This Advanced Placement U.S. History Summer Institute will assist teachers in planning and AP U.S. History curriculum so that their students will develop the skills necessary to succeed in the AP U.S. History program. The Institute is designed to help teachers develop in their students the ability to think critically and analyze the major themes of United States History, the ability to write clear, coherent essays; the ability to develop and support a strong thesis statement, and the capacity to evaluate historical issues using primary documents.
We will analyze the pedagogy unique to an Advanced Placement U.S. History course, examine course organization, teaching methods, reading and writing assignments, classroom activities, and ways to prepare students for the Advanced Placement examination, as well as other issues which AP teachers face, especially equity and access. This year, we will examine specific strategies for teaching chronological and topical content areas in United States History.
Please bring a laptop if possible. It would be helpful if before we meet, you read Historical Thinking: And Other Unnatural Acts, Charting the Future of Teaching the Past by Sam Wineburg, ISBN 1-56639-855-X, ISBN 1-56639-856-8 and Enlivening Secondary History: 40 Classroom Activities for Teachers and Pupils by Peter Davies, Rhys Davies and Derek Lynch, ISBN 10: 0-415-25349-7, ISBN 13: 978-0-415-25349-9.
