AP EUROPEAN HISTORY SYLLABUS
Instructor: Mark Hughes
Mark_Hughes@DPSK12.org
(720) 424-1793
Course Description
This year long class will study European history from 1300 to the present. Areas of special
interest include:
• Culture and art
• Economics
• The decline of the feudal system and the development of popular government
• Laws, contracts and civil life
• The Catholic Church, Protestant Reformation and the religious strife that followed
• Plagues, revolutions, wars and their influence on history
The class is intended to challenge your student with college level work equivalent to that of a
freshman level survey class in history. Parents and students are urged to carefully consider the
amount of weekly work required to complete this class.
Assessment Methods
The students grade will depend upon the following types of tasks
1. Required Summer Reading
2. Required Summer Study packet
3. Unit multiple choice & free response essay tests
4. Document based questions
5. Outside reading essay responses
6. In class participation (Stand & Deliver, Quick Quiz, Note Taking, Attendance)
7. Chapter flash cards
8. Worksheets
Task Descriptions
1. Required Summer Reading
In order to prepare for the year ahead, students are required to read & respond to essay
questions on the following book, 1215, The Year Of Magna Carta, by Danny Danziger &
John Gillinghan, Touchstone, 2005, ISBN-10: 0743257782 (60 points). This assignment
should be completed in the last weeks of the summer vacation.
2. Required Summer Study Packet
Students must also read selected chapters, and essays from a variety of books combined into
a packet. The summer study packet is available from me. Students must acquire this packet
before the summer break prior to taking the class (60 points). This assignment should be
completed in the last weeks of the summer vacation.
3. Unit multiple choice & essay tests
Students will be given weekly reading assignments. In the first weeks of the year students will
read one chapter every two weeks, later this requirement will be increased to one chapter
every week. At the conclusion of the reading students will take a test over the unit. Tests will
include both multiple choice and free response essay questions (Points vary per test).
4. Document Based Questions
These complex essay tasks require the student to use excerpts from primary documents to
answer detailed questions in a five paragraph format (18 to 36 points).
5. Outside Readings
To better understand the ideas and ideologies that shaped European history, students will be
asked to read primary documents, books and essays, then answer in essay format questions
drawn from the readings (Points vary per assignment).
6. Stand & Deliver, Quick Quiz, Note Taking, Attendance
Stand & Deliver: once during the course of the semester each student must stand and explain
a term, event or important person drawn from the current chapter (40 points per semester).
Quick Quiz: up to two times per chapter a brief pop quiz on topics covered in the most
current reading or notes will be given. Students that are absent with out excuse from class
may not earn these points! (10 points per quiz). Note Taking: Students are required to take
notes in a paper format. At the end of the semester each student’s notebook will be
evaluated for neatness and completeness (60 points per semester).
7. Chapter Flash Cards
Students working individually or in study teams must create 10 flash cards on topics, terms,
events or individuals drawn from each chapter in the current unit. The cards are due at the
time the unit test is given (10 points).
8. Worksheets
Worksheets will be used to reinforce in class instruction in such topics as Thesis design, 5
paragraph format, Cornell Note taking, Outlining, and the use of note cards (point value
varies).
Grading Conventions
The students grade in the class is based on the total number of points earned out of the total
points possible for all tasks. The resulting percentage is compared to the following DPS high
school scale.
•92.5+ = A
•89.5 - 92.4 = A•86.5 - 89.4 = B+
•82.5 - 86.4 = B
•79.5 - 82.4 = B•76.5 - 79.4 = C+
•72.5 - 76.4 = C
•69.5 - 72.4 = C•59.5 - 69.4 = D
•0 - 59.4 = F
Each task is assigned a point value. The relative importance of a task can be determined by
the number of points the task is worth.
Writing Conventions
All DBQ essays will be graded in accordance with AP test essay grading conventions.
Homework & Test essays will be graded in accordance with my general essay grading rubric.
Late Work Policy
Each homework assignment is given a point value according to it’s relative importance in the
curricula. That value is modified if the student turns the work in late according to the following
scheme:
Green Zone = Current Unit, full credit
Blue Zone = Half Credit
Red Zone = Assignments can no longer be submitted
When the class begins a new unit the work from the last unit is now late (blue zone) and can
still be turned in for 1/2 credit. When the class begins a new unit the homework from two
units back is now no longer accepted (red zone). Click here to visit the example page.
No late work will be accepted one week prior to semester finals week!
Tardy & Attendance Policy
Student attendance is vital to success. The following procedures will be followed:
• Two unexcused tardies will result in parent notification
• Three unexcused tardies will result in disciplinary referral
• Further unexcused tardies will result in disciplinary referral with each incident
• One unexcused absences will result in parent notification
• Two unexcused absences will result in disciplinary referral
• Further unexcused absences will result in disciplinary referral with each incident
Scholastic Dishonesty
Denver Public Schools student conduct policy identifies Scholastic Dishonesty as “includes but
is not limited to cheating on a test, plagiarism, or unauthorized collaboration with another
person in preparing written work.” (Policy JK). All incidences of Scholastic Dishonesty will
result in the following for all parties involved:
• An automatic & permanent score of 0 on the work in question
• Disciplinary referral
• Parent notification
These measures apply from the very first incident!
Required Supplies
Students must purchase the textbook A History of Western Society, Since 1300, by McKay,
Hill, Buckler, Crowston, Wiesner-Hanks, Bedford-St.Martins, 2009, (ISBN 0-312-68319-7) 9th
ed. The school will have copies available for purchase in the first week of the academic year.
In addition students must have a notebook (spiral or three ring), pencil or pen, 5” by 8” lined
index cards, index card storage box and any reading or project materials assigned by the
teacher. Notebook paper should be suitable for the Cornell Note System.
Recommended Supplies:
a) Outside readings. Students may wish to purchase a copy of the source books for outside
readings. Warning these books are expensive! The readings are drawn from:
•
Sources of the Western Tradition, 6th Ed. By Perry, Peden, Von Laue, Houghton
Mifflin, 2006 (ISBN 0-618-47387-4).
•
Western Civilization, Sources, Images, and Interpretation. 4th Ed. By Dennis Sherman,
McGraw Hill (ISBN 0-07-281964-2).
Copies of the readings are available for checkout from me.
b). AP study guides. Such guides contain practice tests, glossaries, outlines of European
history, Timelines, Biographies of key persons, and test tips. Most students who use them do
better on the AP test
A Note About The AP Test
The purpose of this class is to give the student a firm grounding in European history. Not
merely to get a good score on the AP Test. While I will do my best to prepare the students for
the test, and they must take the test to receive AP Credit for the class, their grade in my class
has no bearing on their AP test score.
Office Hours
My office hours are Monday through Thursday from 3:00 to 4:00 PM.