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William Decker
Social Studies Department
845-758-2241 ext. 3146
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AP European History Course Syllabus
Grading System, Class Requirements
A) Class Requirements:
1) Three Ring Binder
2) Loose leaf Paper
3) Detailed Notes of All Reading Assignments, submitted on exam days
4) McKay textbook, everyday
5) Perry textbook - (these are kept in class and are only taken out for specific assignments)
6) Pens (everyday) and pencils (on multiple choice exam days)
7) Have the reading completed prior to class periods
** This is essential -- class time is NOT the first time you
should be hearing about an idea, event or topic.
Students will be asked to comment on or discuss
the assigned material.
B) Grading System:
1) All multiple choice exams will consist of 40 questions.
(Students will have 25 minutes to complete the exam)
Grading Scale : 5 = 34-40 correct
4 = 28-33 correct
3 = 22-27 correct
2 = 16-21 correct
1 = 9-15 correct
2) All Essay Exams will be scored on a 1 - 9 scale
(Students will have the entire class period to complete the exam)
· Students will choose one essay out of two or three options
· Essays must achieve the highest possible levels on Bloom’s Taxonomy, with a year-long focus on analytic writing.
- Essays will be centered on interpreting and analyzing
historic documents (DBQs), as well as writing on specific thematic issues.
** Separate out of class assignments will require students to understand what a scholarly article is, and to accumulate, analyze and compare such works; we will be dealing with the most current studies that are available.
AP GRADING SCALES and what they mean on a traditional 1- 100 or A – F scales :
Multiple Choice Essay (DBQ and Free-Response)
5 = A (95%) 9 = A+ (99%)
4 = B (85%) 8 = A- (92%)
3 = C (75%) 7 = B+ (88%)
2 = D (65%) 6 = B (85%)
1 = F (55%) 5 = B- (82%)
4 = C (75%)
3 = C- (72%)
2 = D (65%)
1 = F (55%)
Grades that will appear on student’s quarterly grade reports : Calculating Procedures
After all the Multiple Choice and Essay grades are averaged, students will have an opportunity to pick up five additional points.
5 points --- There will be five assignments, other than the reading,
every ten-week marking period. Each of these assignments
completed in a satisfactory manner will result in one point
added to your overall quarter average.
(see the following page for samples of assignments)
*** In order to take an exam the student must present (on the day of the exam)
detailed notes on all the assigned readings. If satisfactory notes are not
completed, then the student will receive a zero for that exam.
Core Texts:
McKay, John P., A History of Western Society, Seventh Ed., © 2003
by Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA
Perry, Marvin, Sources of the Western Tradition, Volume II: From the
Renaissance to the Present, 5th ed., © 2003 by Houghton Mifflin Co.
Boston, MA
Strickland, Carol, The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History
From Prehistoric to Post-Modern, © 1992 by John Boswell Mgt. –
Universal Press Syndicate Company, 4520 Main Street, Kansas City, MI
** Supplemental Readings are listed in the Syllabus
Course Assignments:
1) Original Document Analysis Forms : On occasion you will be completing these
forms, which will help to organize the main
points of primary sources, such as types of
argumentation, historical context, differing
types of writing (satire, edict, letter,
propaganda, essay, reasoned argument,
etc.), as well as determining effectiveness.
2) Letter to Posterity : You will be developing your own “letter to
posterity”, based upon
Francesco Petrarch’s
famous 14th century document.
3) Class Presentations : Students will be preparing and presenting
ideas, events, and responses to certain
topics at several points during the school
year to their classmates.
4) Debate : At two times during the year you will
assume the persona of one historical figure
and engage in a formal dialogue/debate
concerning these two issues:
a) Which is the “best” form of
government for humans to live
under: an autocracy or a
constitutional system ?
b) Was the Treaty of Versailles
a peace agreement that benefited
Europe (as a whole) or was
detrimental to Europe ?
5) Family Tree Construction : Create a family tree for one of the following
imperial families:
The Habsburgs
The Hohenzollerns
The Romanovs
6) Mnemonic Devices : At several points during the year you will
develop your own mnemonic devices.
These will be used to help organize your
memory concerning chronological events.
7) Playbill Assignment: You will create a playbill for the French
Revolution. (specifics to be discussed later)
8) Resume Assignment : You will imagine that Klemens von
Metternich and Otto von Bismarck are both
applying for the same job as foreign minister
for the country of Utopia. You will be
writing a resumes and cover letters for each
applicant discussing their qualities, past
accomplishments, and reasons they should
be hired.
9) Political Cartoons You will be given some political cartoons or
propaganda posters and be asked to develop
appropriate captions and/or slogans for each.
Aside from these specific assignments you will also complete a series of Document-Based Questions, Thematic Essays, and Multiple Choice Exams for practice and assessment purposes. You will also need to prepare for class discussion, submit notes, and write persuasive, compare and contrast and essay-style papers. You will become familiar with and write one précis paper this year. At times you will also participate in cooperative activities in class.
It is imperative that you keep several days ahead in the reading of class lecture and
activities, as it will make for a more productive, effective and fun experience.
Full length films shown during class : (when time allows)
Elizabeth (Rated R) – permission slips needed
, ; The Great Dictator (G)
Battleship Potemkin (NR)
Martin Luther (PBS – nr)
Triumph of the Will (NR)
Architecture of Doom (NR)
Gallipoli (Rated PG)
Course Readings and Exam Dates
UNIT 1 The Crisis of the Late Middle Ages (Five Days)
Readings : 1) McKay text, A History of Western Civilization Chp. 12
2) Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, “The 2nd Tale of the 4th Day”
3) A Medieval Romance: Aucassin and Nicolotte (Minstrel Play, trad.)
