American History
Advanced Placement American History is an elective, full year course usually studied by juniors, however, seniors are also allowed to take the course. The advanced placement program in American History is designed to provide students with the analytic skills and the factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with the problems and materials in American History.
Students should learn to assess historical materials--their relevance to a given interpretive problem, their reliability, and their importance--and to weigh the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship. An advanced placement American History course develops skills necessary to arrive at conclusions on the basis of an informed judgment and to present ideas clearly and persuasively. As much as possible, the AP course is taught by college format, emphasizing lectures, seminars, and essay examinations.
The goal of the course is to prepare students for the Advanced Placement Examination. Therefore, the student will be expected to develop his/her writing skills, advancing beyond the narrative approach to writing to critical analyses and defendable position papers.
Mr. Ratchford