclectic learning experience. There is
a wealth of resources easily accessible from many sources. The following suggestions
enhance Step 1 in 5 Steps to a 5, which details how to set up an effective study program.
First, some of the best resources for enriching your material are located right under
your nose. Other faculty members, members of the school staff, and administrators can
provide a wealth of supplemental information that will add a great deal toward fuller
learning. Tapping into this resource requires only communication and some creative
scheduling of time. Invite another faculty member in to lecture or demonstrate while
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you lecture in his classroom. Plan an assignment or project that can count for credit
in both classrooms. If scheduling allows, discuss historical issues while two teachers
are in the classroom, each accenting viewpoints from her own areas of study. Students
benefit from hearing two adults agree, disagree, and find common ground on different questions. A humanistic approach to teaching AP U.S. History acknowledges
the important role that art, literature, music, and other cultural areas have played in
the progress of U.S. history. Here are two examples of ideas that have worked well in
U.S. history classrooms.
In one instance, an AP U.S. History teacher invited the AP Art History teacher
into the classroom to present information about the Hudson River School. The art
history teacher showed slides, discussed the artists, and pointed out characteristics
unique to this school of American painters. (Coincidentally, a work from the Hudson
River School appeared as a document on that year’s document-based question on the
AP U.S. History exam.) The history teacher, in turn, spoke to the AP Art History class
about the early explorations into the West. The assignment that followed counted as a
grade in both classes. This assignment can be used with the information provided in
Chapter 10 of 5 Steps to a 5.
The Hudson River School Assignment
The Hudson River School was a prominent school of American landscape artists
during the mid-nineteenth century. Many of the artists whose works belong to
this school began life as engravers or technical craftspeople. Here are the most
noted artists from the Hudson River School: Albert Bierstadt, Frederick Church,
Thomas Cole, Jasper Cropsey, Robert Duncanson, Asher Durand, Sanford
Gifford, Martin Johnson Heade, George Hetzel, and George Innes.
Assignment: First, find a painting by one of these artists that you admire. Also
find some biographical information on the artist. Pretend that you are the artist
and that you are responding to a request to describe the intent of this painting.
Include a few pieces of biographical information in the letter. Write about the
painting; describe it and what you are trying to convey with it. Bring a copy of
the painting to class with you. You will present both the letter and the painting
to the class. Make certain that you refer to the use of the elements of color, composition, line, and light.
Next, keep in mind that these artists sought to capture the beauty of nature on canvas.
Find any location and scene outdoors that you consider beautiful. Create an original
painting modeled after those of the Hudson River School. Specifications: (1) Create
nothing smaller than one-half sheet of poster board. (2) You may use any type of
color medium: oil, watercolor, acrylic, charcoal, pencil, crayons, and so on. (3) Your
painting surface may be canvas, poster board, white paper, or something else. (4) This
must be an original work, with no copying from any existing piece of art. (5) Make
your painting ready to hang by attaching twine, a hook, or something similar.
The students responded with enthusiasm to this assignment, and the paintings
(some really good, some really dreadful) hung in the classroom all year long.
Next, as an experiment in interdisciplinary learning, an AP U.S. History teacher
and an AP Physics teacher decided to teach a cooperative lesson. What resulted was the
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following assignment. The physics teacher taught the angles, measurements, force, and
trajectories involved in the artillery and rifles used in the Civil War battles. The history
teacher described the historical significance of those major battles. This assignment can
be used with the information in Chapter 13 of 5 Steps to a 5.
AP Physics/AP U.S. History Assignment
Divide the class into groups of five members each. Have each group select an
identifying color and a group captain who will be responsible for the overall
organization of the group. On the day of the presentation, group members
should wear their group color. A major battle of the Civil War will be assigned
to each group.
Assignment:
1. Prepare a paper describing the actual events and outcome of the battle. This paper
has a 200-word minimum. Cite all sources. You must use a minimum of three
sources. This paper must be typed, double-spaced, with a font of either 10 or
12 points.
2. Prepare a one- to two-page biography of each major participant in the battle. Each
biography must have an accompanying picture of the person.
3. Build a replica of the battle. These replicas should reflect the exact geography and
troop positions of both Confederate and Union forces.
4. A problem in physics will be presented to you by your AP Physics teacher. This
logistics problem will concern measurements of angles and trajectories of various
weapons present on the battlefield. The solution must be written and presented
at the time of the presentation.
On the day of the presentation, the following will be due: an oral summary of the
biographies; an explanation of the events of the battle, using the replica to demonstrate strategy and troop movements; and a written explanation of the physics problem. Five points of extra credit will be awarded for any authentic songs
of the period used during the presentation. You will be graded on accuracy of
information, integrity of research, quality of presentation, accuracy of the physics
problem, and adherence to due dates.