Exam Date : Friday, Sept. 17th
UNIT 2 The Early Renaissance and the Reformation (Thirteen Days)
Readings: 1) McKay text, Chps. 13 and 14
2) excerpt: Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
3) Benedetto Dei – A Description of Florence (1472)
4) Renaissance Civilization - Medieval or Modern
Leon Battista Alberti, excerpt: “Books on Family”
Benvenuto Cellini, “The Artist as an Individualist”
Alberti, “The Artist-Scholar”
Vespasiano da Bisticci, “The Scholar-Churchman”
Baldassare Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier, “The Courtier”
5) Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince and Discourses
6) Francesco Petrarch, “To Posterity”
7) article: “The Borgias: The First Crime Family”
8) Martin Luther, the 95 Thesis and The Address to the German Nobility
Film: 1) “Master’s of Illusion” : Artistic Methods of the Renaissance
2) PBS documentary: Martin Luther
Exam Date : Wednesday, Oct. 13th
UNIT 3 The Age of Religious Wars and European Expansion (Seven Days)
Readings : 1) McKay Chp. 15
Documents of the 30 Years War :
2) * The Alliance of the Protestant Union – doc.
3) * The Destruction of Magdeburg , Otto von Gericke
Exam Date: Wednesday, Oct. 27th
UNIT 4 Absolutism in Western Europe (Nine Days)
Readings: 1) McKay Chps. 16 and 17
2) “An Absolute Monarch in Action” Louis XIV
(translation by H. Wilson)
3) from Memoirs of Louis XIV and the Regency
“A Noble Appraises the Character of Louis XIV”
and
“A Day in the Life of the King”
4) from Readingsin European History
“Mercantilism: The Economic Side of French Mercantilism”
“An Edict for the Establishment”
5) Cole, C.A.W. , Colbertus Letters
Exam Date : Wednesday, Nov. 10th
UNIT 5 The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment (8 Days)
Readings: 1) McKay Chp. 18
2) Copernicus and the New Universe
3) Galileo Galilee (1564-1642) - writings
4) Blasé’ Pascal, Pensees
5) Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (selected)
6) Immanuel Kant, “What is Enlightenment ?” , essay
7) Thomas Paine, “Deism”
8) Jean Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract”
Exam Date : Tuesday, Nov. 23rd
UNIT 6 Expansion and Social Change ----- 18th Century (10 Days)
Readings: 1) McKay Chps. 19 and 20
2) Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (selections)
3) Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile
4) scholarly articles defining Romanticism and Baroque Art
from: Sources of the West - G. Perry
5) Robert Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes
in French Cultural History
Exam Date : Tuesday, Dec. 14th
UNIT 7 The Revolution in Politics (THE FRENCH REVOLUTION and
NAPOLEONIC ERA) ---- 7 days
Readings: 1) McKay Chp. 21
2) Perry Chp. 4
3) John Stuart Mill, excerpts from On Liberty
4) Maximilien Robespierre, “Justification of the Use of Terror”
5) Abbe Sieyes, “What is the Third Estate?”
6) Thomas Paine, Common Sense / pamphlet ed. 4
7) document : The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
Exam Date : Thursday, Dec. 23rd
UNIT 8 The Industrial Revolution (5 Days)
Readings: 1) McKay Chp. 22
2) “The Young Girl in the Factory”
Source: Great Britain, Sessional Papers, House of Commons
Hearings of June 4th 1832, vol. XV
3) Pollard and Holmes, Documents of European Economic History
“The New Discipline of the Factory System”
Exam Date: Tuesday, Jan. 11th
TBA ---- Jan. 25th - 28th
MIDTERM EXAM DATE : ----------------------------------------------
UNIT 9 Metternich’s Europe, Social Revolutions and New Ideologies:
(6 Days) - Socialism
- Conservatism
- Liberalism
- Nationalism
- Romanticism
Readings: 1) McKay Chp. 23
2) Biographies : Delegates to the Congress of Vienna
3) Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations pt. 2
“The Role of Government”
EXAM DATE: Thursday, Feb. 10th
UNIT 10 Nineteenth Century Nationalism and Imperialism (12 Days)
Readings : 1) McKay Chps. 25 and 26
2) Perry, selected readings from Chp. 7
3) Lugard, F , “The Rise of Our East African Empire”
4) Rudyard Kipling, “White Man’s Burden” (poem)
5) Alfred T. Mahon, Looking Outward
6) Albert Beveridge, transcript of speech on US Senate floor
1/9/00
EXAM DATE : Thursday, March 3rd
UNIT 11 World War I and Its Aftermath (inc. the Bolshevik Revolution) (14 Days)
Readings: 1) McKay Chps. 27 and 28
2) Perry Chp. 11
3) Sydney Bradshaw Faye, WWI Thesis
4) Stillman, Edmund , “Sarajevo: The End of Innocence”
Exam Date: Friday, March 25th
UNIT 12 The Rise of Fascism and World War II (13 Days)
Readings : 1) McKay Chp. 29
2) Perry Chps. 12 and 13
3) document: The Munich Agreement
4) Hook, Sydney , “The Hero in History: The Legacy of Lenin”
EXAM DATE : Wednesday, April 13th
UNIT 13 Pos, t-WW, I, , I, The Cold War, Social Transformation
and the Building of Modern States (14 Days)
Readings : 1) McKay Chps. 30 and 31
2) The Brezhnev Doctrine, speech before
Polish Workers
Convention, November 1968
EXAM DATE : Friday, April 29th
CULMINATING UNIT : Revolution, Reunification, and Rebuilding :
1985 to the Present
REVIEW (6 to 14 Days) AP EURO EXAM DATE : Friday, May 6th
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