Week of March 30th through April 3rd
Greetings AP Euro! Welcome to another week locked inside your house and finding things to do! I hope everyone is holding up okay and that everyone is healthy and getting along well with family members. Here things are fairly mellow – I’ve been doing a bit of gardening (growing some showy milkweed to put out in the garden for the butterflies) and making some food (today I’m making a vegan lasagna – should be good). On the school front – THE DBQ’s I am almost done with the DBQ’s and hope to have them in the gradebook by the end of the week. The only ones I won’t have done are the few tests that were taken right as school shut down. I think there are a few tests that ended up in my mailbox that I didn’t pick up. So if your grade isn’t entered, and you took it right before school closed, that is the reason why. I promise I will get to it soon. I wouldn’t worry much about the course grade at this point anyway, regardless of how you did on the DBQ. This is purely speculation on my part – but my guess is that it is likely that second semester grading will be Pass/Fail if we don’t return to school. So as long as you are on the right side of the Pass/Fail line you should be good. THE AP EXAM Hopefully on April 3rd we will learn more about what the AP Exam will look like, when it will be taking place and what measures (if any) they are planning to take to ensure a fair test for everyone. I have unlocked all of the FRQ’s on the AP My Classroom site (the place where you took the multiple-choice exams earlier in the year). All of the FRQ’s for units 1 through 7 are on there for you to check out. Remember it is all optional and none of it is graded. THIS WEEKS SUGGESTED WORK I’d suggest that you continue to review the material for the exam. This week you should check out Units 3 and 4. Review your chapter notes, look over assignments, maybe re-read a section of the test, check out review guides either online or on my website, go through the Study Guide 2020 questions that match units 3 and 4, practice some essay outlining etc.. We will know more on April 3rd, but my guess is that the test is more likely to be a skills (thesis writing, analysis, comparison, causation etc.) type test than a knowledge test so I’d focus on those types of skills. Obviously you need the knowledge in order to do those things, but don’t just spend your time trying to memorize a bunch of facts. Put that knowledge to use in analyzing questions etc.. IF YOU ARE REALLY BORED Another AP Euro teacher that I came across on “The Facebook” had kind of a fun looking activity that I thought I’d steal. He has this assignment where students recreate famous works of art at home with the materials they have available (an example is attached). This could be a challenge since you are not allowed to be within 6 feet of someone who isn’t an immediate family member, but this could be something you might enjoy. You can photoshop some of it if need be – but the more original material the better. If you create one, please edit both the original and your recreation together (like in the example) so people know which work of art it is. If people submit (class appropriate pictures) I will create a subpage on my AP Euro site to show off your mad skills. I’d make one myself, but I have DBQ’s to grade, plants to water an lasagna to make. Have a great week, and as always, if you have questions please don’t hesitate to email. I almost made a video message, but then decided not to. Maybe I will midweek, but probably not. Sincerely, Greg Harrington
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On Wednesday AP is hosting some type of live review on YouTube. I honestly don't know a ton about it, but it sounds like something worth checking out. The content of the review is for material that is no longer on the exam -- which is somewhat confusing to me as to why they'd do this. At any rate, the link to the review sessions is here: AP LIVE REVIEW
Update for the Week of March 23rd
Hello AP Euro! AP Exam Update: It sounds like the AP exam is indeed going to happen, but it is going to be in a modified format compared to the one we have been preparing for. It sounds like there will be ZERO multiple choice questions (sorry if that’s your jam), and that the exam overall will be significantly reduced. There’s only going to be a 45 minute set of “Free Response Questions” (FRQ’s). They have not clarified exactly what this means – but it will likely be some type of Short Answer Question(s) (SAQ) or an LEQ/DBQ type thing that will be modified in some way. They have also announced that the content you need to know for the exam will be reduced to what we have already examined. Specifically it will only cover from 1450 to 1914 (the start of World War I). Short Version: There will be a test. We don’t yet know when it will be given, but it will be online and you will be able to take this on your own at home. The format of the exam is not yet known. The only content that will be on the test is the material that we have already gone over in class (Units 1-7; Eras 1-3). Lastly, they are planning to fill in all the missing pieces by April 3rd. The Plan for the Week: Since there is no longer a need for new content to prepare for the exam, I’m thinking that we should move right to reviewing for the exam. It seems like the new testing window will be roughly the same date as the original test (or maybe later), which means that we have roughly 6 weeks plus to prepare for the exam – which is a lot of review time. Therefore, I propose that for Week 1 we review Unit 1 and Unit 2 material. The topics for these two units are: Unit 1: The Renaissance and Unit 2: The Reformation. (An overview of all the units can be found by clicking here and a detailed description of each one by clicking here and going to page 33). The Optional Review Assignment: Remember, the district has announced that all assignments are optional, and nothing is turned in and/or graded. That said, I hope you will use your time before the exam to review the material. On the website (under Units>Final Exam Prep and Review) you will find the file “2020 Review Questions”. (You can also click here). The directions are fairly straight-forward. For this week you should check out the review questions that connect with Unit 1 and Unit 2. You can also check out the other review materials on the website below the review guide. Additionally, I’d suggestion going back over your chapter notes, old class assignments and other materials to refresh your memory about the material from Unit 1 and Unit 2. Lastly, remember that for each Unit on the website there is a list of videos at the bottom that you might find interesting and/or helpful in reviewing this material. All of the review questions on the “2020 Review Questions” assignment are either past AP questions or ones that I modified from other old assignments. Not all of them easily lend themselves to creating a thesis – so if you seem stuck in trying to figure out how to write a thesis for a particular one don’t get too hung up about it. I will try to figure out how I might be able to put something more together for the coming weeks and as always am available via email. I hope you are all holding up okay and that everyone is safe and healthy. If you have time for something interesting, but not really related to history at all, maybe check out this video: Joseph Campbell Episode 8. This is definitely not how I pictured this part of the year back in September. Warm Regards, Greg Harrington It seems like the AP Exams will happen after all -- so that is good. There are changes to what will be tested, and how the test will happen. I am still figuring out the details myself, but this site has a bunch of information that you should check out.