Vertical teaching teams are extremely helpful as an ongoing resource. Most vertical
teams are made up of history teachers in the seventh through twelfth grades. These
teachers usually meet twice each semester at in-services or other arranged meetings
to exchange ideas, expectations, and problems. Of course, it is most efficient if these
meetings are built into the regular faculty schedule for professional development at your
school, but informal gatherings that you organize yourself can work just as well. Many
advances in organization, expectations, and student learning can be achieved if ninththrough twelfth-grade teachers meet to confer.
Parents and Community as Resources
Surprisingly valuable resources can be found among parents and members of the community. Such people are often eager and cooperative. From lawyers, doctors, architects,
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and military personnel to police officers, artists, and local politicians, they all bring
substance to historical studies. Also among the best resources are older people who
have been eyewitnesses to history. Veterans’ organizations are usually very willing to
share their experiences and observations. Just telling students what they saw and did
provides a powerful reinforcement for the facts you are teaching. When I discovered
that one AP U.S. History class was vague on the events of the Holocaust, I telephoned
a nearby temple. The rabbi sent three survivors to speak with my students. In addition,
the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, sent boxes of materials. Students can also
be encouraged or even assigned to speak with their relatives, parents, and grandparents
who are sources of knowledge and remembrance. These memories can be made to
stretch when a grandparent recalls events and experiences that his parents and grandparents told him. In general, you never know what human resources you have available
to you or who is willing to come speak with your students until you ask.
The Textbook and Supplemental Reading
The textbook is an omnipresent and obvious resource. 5 Steps to a 5 is very adaptable
to any of the standard AP U.S. History texts. The textbook is usually 500 to 600 pages
long and is often daunting even to students who are predisposed to read. The teacher
must find practical ways to use the textbook in a positive, effective way. The College
Board’s Teachers Forum provides access to teachers’ evaluations of textbooks. This is
especially helpful for teachers who are new to the AP U.S. History curriculum.
Never assign an entire chapter to be read at once. The average chapter in an AP
U.S. History textbook is between 38 and 52 pages in length. Despite their best efforts,
students will be unable to absorb this college-level material in that large a dose. It is
usually more effective to assign the chapter in increments of four to six pages that, as
closely as possible, are coordinated with your daily lectures. If you do this, students will
be reading information while they are listening to an explanation of it. Asking students
to read the assignment cold on their own without reinforcement from the teacher, then
quizzing them to see if they have read it is counterproductive. Most students will not
achieve a passing score and will take away a negative attitude from the experience.
The need for students to read the textbook and to take and reread lecture notes,
all under a time constraint, can often discourage teachers from assigning supplemental reading. This diminishes a student’s chances of actually becoming interested and
engaged in history because it is from these supplemental sources that so much anecdotal
and specific information is derived. The answer to finding time for extra reading lies in
the time frame a teacher gives students to accomplish the task. If students are to read an
entire book, you may wish to give them an entire semester to read it. Tell the students
that you will accept the book report or other assignment at any time during the semester. That method not only allows students some personal discretion and a chance to
manage their own time, but also disperses the number of book reports and assignments
you have to read over a longer period of time.
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Also consider that students can acquire valuable information by reading selected
excerpts from longer works rather than an entire book. Short magazine articles, essays,
and commentaries can easily be assigned if, as suggested earlier, textbook reading
assignments are kept short. Here is a brief list of combined fiction and nonfiction works
that can underscore the basic historical facts presented in AP U.S. History. It fits easily
into the outline given in Step 4 of 5 Steps to a 5. It is by no means a complete list, and
teachers should compose their own list, adding to it on a regular basis.
Suggested Supplemental Reading List
AP U.S. History
1. Jane Smiley, The All-True Travels and Adventures of Liddie Newton
2. Pat Barker, The Ghost Road
3. Herman Wouk, The Winds of War
4. Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
5. Jimmy Carter, The Hornet’s Nest
6. Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton
7. Eve LaPlante, American Jezebel
8. Walter Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe
9. Hannah Pakula, The Last Empress: Madame Chiang Kai-shek and the Birth of
Modern China
10. Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States
11. Joseph Lash, Franklin and Eleanor
12. David McCullough, Mornings on Horseback
13. Joseph Ellis, Founding Brothers
14. David McCullough, 1776
15. Robert Caro, Master of the Senate
16. Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee
17. Curt Gentry, J. Edgar Hoover
18. Kai Bird, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
19. Doris Kearns Goodwin, No Ordinary Time
20. Scott Berg, Lindbergh
21. Stephen Ambrose, Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the
Opening of the American West
22. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
23. Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals
24. Evan Connell, Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn
25. Marquis James, The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston
It is very productive if, in their literature classes, students are reading something that
will mesh with what they are studying in history. Some arrangement can often be made
with the literature teacher. For example, while students are studying the Civil War, if
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they can be reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, it will help them
understand the Civil War era and its mindset. Slavery is better understood on a real level
by understanding Huck and Jim. There are many natural matches between literature
and history. A few of them are World War I and All Quiet on the Western Front, the
Civil War and A Stillness at Appomattox, the Roaring Twenties and The Great Gatsby, the
French-Indian War and The Last of the Mohicans, and the Holocaust and Night.
