AP European History Strategy

1. AP European History Strategy Mr. Cicerchi Strongsville High School

2. Purpose and Goal • The purpose of this class is to prepare students for the AP European History Exam at the end of the year • The goal of all students should be to earn a “5” on the exam to gain college credit; a “4” is also a very impressive score as only the most selective schools won’t accept a “4”

3. Objectives • This presentation was created to introduce students to my expectations in an advanced placement class • Class will move at an accelerated pace and students are expected to keep up • Due to the compressed time horizons of the class, we won’t have time to slow down and answer question-after-question • Please understand that I am approachable and you can ask questions, but if you feel like I’m rushing through questions at times, I probably am • If you have additional questions, please see me during my planning period

4. Presentation Content • The content of the project is an overview of what to expect in my class • I will talk about reading, writing, testing within the class, and pacing

5. Table of Contents Ch. 1. Importance of Reading Ch. 2. Focus Within Writing Ch. 3. Preparing for Testing Ch. 4. Day-to-Day and Week-to-Week Ch. 5. Vacation is Not a Break Ch. 6. The End of the Beginning

6. Importance of Reading Students need to read to material on time to be successful in class I know that most of you came from the honors track I also know that many of you have been successful in the past either by skimming the material or waiting until the last minute (I know this because I had some of you)

7. Importance of Reading I’m also not going to say that it’s impossible to do well in this class on the test if you procrastinate—but you make things SO MUCH HARDER on yourself if you do This course will be taught at a quick pace; if you fall behind it will be hard to catch up

8. Focus Within Writing In my opinion, the most easily controllable portion of the AP Euro exam is the writing portion I believe this because the multiple choice section will have important factual data and higher-level thinking questions from 560+ years of history While we don’t know what the essays will be either, there are larger themes that we can focus on Specifically with the DBQ, there are documents there to help direct our thought processes once we have a clear, focused thesis

9. Focus Within Writing There are two sections within the writing portion: the FRQ (free response question) and the DBQ (document-based question) We will focus on component skills throughout the year: writing a strong thesis building a quality introductory paragraph integrating multiple documents in appropriate groups understanding the author’s/artist’s point of view

10. Focus Within Writing The skills on the previous slide can be worked on without writing a full essay Of course we will also be writing plenty of essays We will get better by practicing both the individual skills and the long-form writing process

11. Preparing for Testing In a way, the entire class is preparation of testing, but as we get closer to the exam our focus will narrow We will have some time to review for the exam in class I will also make myself available for study sessions outside of class as deemed necessary

12. Preparing for Testing As stated earlier, the most important thing in here is to avoid procrastination By staying current, the review at the end will truly be a review; we will be re-learning, not learning You should certainly take notes as you read—not for me, but for you Those notes will come in handy later in the year as we review material for the AP Exam

13. Preparing for Testing • This has some additional tips for the DBQ of the exam, from a furry friend • Shamu Talks about AP European History

14. Day-to-Day and Week-to-Week The textbook reads in a bit of a conversational format; in fact, the author mentions that his writing style is in the mode of telling a story Due to this factor, it should be easier to understand the text than other textbooks you’ve worked with in the past That said, reading will be assigned every few days or by the week Since this is a college level class, I plan to treat you similar to college students

15. Day-to-Day and Week-to-Week You need to learn how to pace yourself If you’re in the marching band, saving reading for the night you have practice would be a bad idea If you’re an athlete, you probably don’t want to overload yourself on game night I know these are simple suggestions that many of you probably already follow, but budgeting time across classes and life activities is key to success

16. Vacation is Not a Break Lastly, while I tend to not assign much in other classes over vacation, this class will be different While my personal philosophy would afford you a break, the College Board doesn’t Since we need to make it through 560+ years by early May, days over Winter and Spring Break need to be utilized

17. Vacation is Not a Break • I’m not going to ask you to turn in assignments during our breaks, but you will have to be reading and writing • When we return from vacation, assignments are going to be due—know that ahead of time

18. The End of the Beginning One of the secondary purposes of this PowerPoint was to eliminate as many surprises as possible I know we’ll have issues that come up as we try to navigate this educational journey, but you now know my expectations Hopefully we will be successful in our first journey through AP European History

19. The End of the Beginning