Site: AP INFO LINK I sent the information below to everyone's Skyward email. If you didn't receive it you should double-check that your email is correct to be able to receive future communications. I hope everyone is well and holding up okay.
Hello AP Euro, Well we have word from the district on the plan up to April 24th. I’ll run down how I plan to approach this and what the expectations are up to that point. The basic idea is that your teachers will post learning activities for the week, but these activities are 100% optional. (insert “It’s NOT a trap” meme here). There is no work to submit and nothing will be graded. That said, if we assume that the AP Euro exam is still happening (which is doubtful, but I have heard rumblings that they might try to move it online), you will still need to be knowledgeable about the material that we have not yet examined. Past Assignments: I am still grading the DBQ’s and will enter those grades in the next few weeks. I have not made a ton of progress on them, in part because I have been mildly sick the past 5 days or so, but I am feeling better now. I feel bad that I will be entering those grades without being able to turn the assignment back to you – which is another reason I have been putting it off. I suspect that many of you are okay with it not being in the gradebook yet anyway. If there are other missing assignments or late work that you still need to turn in please send me a PDF or some other copy of the assignment. There are a few things still at school that I need to grade and there are some no name papers that I will attempt to problem solve. My plan: once a week (either Sunday or Monday morning) I will post a plan for the week. It will include the activities for the week with a description of what each one is. I will try to have about 6-8 hours of material, but that includes 3 hours of textbook reading. The plan will be both emailed to the address you have in Skyward and it will be posted to the “News” section of the website. The calendar will also be updated accordingly. If you have questions about something, or can’t find something, I will be checking email regularly and will get back to you promptly. If school is still closed after April 24th – which I think is highly likely – the District and Teachers are going to develop another plan for how to deal with things like how credit is awarded, what grades to students earn (or are they all pass/fail), etc. etc.. Part of the difficulty with implementing something more substantial right now is that we can’t assume that everyone can access the internet and the District is still responsible for things like Special Education services, among many other things. Additionally, what might work well for AP Euro students might not work so well for a 1st grade student. You get the idea – in a district of 10,000+ students there are a myriad of challenges to teaching online/remotely. So that’s the plan for now – I will put together weekly optional material and email you the plan by early Monday morning for each week. Sorry this email is so long, if you read past the “100% optional” part in the second paragraph, thank you. :) Sincerely, Greg Harrington I'm sure many of you are wondering what happens now since school is closed for the next 6 weeks. I honestly have no idea -- but I was concerned that this day might arrive. There are meetings with district leaders that are going to be happening in the next few days that will hopefully provide some clarity about things. Mostly, I think you should prioritize things in the following order:
1. Take care of yourself and follow public health official's guidelines and recommendations. This is a serious event and must be treated as such. 2. In terms of school work: I will have more information about this in a few days and I am sure that the district will clarify things (hopefully). My suggestion for now -- assume that the AP test is still on and that there will be some type of work to complete before the end of the school year to earn credit. Both of these things are subject to change of course. 3. Be caring towards loved ones and the community at large. Realize that at some point things will return to normal, but that time is more likely months away and not weeks. 4. Please know how much I care for and respect all of you. I am so grateful to able to be your Euro teacher and look forward to seeing you again soon. Sorry our last day before the shut down I was not around as much as I wanted to be. What is there to say really that you can't find elsewhere online? Not much really. I just hope that this goes a lot better than anticipated. In the event school is closed for more than a day or two I will post class assignment updates here as well as trying to send updates through the Skyward email system.
We survived "Computer Hack 2020" and the website editing is now back up and running. Stay tuned for more of the unusual and off topic material you have come to expect from this site.
We are in the midst of a global catastrophe in terms of dwindling bio-diversity. If there are parts of nature you are hoping to see, or species you are hoping to enjoy, you had best not put it off for too long. North America Has Lost 3 Billion BirdsWe survived AP Exams 2019! Well done. Now we just get to kick back and wait to see the scores in July -- I'm hoping for the best for everyone. This has been another great year and I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have. There are still a few weeks of school -- and there are still some assignments -- but I hope that you enjoy the remainder of our time together.
Thank you for all your hard work and for making this a wonderful place to be. |