Finally, it is useful to encourage students to visualize history as a river, with its
headwaters in 1607 and its end at the present time. Current events can be presented
effectively at the end of the course as the things that the class is flowing toward. Consider requiring a different student each week to orally present a brief piece of news to
the class. Typically, a very productive, spontaneous discussion follows, and before long,
students can work out the cause-and-effect relationship between historical events and
current happenings.
Here is another brief word about maps as resources. During lectures, textbook reading, and supplemental reading, the role that geography has played in historical decisions should be underscored. Throughout the class, students should be given tasks that
require them to express and interpret facts by using graphs, charts, and maps. You may
want to pause periodically, distribute blank maps, and ask students to label and identify
specific states, countries, bodies of water, regions, and mountain ranges. Using road
maps (class sets are obtainable from the AAA or National Geographic), ask students to
plot routes from one part of the United States to another. Ask students to offer explanations for U.S. territorial expansion using only geography, maps, graphs, and charts.
Students must have a clear view of geography, with maps serving as the game boards on
which the maneuvers of history are played out.
III. Tackling the Course Content
Chapters 5 to 28 of 5 Steps to a 5 provide a very comprehensive and thorough outline
of the historical content that students need to master in AP U.S. History. This outline
of the content can be used in a variety of ways. It can be used by teachers to check
the thoroughness of their lectures and as a quick reference. It can be used by students
as a review for tests or for the AP exam. It can act as a supplement to the notes that
students take during lectures. It also can clarify the information that students read in
the textbook. Students must not only learn names, dates, places, and events, but also
be able to analyze the significance of those facts and events. Providing students with
the concise, pared-down, easy-to-follow content summaries in 5 Steps to a 5 can be very
helpful in this regard.
Chapter Packets and 5 Steps to a 5
The amount of history that students must learn is considerable and can be intimidating
and sometimes overwhelming. An important job for you as an AP U.S. History teacher
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is to find ways to organize and present this large amount of historical information in
the best ways for students to learn it. To accomplish this task, you have four main tools:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The textbook
Effective lectures
The review chapters in 5 Steps to a 5
“Chapter packets”—sets of learning materials that many teachers themselves create
for their students
The aim is to give students a series of overlapping learning experiences that include
listening to a daily lecture, reading the textbook and supplemental reading, and working through the chapter packets. That way, students can find a suitable learning style
in one or more of these tasks and avoid failure that may result from reliance on just a
single approach.
Give students a chapter packet in advance of any lecture, reading assignment, or
other reference to the information in an upcoming chapter. The packet should present
information in an effective and organized manner. It should include the following:
• A visual: a photograph, painting, or drawing of the most representative, eye-catching
image relevant to the chapter content. You may include more than one image if you
feel that by doing so it will foster more interest.
• A terms sheet: a list of the most important key terms in the chapter.
• Several essential questions that, if the student can answer and explain them fully,
will indicate a mastery of the chapter.
With a chapter packet, before any new information is presented, students have
before them an arresting image or images, the most important terms to be learned, and
a set of questions that are at the heart of the information in the chapter. As the lecture
and individual student reading commence, students are able to define the terms and
become aware of the answers to the essential questions as they listen to them or read
them. This provides a multidimensional learning experience as each chapter is studied.
Ask the students to cross-reference each chapter packet with the 5 Steps to a 5 review
chapters. The chapter packet provides a simple, clear outline. Then the 5 Steps to a 5
chapter adds details and substance. Both work together to make the often dense and
complex material in the textbook manageable. Lectures provide further clarification
and opportunities for student discussion.
You don’t necessarily need to have students define the terms in your list and turn in
the definitions for a grade. However, it is a good idea to have them answer the essential
questions in your list and turn in their answers. You can encourage them to collaborate
as they answer these questions. Students are very conscious of issues involving cheating or copying some other student’s work, so they must be reassured that in this case,
working together for a common answer is legitimate. The goal is to foster conversations and discussions among students about the answers to these questions. Although
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the answers must be written in the students’ own words—students’ answers to these
questions are often very similar. Of course, some students will prefer to answer the
questions by themselves. There is no requirement that students be part of study groups,
but very often students understand that study groups facilitate the completion of
the work.
Students approach this process with vigor once they understand that what they
are actually doing is accumulating a study guide for the entire course. As each chapter
packet is added to the others, the terms and essential questions form a comprehensive
study guide for class assessments and for the AP exam. This ready-made study guide
relieves students of the onerous task of sorting through their lecture notes and other
material when the time comes for final review. An added advantage is that a very close
approximation of the three essay questions that will be asked on the AP exam will
almost certainly be somewhere in the essential questions.
