Syllabus
AP U.S. History (APUSH)
Mr. Johnson
History Department, Rm. 207
Contact Information:
(253) 571-6055
Ljohns2@tacoma.k12.wa.us
Office Hours:
Monday through Friday
1:05pm -2:35pm
Course Description
Advanced Placement United States History (APUSH) is a college-level course taught in high
school. The nature of the course presents students with several distinct advantages as well as
unique challenges when compared to other high school courses. One advantage of APUSH is
the potential for students to earn college credit if they receive a qualifying score on the APUSH
exam. Another advantage students’ gain by taking APUSH, is the necessary critical thinking
skills that are paramount to success in post-secondary education. Students exposed to collegelevel rigor in high school are better prepared for university coursework.
While rigor is necessary for success in APUSH it also can be a challenge. APUSH is meant to
be harder than college introductory freshmen United States history. Students receiving a
qualifying score of 3 or higher on the APUSH exam are eligible, by most universities standards,
to receive college credit and bypass the freshmen U.S. history course. The greatest challenge
for most students taking this course will be amount of reading and coursework that must be
completed prior to the early exam date.
The course will examine the political, ideological, economic, social, and cultural influences that
help shape the United States starting with Pre-Columbian civilization and ending with
contemporary history of the twentieth-first century. This course is for the academically minded
student that intends to do college-level work in a high school setting.
The APUSH Exam
The AP U.S. History exam, administrated (Friday) May 6, 2016, is 3 hours and 15 minutes long.
There are four components to the exam: stimuli-based multiple choice (40%), short answer
questions (20%), a document-based essay question (25%) and a long essay question (15%).
The exam is graded on five point scale. Generally, most public universities award credit or
placement to students who earn a 3 or higher while many private colleges require a 4 or higher.
Details about schools AP credit policies can be found at
https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/creditandplacement/search-credit-policies.
Themes/Concepts/Questions
The overall objective for the course will be developing a narrative of United States history that
uses both the (7) themes and conceptual ideas of APUSH. The following are examples of some
of the themes, concepts, and questions that will be covered in the course.
1. American and National Identity (ID): How did American national identities develop and
change over time?
2. Politics and Power (POL): How have politics and the pursuit of power by individuals and
groups shaped American political parties and ideological platforms?
3. Work, Exchange, and Technology (WXT): How have technological innovation influence,
social-economics and politics of American life?
4. Culture and Society (CUL): How have shifts in social norms and cultural identifiers amongst
a myriad of demographic groups help to shape a unique American Culture?
5. Migration and Settlement (MIG): What human factors of migration and settlement have
produced the unique topography we know as states, communities, and neighborhoods of
America?
6. Geography and the Environment (GEO): What are the geographic advantages and
restrictions of the United States that shape the nation? What has been the significance of
environmental factors in the past on American migration, settlement and economic fortune?
7. America and the World (WOR): What has America’s role in geo-politics, economics, and
global conflicts?
Sources
Textbook
The American Pageant; Kennedy, Cohen and Bailey, 16th edition; Wadsworth/Cengage, 2015
Primary Sources
Documenting United States History; Themes, Concepts and Skills for the AP course; Stacy and
Heller; Bedford/St. Martin’s; 2016
Our Documents; 100 Milestone Documents from the National Archives; Compston and
Seidman; Oxford University Press; 2003
Secondary Sources
Numerous
Instructional Activities
Various forms of instructional formats will be used in the course. Students are expected to be
prepared for class regardless of what instructional activity is being used at any given time.
Students who fail to complete reading and assignments on time will not be prepared to engage
and participate in classroom learning activities. The following are examples of few of
instructional activities:
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Discussion
Lecture
Homework
Group Study and Presentations
Notes
Videos
Debates/role playing
 Essays
 Socratic questions
 Detail analysis of primary and secondary sources
* The list is not exhaustive
The Notebook
Students are required to maintain a notebook for the course. The notebook must be a bound;
composition notebook. Notebooks will be collected twice a semester and scored according to a
point scale. Students will know ahead time when their notebooks will be due. Notebooks must
contain class notes and any assignments assigned for the notebook. Each entry should be dated,
titled and state brief but clearly any learning objectives.
Not acceptable for the notebook:
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Loose or stapled papers
Glued pages
3 ring binders
Unit Assignments and Classwork
Homework is constant throughout the course. You are expected to read the chapters assigned for
each unit. In addition there will be a series of questions per chapter that must completed and
turned in prior to taking the chapter quiz or unit exam.
Each unit will begin with the identification of key learning objectives that will guide us through
each unit. This will be part of the introduction of each unit. Write the unit introductions in your
notebooks.
Reading Quizzes and Summative Assessments
Quizzes will be used to incentivize students keep up on their weekly readings. Students need to
read the chapter content, study and review materials from the textbook. Quizzes will be weekly
over a chapter and consist of traditional multiple choice and matching. It is at the teacher’s
discretion if all or some of the quizzes will be incorporated into the semester grade.
Summative assessments are designed to judge student mastery of the course material. Two types
of summative assessments will primarily be used in the course: unit exams and time writes. The
former will consist of stimuli-based multiple choice questions and a few short answer questions.
The latter will be a document-based essay question or long essay question. Taken together, the
question types on these assessments mirror the questions that students will face on the AP exam.
Unit exams will be given every 2-4 weeks while timed writes will take place every 4-6 weeks
starting October. Each assessment may cover any of the material students have been exposed to
(textbook, primary sources, discussions, video, etc.) in the current unit of study and the
preceding units. Students who have an unexcused absence will be able to makeup missed exams;
however, the makeup exam may contain more challenging questions then the original test.
No exam scores will be dropped either semester. There are no retakes for exams.
Extra Credit
There is no extra credit available for this class.
Grading
All class activities will be assigned a point value. Points will be accumulated over a grading
period. The midterm/semester grade will be determined by dividing the total points earned by the
total points possible. The resulting percent will translate into a letter grade according to the scale
below.
Gradebook Categories and Weights
Summative Assessments (Exam)
Reading Quizzes
Classwork\Homework
Projects and Special Assignments
55%
15%
15%
15%
Grading Scale
94-100%
90-93
87-89
84-86
80-83
77-79
74-76
70-73
67-69
60-66
0-59
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
E
Academic success in APUSH depends on a student’s:
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Attendance
Participation
Organization
Attention
Work
Classroom Rules of Conduct (ROCs)
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All Wilson High School policies regarding head coverings, electronic devices, food/drink
and other regulations are in effect. You are responsible for knowing the contents of your
Wilson Student Handbook.
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Cheating will be cause for dismissal from the class with a failing grade. This includes, but
not limited to; copying from one another student’s paper, plagiarism, having a cellphone/electronic device out during an exam. Having another student do your work. Unless
we are working on a collaborative project, students are expected to complete their own
work.
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Always ask for permission before leaving the classroom.
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Late assignments are not accepted, unless the result of an excused absence, as determined by
the attendance office. If absent, please put due work in the box at the front of the room,
Notebooks and exams can be turned in/ completed late with an unexcused absence, with a
score reduction of 25%.
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Assignments will be posted on the white board, right of the door. Assignments will also be
posted on my Swift Page. However, due dates may need to be adjusted.
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This class requires a significant amount of discussion regarding controversial issues.
Students are expected to respect all students in the expression of their views. Each student is
expected to listen, think and present their views in a coherent manner. Opinions mean
nothing, unless they are grounded in specific arguments.