AP U.S. History
Workshop
The 2010 AP Reading
February 25, 2011
Presenter Information

Mike Nance
 Alpharetta
HS
 nance@fultonschools.org
 http://www2.fultonschools.org/teacher/nance
/
Online Score Reporting
My AP U.S. Instructional
Planning Report
 Uses

Why become a Reader?
The top six reasons





#6: Earning Continuing Education Units
(CEUs) and professional development
hours.
#5: Grading the exam responses of the
world's brightest students - and others!
#4: Practicing how to use a rubric
consistently, (which can make you better
at scoring your own students' essays)
#3: Establishing friendships and a
countrywide network of faculty members
#2: Exchanging ideas among faculty and
AP Development committee members
And the #1 reason to become
an AP Reader…
$
Readers are paid!
AP U.S. History Exam Format
 80
item multiple choice exam
 One Document Based Essay (DBQ)
 Two “Free Response” essays, one of
two questions in two parts
The 2010 AP U.S. Exam
 The
DBQ
 In
what ways did ideas and values held by
Puritans influence the political,
economic, and social development of the
New England colonies from 1630
through the 1660s?
 10 documents, A-J
 Instructions
 Coherent
essay
 Document interpretation
 Outside information
What did the question
require?
 Knowledge of
Puritan
settlement in New England,
1630-1660, esp. political,
economic and social
development
 Ability to interpret and apply
documents
 Recall of relevant outside data
How did students perform?
3.4 average on 0-9 scale (not bad)
 Most essays were long; most used
nearly all of the documents
 Most dealt exclusively with the
documents, i.e., no outside
information
 Many had the “big four”: Mission,
Williams, Hutchison

How did students perform?



Most could use documents to
some extent
No one document caused
problems (Doc. G and H most
often).
Most were descriptive, not
analytical
More on the 2010 DBQ
Documents were often quoted:
OUCH!
 Economics was weakest of the
three (many erred on doc. H)
 Some tried to compare NE w/
other regions (1993 DBQ)

Did Your Students Say…
 “Puritans
also can tolerate any religion… except his
own.”
 “what extreme measures were taken to vanquish
anything believed to be evil or contemplating with
satin”
Did Your Students Say…

“Although Puritan principles did have a
resonating effect on the New England
region, the Puritan axioms themselves are
innately controversial in the sense that some
fortified the mother colony, Massachusetts,
while others, unequivocally, were a cogent
force in the formation of schisms.”
DBQ Samples and Scoring
The rubric
 The Documents: Information and
Inference
 Outside Information

Three Samples
1A
 1B
 1C

Teaching Students to “do”
the DBQ
 My
DBQ practice instructions
 Why this way?
 Most
DBQ topics are “common
knowledge”
 Too many kids start with “In document A”
and finish with “In document J…”
 Better chance of having a unique
introduction
 How
many kids are taking the test?
 How many 2010 DBQ’s started with “Puritan
ideas and values influenced the social,
political…”?
Question 4

Analyze the roles that women
played in Progressive Era
reforms from the 1880s through
1920. Focus your essay on TWO
of the following.
 Politics
 Social
conditions
 Labor and working conditions
What did the question
require?
Analysis of the roles of women
 Two of three topics
 Draw conclusions

How did students perform?
2.86 on 9 point scale
 Wide range of answers

 Very
broad and vague to specific and
analytical
 More specifics on political and social than
labor/working conditions
How did students perform?

Common errors
 Progressive
reforms v. role of women
 Chronologically challenged:
 Lowell
girls
 Dorothea Dix
 Flappers
 Seneca Falls
did your student say this?
 “In
the early days, women were not allowed.”
Did your student say this?
“As everyone remembers, everyone saw a woman
people looked up to, the beloved Hillary Clinton,
break down into tears. That day will live in infamy.
Men were proven right; a woman could never have the
power, strength or mind to rule the world. Menstrual
cycles, emotions, etc., would just continue to get in the
way. Susan B. Anthony worked to gain suffrage at
Seneca Falls, but through one woman women’s
suffrage will forever be questioned.”
 No, I’m not kidding…

Did your student say this?
 “Crawling into small spaces with no
air
everyday affected the children physically and
ruined their childhood.”
New History!

In one essay – in order
Flappers
 Seneca Falls
 Anti-saloon League
 ERA and the Declaration of Sentiments
 Abagail Adams
 Claribel (Clara Bow??)
 Vietnam and Rosie the Riveter
 Republican motherhood
 Clarence Thomas, “originally a feminist”
 Anne Hutchison and utopian communities
 NOW
 National Womens’ Political caucus
 The Grimke Sisters and Rosa Parks
 Harriet Tubman and Native Americans

Lessons from the AP Reading
Emphasize explicitly addressing the
terms of the question (start w/
reading the question carefully)
 Use chronological and thematic
reviews
 Emphasize the time period of the
question

 Why
did the CB choose this period?
 What’s “in” v. what’s “out”?
Improving Student Writing
Teach student to make outlines: A vanishing art!
 Teach students the principal “question terms”







Analyze
Assess
Evaluate
To what extent
Assess the extent to which
Discuss, focus, consider
Improving Student Writing

Force students to address the key
elements of the question
 The
bulleted points
 Consensus and conformity
 Effectiveness and success
 Successes and failures
 Changes and consequences
 Compare and contrast responses
Improving Student Writing

Force students to pay attention to the
time period (some recent examples)
 1945-1975
 1775-1800
 1816/20-1861
 1928-1948

Ask them to brainstorm periods
occasionally
Improving Student Writing

Teach students the key concepts they
must know
 New
South
 Market Revolution
 Great Awakening
 Rebellions
 Labor
 Immigrants
 Women
Improving Student Writing
Be Positive
 Stress success on the Exam
 Structure your assessments around the
Exam
 Give students the essay questions in
advance (they are all on AP Central
anyway!)
 Use a rubric to score them

Use student samples

Have students critique samples
 Use
the samples on AP Central, good and bad
 Use your own student papers (cautiously and
with permission)
 use last year’s classes (you can get your
booklets from ETS).

Require students to revise their own
essays
My Best Practices
Mystery – the DBQ Game
 Discussion Group
 Essay Prep w/ documents
 Teaching with Cartoons