The following are sample chapter packets designed to accompany four chapters
from 5 Steps to a 5. These samples do not include visuals because those are readily
available from many sources and should reflect the teacher’s own individual preferences.
The first sample is designed to accompany Chapters 8 and 9 of 5 Steps to a 5.
Terms Sheet
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
Second Continental Congress (1776)
Articles of Confederation
Land Ordinance (1785)
Northwest Ordinance (1787)
Shays’s Rebellion
Philadelphia Constitutional Convention (1787)
Great Compromise
Three-Fifths Compromise
Federalists
Anti-Federalists
Federalist Papers
Alexander Hamilton
John Adams
Whiskey Rebellion
Washington’s Farewell Address
The XYZ Affair
National Bank
Essential Questions
1. Compare and contrast the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution,
especially with regard to the specific powers granted by each to the national
government.
2. List all the reasons why the Articles of Confederation needed to be replaced. List
them in order of importance, starting with the most important reason. Justify
your selection and arrangement.
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3. Assume that the Constitution had not been ratified by the state conventions.
What do you think would have been the consequences?
4. Discuss the causes of Shays’s Rebellion, and then contrast it with Bacon’s
Rebellion.
5. Contrast federalism with antifederalism.
6. What was the significance of the Whiskey Rebellion?
7. How did the XYZ Affair cause John Adams to exercise “civic virtue”?
8. Very early in its history, the United States established a policy of isolationism in
its foreign policy. How did Washington’s Farewell Address and his Neutrality
Proclamation help foster this tradition?
9. Explain Hamilton’s views on the assumption of state debts, the National Bank,
debt, and a protective tariff.
10. Explain loose and strict constructions of the Constitution.
The following chapter packet coordinates with Chapters 10 and 11 of 5 Steps to a 5.
Terms Sheet
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Era of Good Feelings
Panic of 1819
Missouri Compromise
Monroe Doctrine
Florida Purchase Treaty
Cumberland Road
Tallmadge Amendment
McCulloch v. Maryland
Election of 1824
John Quincy Adams
Tariff of 1828 (Tariff of Abominations)
Election of 1828
South Carolina Exposition
Kitchen Cabinet
Peggy Eaton Affair
Jefferson Day Dinner
Force Act
Nicholas Biddle
Trail of Tears
Pet banks
Essential Questions
1. Why was the election of 1824 so riddled with conflict and confusion? What was
at stake between the competing candidates, especially Adams and Jackson?
2. What basic assumptions are contained in John C. Calhoun’s theory of
nullification?
3. List the chief controversial issues during Jackson’s administration, then explain
Jackson’s position on each one.
4. Evaluate the wisdom of Jackson’s veto on renewing the charter for the National
Bank. What were the results?
5. Write a brief history of the Whig Party and account for its demise.
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The following chapter packet corresponds to Chapter 17 of 5 Steps to a 5.
Terms Sheet
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Imperialism
Nationalism
Militarism
Racism
Venezuelan Crisis
Sphere of influence
Liliuokalani
Sanford Dole
Valeriano Weyler
Yellow journalism
USS Maine
Emiliano Aguinaldo
Rough Riders
Teller Amendment
Treaty of Paris (1898)
Platt Amendment
Open Door Policy
Russo-Japanese War
Philippe Bunau-Varilla
Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
Essential Questions
1. Consider each of the following as a cause of the Spanish-American War: public
opinion, yellow journalism, business interests, and strategic interests. Which do
you consider the main cause of the war? Why?
2. Write your definition of imperialism. Then use this definition to argue that the
conduct of American foreign policy between 1890 and 1900 was or was not
imperialistic.
3. Assess the wisdom of the Teller Amendment, the Platt Amendment, and the
Roosevelt Corollary. How do they alter or affect the Monroe Doctrine?
4. Rank the following in terms of their ability to explain American interest in
imperialism at the end of the nineteenth century: racial theories, international
rivalry, trading interests, and religious humanitarianism. Justify your ranking.
5. Explain the ways in which the Boxer Rebellion, the Open Door note, and the
Portsmouth Conference signaled a new departure for American foreign policy.
The following chapter packet is designed to accompany Chapters 22 and 23 of 5
Steps to a 5.
Terms Sheet
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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Douglas MacArthur
Teheran Conference
Potsdam Conference
Yalta Conference
Joseph McCarthy
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6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
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15
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
United Nations
Iron curtain
Berlin airlift
Containment policy
Truman Doctrine
National Security Act
NATO
38th parallel
Satellite countries
Warsaw Pact
Red Scare
Essential Questions
1. Trace the origins of the cold war, considering the historical background of
U.S.–Soviet Union relations, the wartime relationship, and early postwar
developments.
