AP World History: Modern

I am available for help if needed before school (7:45-8:15) and after school 3:30-4:00. Please make an appointment so I expect you. I am also available for help via e-mail (laura.astorian@cobbk12.org), but I may not check it after work hours and on the weekends.

The AP World History: Modern Exam will be held at 8:00 AM on Monday, May 10, 2021, at 8 AM.

Please find the syllabus here.

I am excited to be teaching AP World History again for the 2019-2020 school year. My class will be challenging and will test your reading and retention abilities. The course requires a great deal of outside reading and study; we have 800 years of history to cover in-depth, which necessitates you doing a lot on your own. I am your teacher, but this is a college course. As every professor I have had has told me, it’s your responsibility to learn the material; it’s my responsibility to present the material and ways for you to better understand it.

FYI – this is not a test prep class. If you want test preparation, buy the Barron’s book. I will tell you what the test is and what to expect, but I’m here to teach you the information in the standards, not to just shove information into your head specifically for taking the test. You need to remember this information after the class is over – that is the point of learning. I don’t want you to memorize things; I want you to learn them.

AP World History is a thematic study of the world’s history from 1250 CE to the present. This course requires the following:

1. Nightly reading of the textbook. The entire textbook will be read over the course of the semester. Reading is the primary homework students of this class receive.
2. The reading of three “outside reading” books
3. Solid performance on highly challenging tests
4. Strong writing skills
5. Analysis of primary documents

Students enrolling in this class should enjoy history and have performed exceedingly well in previous social studies and literature classes. This course can be enjoyable, but the primary responsibility for learning rests on the student. Students and parents should be aware that enrolling in this course equivocates to making an extensive time-commitment to history. This class is based upon large volumes of reading, which may take students anywhere from 20 minutes to a few hours per night, depending on reading speed and ability. Factual information is expected to be gained through reading; class is for reinforcing knowledge, building patterns, practicing historical thinking skills, and analyzing primary source documents.

Please see the syllabus for course information – it is tentative, and subject to change. You will also need the following book (buy them off of eBay or Amazon for a couple bucks):

Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold’s Ghost. Mariner books, 1999.

Summer Reading: Standage, Tom. A History of the World in 6 Glasses. Walker & Company, 2005.