Welcome to AP European History!
This is a challenging course that requires students to put quite a bit of effort into the concepts and themes that we are studying. There is not an overwhelming amount of traditional homework assigned, but it is necessary for success and understanding for students to review their notes every night and read all assigned articles/selections/chapters. This course also requires students to plan ahead and budget their time for the large projects, presentations, and papers that will be assigned.
The College Board has designed this course using historical thinking skills that college professors deemed necessary for success in collegiate history courses. Therefore, we will be practicing specific skills and practices that all will be assessed on the AP exam in May:
AP History Disciplinary Practices:
Practice 1: Analyzing Historical Evidence
Practice 2: Argument Development
AP History Reasoning Skills:
Causation, Contextualization, Continuity and Change Over Time, Comparison
1. Historical Causation
You need to be able to identify, analyze, and evaluate the relationships among multiple historical causes and effects, distinguishing between those that are long-term and short-term, and differentiate coincidence from causation and correlation.
2. Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time
You need to be able to recognize, analyze, and evaluate the dynamics of historical continuity and change over periods of time of varying length, as well as the ability to relate these patterns to larger historical processes or themes.
3. Comparison
You need to be able to describe, compare, and evaluate multiple historical developments within one society, one or more developments across or between different societies, and in various chronological and geographical contexts. It also involves the ability to identify, compare, and evaluate multiple perspectives on a given historical experience.
4. Contextualization
You need to be able to connect historical events and processes to specific circumstances of time and place and to broader regional, national, or global processes. In other words, how do the events of your essay fit into the larger picture of history?
Grading Rules
Summative............. .......80%
Tests, DBQs (40%)
Quizzes, SAQs, Socratics (40%)
Formative......................20%
Homework (portfolio), progress checks
classwork activites
Course Outline
Sept . Renaissance
Sept.-Oct . Reformation
Oct. Age of Religious Wars
Oct.-Nov. Age of Absolutism
Nov. Enlightenment
Nov.-Dec . French Revolution and Napoleonic Europe
Dec.- Jan. Industrial Revolution and the Age of Metternich
Jan.-Feb . Nationalism and Imperialism
Feb.- March World War I and the Russian Revolution
March-April Age of Anxiety
April World War II and its Immediate Aftermath
April-May Cold War and Europe in the 1990
Periods of Study:
Period 1: 1350 – 1648
Period 2: 1648 – 1815
Period 3: 1815 – 1914
Period 4: 1914 - present