2. Why was there such strong support for McCarthy’s anti-Communist crusade in
the early 1950s?
3. Why did President Truman relieve General MacArthur of his command in
Korea?
4. Assess the diplomatic and military policies of John Foster Dulles.
5. In what ways did the Eisenhower administration support or promote the cause
of anticommunism?
The use of these chapter packets in conjunction with daily lectures and individual
student reading of both the textbook and supplemental materials will increase the
chances of determining and maximizing the effectiveness of a student’s individual
learning style. If a student is a weak or reluctant reader or takes poor lecture notes, he
or she can still rely on terms sheets, essential questions, and study groups.
Chapter 29 in 5 Steps to a 5 provides a good starting point for the discussions of
current events required of students throughout the year. Students should already feel
prepared to discuss this information, since they’ve been listening to and discussing
up-to-date happenings throughout the class.
Ensuring Student Retention
A real challenge with the AP U.S. History class is student retention of the information.
Most students are accustomed to a very fragmented approach to the material. If they
know that they are going to be tested on the first three chapters of the text and the corresponding lecture notes and chapter packets, they will study that specific material, take
the test, achieve a good score, then let the information slide from their memories. But
when students take the AP exam at the end of the course, they must remember information from the first week of the class as well as information that they’ve just finished
studying. They must know as much about Jamestown in May as they did in September.
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An effective method of helping students stay current and retain the whole scope of the
material is to use “sprints.” These are short, unannounced assessments given at irregular
intervals to encourage students to reread and review their lecture notes constantly. The
teacher comes into the classroom, announces a “sprint,” then calls out 10 to 15 terms.
These terms can be taken from any lesson since the beginning of the class. They should
be chosen with no chronological order in mind—just random terms, facts, and events
from previous lessons. Students then give brief written answers that identify and state
the significance of each term. Papers are collected and can be quickly and easily graded.
These assessments require almost no teacher preparation time and serve to help students
understand that the information must be retained as a whole, from 1607 to the present,
rather than piecemeal.
Another useful tool that encourages student retention is the timeline. For example,
you might write a start date and an end date on the board, say, 1800_____________
1850. Then ask students to fill in the blank space between the two dates with as many
significant events as they can recall. You might ask them to come to the board in pairs
to accomplish this task, pairing students who seem to be retaining information with
students who are experiencing more difficulty.
Timelines can also be started by hanging one on the classroom wall, beginning with
1607 and periodically adding to it as the class progresses. This will provide students
with a tangible reminder that they will see every day. The 5 Steps to a 5 review chapters
5 to 28 can be used as a source for preparing sprints and timelines.
Lectures, Homework, and Due Dates
Unfortunately, many students have a negative attitude toward history because it is too
often approached as only an exercise in memorizing facts, taking tests, and answering
questions. To overcome this problem, you might explain to students that history is
both a story and an exercise in people watching. Begin by saying, “Once upon a time,”
and at the end of the class, say, “The end.” If students can remember stories, they can
remember history. Approaching history as narrative is a way to aid student learning.
Keep the narrative fresh and interesting by staying current yourself with the best of
contemporary history writing. Fortunately, in the past several years, there have been
numerous history books written by scholars who are also good writers. Some recommended current popular historians are David McCulloch, Joseph Ellis, Doris Kearns
Goodwin, Ron Chernow, Stephen Ambrose, Robert Caro, and Barbara Tuchman. In
their works, you can find anecdotes and interesting facts about the historical characters
that students are asked to study. These details will humanize these historical figures
for them and aid in their appreciation and learning. Tell stories. Tell about the
bigamy of Andrew Jackson and Rachel, about the isolation of Woodrow Wilson by
Mrs. Wilson after his stroke, about Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson, about
Grant’s refusal to accept Lee’s sword at Appomattox, and about Lemonade Lucy.
Providing the human factor will turn your class from a chore into a pleasure for many
students. A good beginning, especially for new AP U.S. History teachers, is to choose
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one or two areas from each of Chapters 5 to 28 of 5 Steps to a 5 and find human
interest anecdotes and stories for that particular section. Before long, these will have
accumulated into an effective resource. No amount of methodology can substitute for
a teacher’s knowledge and the ability to tell a good story.
With regard to homework, promise students from the start that you will not assign
any “busywork.” Assure students that any work that you assign will have been chosen
because you feel that doing it will help them learn the material. You may wish to keep
outside work to a minimum and devote class time to interaction between you and your
students. One possibility is to limit outside work to answering essential questions, reading, and reviewing lecture notes. Use class time primarily for lectures, class discussion,
presentation of current events, sprints, and essay writing.
You may also wish to be flexible with homework due dates. Students respond favorably if they feel they have some leeway. For example, rather than requiring an assignment on a particular date, tell students that the work will be accepted between Tuesday
and Thursday, or between Monday and Thursday. Most AP students get behind sooner
or later because of the intensity and amount of learning and work. The consequences
of this should be kept to a minimum. Practically speaking, it does not matter if you
receive an assignment one day sooner or one day later. Of course firm dates must be
set for some assessments, such as tests, but most other student work can be done on a
flexible schedule.
IV. The Historical Essay and the
Document-Based Question
One of the most challenging aspects of an AP U.S. History class is teaching students
to write an acceptable historical essay. This is a skill that they will need both for their
class assignments and also for the all-important free-response essay questions on the AP
exam. The following is a simple essay form that students find easy to remember and
that teachers find quick to grade. This form is meant to accommodate the essay-writing
strategies in 5 Steps to a 5 in Chapter 4.
1. Introduction. Many students suffer from blank-page syndrome: they know the
information needed to write the essay, but they do not know how to start, and
therefore they simply freeze. Help students overcome this problem by advising
them to use the introduction to indicate their depth of historical knowledge and
also to show change over time, an important component of the essay. The first few
sentences can “set the stage” by telling what happened before the events mentioned
in the question. The final sentence of the introduction should be the thesis statement. Technically, of course, there are several options for placement of the thesis
statement. But telling students to put it at the end of the introduction gives them
a structure to follow (and makes the thesis statement easier for teachers to find and
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grade). Overall, the introduction should not be more than five to seven sentences
in length. Help students avoid the common mistake of attempting to answer the
entire question in the introduction.
2. The body of the essay. More than any other section, the body of the paper can
be troublesome for students. Too often, it is a jumble of unorganized facts with
sketchy explanations, and it frequently lacks concrete examples and analysis. An
essay like this is difficult to grade, and a student who basically knows the required
information can receive a low grade because of poor organization and confused
writing. Here is an acronym that students can recall as they begin the heart of the
essay. Ask them to remember to “FEED the essay”:
F = facts
E = explanation
E = examples
D = discussion
Students can use this checklist as they answer the essay question. The first three
components, F, E, and E, are essential. Component D can be tackled by fairly
advanced students who are capable of some mature analysis of historical information. However, an essay can contain just those first three components and still get a
passing grade. Students should learn early on not to introduce new facts until they
have met the requirements of explanation and example. As they attempt to include
analysis and discussion, many become more proficient at it.
Another advantage of this technique is that it facilitates grading the essay. Many
teachers write a detailed criticism and evaluation on each individual essay. As a
result, it takes long hours to grade a complete set of essays. When the FEED technique is used, the teacher can write the letters F, E, E, and D in the margins, and
the students know without extensive teacher comments what is lacking in their
work. Later, when the essays are returned to the students, the teacher can explain
to the entire class what information was necessary in order to answer the question
completely. Then, by looking at the abbreviated markings in the margins of their
essays, students can tell what was lacking in their work and, if necessary, ask for
more suggestions, help, and instruction.
Although historical essays usually work out to be three-paragraph essays, this is not
a requirement for essays on the AP exam. Some students complete their essays in
three paragraphs, while others organize their work into five or more paragraphs.
The number of paragraphs is not a factor in the AP essay grade.
3. The conclusion. Like the introduction, the concluding paragraph of a historical
essay should not be more than five to seven sentences in length. Some students
think that they should use the conclusion merely to restate and repeat information
that was already covered in the body of the essay. This temptation can be avoided
by again focusing on the idea of change over time. A conclusion that focuses on
that idea will demonstrate the extent to which the student has command over the
material. Students can write one or two sentences firming up the basic points of the
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essay. Then, in the remainder of the conclusion, they can tell what occurred after
the events described. That way, they show that they have a thorough understanding of the significance of the question, and also show the depth of their historical
knowledge.
Learning to write good historical essays is very much a gradual process. Students
may practice by writing just the introduction and the thesis statement for several weeks
before they move on to the body of the essay. Before students tackle the FEED process,
you might ask them to create the body of an essay just in outline form. Wait until they
become comfortable and proficient in outlining before having them write out the body
in essay form. Asking students to write full essays before they are ready to do so can be
counterproductive. In some AP classes, students are not asked to write full essays until
the sixth or seventh week of class.
Answering the Document-Based Question (DBQ)
For guidance on answering the document-based question (DBQ) on the AP exam,
direct students to Chapter 4 of 5 Steps to a 5. Be aware, however, that students should
not be expected to write DBQ essays too early in the course. Unless students can write a
standard historical essay like the one just described, they will be unable to write a DBQ.
The DBQ may seem to be more complicated than it really is. In fact, it is simply
a standard essay question that includes documents for students to use to back up the
statements in their essays. Here is one way to introduce the DBQ to your class. Once
you are confident that your students are able to write a standard historical essay, cite a
statement of fact from a student essay. For example, you might say, “Your essay says that
President Franklin D. Roosevelt died at Warm Springs, Georgia, in April 1945 from a
cerebral hemorrhage.” Then question the accuracy of the statement. Say, “How do you
know that this is really what happened?” Ask students what would be needed to prove
that the statement is accurate. They might suggest newspaper articles, letters of condolence, transcripts of radio broadcasts, diary entries from eyewitnesses, and the like. If
you can, provide copies of some of these items, explain that they are primary sources,
and ask students to insert them into the essay to support statements that were presented
as facts. At first, you may wish to provide only one or two primary sources. Avoid showering students with a lot of documents that may only confuse them. They need time
and experience to be able to analyze primary sources with skill and proficiency.
Give students regular practice in writing DBQ essays, adding more primary sources
each time. Provide students with essay-writing guidance such as the following:
1. Try to use all of the documents. Every document is pertinent; no document is
included to trick a student.
2. Be careful not to write a document-driven essay. As 5 Steps to a 5 points out, the
information in the documents themselves is not sufficient to write the essay.
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3. Make students aware that some of the documents will be visuals, such as campaign
posters, political cartoons, and images of objects. The political cartoons can be particularly tricky, and analysis of political cartoons should be included as part of your
instruction.
4. There are many techniques for approaching the DBQ. Some students write the
essay and only then insert notations referring to the documents. Very few students
read each document in its entirety because the intent of the document is usually
clear early on. It is a mistake for the student simply to quote the document directly
or to restate it. Emphasis should be on how the document supports the statements
in the essay.
5. The simplest notation is the best. “(Doc. A)” is sufficient for use in the essay.
Grouping documents together to show that several of them support a single statement is very important. It indicates that the student sees the relationship among
various documents stemming from different sources. Again, the notation should be
brief, without direct quotations from the documents or explanations of their contents. Example: (Doc. A, Doc. F, Doc. H).
6. Finally, students must demonstrate that they perceive more than one point of
view in the documents. The standard requirement is that a DBQ essay should
discern three points of view, with the proviso that the third point of view can be
weaker than the other two. For example, if the question concerns slavery in 1850,
points of view in the documents could be those of the Abolitionists, the Free
Soilers, and the Southern slave owners. Or, if the question concerns the United
States’ entry into World War II, points of view in the documents could be those
of the America First Committee, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill’s
British government. Documents are selected to allow students to show that some
share a point of view, while others have conflicting viewpoints. Chapter 4 of 5
Steps to a 5 provides excellent advice on document analysis. Another excellent
resource is the College Board website, which provides actual student DBQ essays
accompanied by explanations for scoring. These can be projected in front of the
class and critiqued.
If students have difficulty analyzing documents and political cartoons, here are two
instructional tools that can help.
Document Analysis Worksheet
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
AP U.S. History Teacher's Manual.indd 20
Who is the author or speaker?
Does this author or speaker have a personal agenda or goal?
What is the occasion?
Who is the intended audience?
What is the basic purpose of the document?
What are the main ideas in the document?
What is the tone of the document?
Can you detect any flaws in veracity or logic in the document?
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9. What is the historical context of this document?
10. Does the document betray any bias on the part of the author or speaker?
Political Cartoon Analysis Worksheet
For cartoons without words:
1. List the objects or people you see in the cartoon.
2. Which of the objects on your list are symbols?
3. What do you think each symbol means?
For cartoons with captions or words:
1. Identify the cartoon caption and/or title.
2. Locate three words or phrases used by the cartoonist to identify objects or
people within the cartoon.
3. Record any important dates or numbers that appear in the cartoon.
4. Which words or phrases in the cartoon appear to be the most significant? Why
do you think so? List adjectives that describe the emotions portrayed in the
cartoon.
For both captioned and noncaptioned cartoons:
1. Describe the action taking place in the cartoon.
2. Explain how the words in the cartoon clarify the symbols.
3. Explain the message of the cartoon.
4. What special-interest groups would agree or disagree with the cartoon’s
message? Why?
The standard free-response essay and the DBQ are not meant to be persuasive
essays, and students should be cautioned that writing a persuasive essay can result in a
low score. Essay questions are designed in part to test the depth of a student’s historical
knowledge and in part to determine whether students can identify bias and point of
view. The stem of each essay question includes a phrase indicating that students are not
to write a persuasive essay or to attempt to answer the question with a definitive yes or
no. Commonly used phrases include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Assess the validity of . . .
Evaluate the relative importance of . . .
Compare and contrast . . .
To what extent . . .
Assess the importance of . . .
Students can remember this requirement by thinking of the essay question as a
kind of “seesaw.” When asked to assess the validity of a statement, the student should
respond that in some ways the statement is true, but in other ways it is not. When asked
to what extent something is important, the student should respond that in some ways
it is important, but in others it had no impact. Consider, for example, the following
essay question:
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Jacksonians tended to think of themselves as champions of the common man and
defenders of the Constitution. To what extent is this true?
The correct response to this question would be that in some ways, the Jacksonians
were defenders of the common people, but in other ways they were not. An incorrect
approach would be to take a firm stand that the Jacksonians definitely were either one
or the other.
You may find it helpful to use the scoring method employed on the AP exam to
score student essays. That is, use the AP exam essay scoring rubric. That rubric changes
slightly from year to year, but here are its essentials:
Score of 8 or 9:
1. Has a well-developed thesis statement that addresses the question.
2. Includes considerable specific and relevant outside information to support the thesis
statement.
3. Includes effective analysis of a substantial number of documents (if scoring a
DBQ).
4. Is well written and clearly organized.
5. May contain minor factual errors that do not detract from the overall quality of the
essay.
Score of 5 to 7:
1. Has an acceptable thesis statement.
2. Includes some specific and relevant outside information to support the thesis
statement.
3. Includes effective analysis of some of the documents (if scoring a DBQ).
4. Shows acceptable writing and organization.
5. May contain minor factual errors that do not detract from the overall quality of the
essay.
Score of 2 to 4:
1. Thesis statement is confused, unfocused, or nonexistent.
2. Includes little specific or relevant outside information.
3. Includes little or no analysis of the documents (if scoring a DBQ).
4. Has problems in writing and organization that detract from the quality of the essay.
5. Contains major factual errors.
Score of 0 to 1:
1. Is an incompetent or inappropriate response to the question.
2. Contains little or no factual information.
3. Includes substantial factual errors.
Note that an essay can receive a score of 8 or 9, yet still contain minor factual errors.
Also, teachers should always remember that student essays are written under a time
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constraint in class. What the students turn in are rough drafts, not polished essays.
Scratch-outs and a reasonable number of spelling and grammatical errors should be
overlooked.
V. Giving Practice Exams
5 Steps to a 5: AP U.S. History includes two full-length practice exams modeled on the
actual AP U.S. History exam. All of the questions are in the AP U.S. History exam
format, and they have been written to match the actual exam in terms of topic coverage
and degree of difficulty.
You may wish to administer these exams in your class section by section to make
students familiar with the exam format and to build their test-taking confidence. If you
follow the actual test time limits, you can help students with their pacing; those who
do not finish a section will know that they need to work faster, while those who finish
early may see that they can slow down and focus more on accuracy.
Many teachers advise students to try to answer all of the multiple-choice questions
in only 50 minutes and to use the last 5 minutes to review any challenging questions.
Another strategy is to announce every 10 or 15 minutes how many questions students
should have completed. Although some students may find this to be an interruption,
it is highly advisable for the first practice test. It gives all students an idea of the rate
at which they should have been finishing the questions during each interval. Some
students will find they are way behind the pace they need to maintain if they are to
complete the test.
Both practice exams include free-response sections with document-based questions.
Again, these are carefully modeled on the free-response questions on the actual exam.
If possible, have students tackle these questions under exam conditions, following the
real exam time limits. Students need to learn to pace themselves when responding to
essay questions, and these exams offer useful, targeted practice.
If your schedule does not allow you to devote whole class periods to these practice
exams, you may wish to assign them for practice outside of class. Make sure your students understand that test-taking practice is valuable only if they follow directions and
avoid looking up answers in reference sources. Only if they follow those guidelines will
their scores be valid indicators of how they will do on test day.
Once students have completed the practice tests, you may want to review the questions and explanations in class, making sure that students understand why the correct
answers are correct and the incorrect ones are not. For the free-response questions, you
might provide a list of points that the responses should cover and ask students to grade
their own essays, using the scoring rubric provided by the College Board.
After completing both practice exams in 5 Steps to a 5, students should have a reasonable idea of how they will score on the actual AP exam. If they are worried about
their performance, share with them the idea that their score is not necessarily an indication of how much they know, but rather of how much they know relative to all the
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AP U.S. History: Teacher’s Manual
other students who took the AP U.S. History exam. Knowing how many questions they
need to answer correctly to get a score of 4 or 5 often relieves stress. Finding out that
they can miss one out of every six questions and still potentially get a 5 (according to
College Board statistics) is a huge confidence builder for most students.
For additional test-taking practice, you can download free, actual AP U.S. History
exams from the AP website. These tests are available to teachers but inaccessible to students. Make sure you follow the usage guidelines provided at the website. Those guidelines are intended to prevent unauthorized use of the materials and to ensure that the
questions are administered to students in accordance with College Board policies.
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AP U.S. History Mobile Apps
With content from McGraw-Hill Education’s bestselling 5 Steps to a 5 Series, exam prep has
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