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WORLD HISTORY

The aim of this course is to provide teachers with the philosophical framework and the practical tools to construct and teach a course in World History and prepare students for the AP World History exam. It is aimed primarily at those who have not taught the course before. We will discuss the themes of the course, how to cover the content and create a curricular map of the course, what print and web resources are available and appropriate for the course, and how to teach the skills necessary to succeed on the AP exam.

It would be useful if you could bring the text you will assign to the students with if you know what it will be, but it is not necessary. The course assumes that your students will be reading a college-level text, which is a requirement for an AP course and the AP Audit/syllabus certification. Participating teachers will have the opportunity to examine a number of appropriate texts and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each. Additionally, there should be a few primary source readers available for assessment. 

If you currently are teaching any history/social studies course, please bring: 

  • a copy of the textbook your students will be using
  • a “best lesson” sample from the course or a favorite sample lesson that demonstrates teaching the skills of history. This will enable us to talk about our practices as teachers and to share ideas about strategies, materials and techniques that inform our teaching. 
  • a copy of your school’s 2011-12 master calendar because we will have time to do some curriculum mapping

Our four days will be constructed as follows, although it may alter slightly depending on the needs of the participants.

Tuesday

  • Introductions and Expectations
  • Philosophy and Approach to Teaching the AP World History Course: The course Description booklet, AP tests, Audit, Redesign 
  • Structuring the Course: strategies for organization
  • Chronology/Periodization of World History
  • Geography of World History
  • Identifying Major Themes and Trends
  • Historical Thinking Skills/Historiography
  • Eras I & II: c. 8000 BCE to c. 600 BCE, c. 600 BCE to c. 600 CE Why is this periodization used? 
    • Themes of particular emphasis
    • The non-elites in World History: social structures, gender, work, technology
  • Rubrics for AP essay questions: the Comparison Question 

Tuesday

  • Examine Era III: c. 600-c. 1450 (why this periodization?); themes of particular emphasis
  • Travelers’ Tales as a teaching methodology
  • Mongols and the 2005 AP Comparison Question 
  • Discussion of the Professional Development manual on the Indian Ocean Basin 
  • Examine the themes and key developments for the Era IV: c. 1450-c. 1750
  • The Document-Based Question (DBQ)
  • Sharing of Best Practices

Wednesday

  • Exploring the themes and key developments of “the long 19th century”: c. 1750- ca. 1900
  • Discuss teaching and writing multiple-choice assessments.
  • Explore the themes and key developments of the 20th & 21st centuries: c. 1900- the present
  • Discussing the Change-and-Continuity-Over-Time essay question
  • Sharing of Best Practices

Thursday

  • Review strategies for the AP Exam
  • Projects, papers, discussions
  • Wrap-up discussions, Q & A.

Ane Lintvedt - Ane has taught AP European and AP World History at McDonogh School in suburban Baltimore Maryland for 27 years, where she is currently the department chair. She scored the European AP exams for 9 years, and has been with the World History AP exam reading since its inception, as both a Table Leader and a Question Leader. She served on the test development committee of the SAT II in World History, and on the College Board AP World History Curricular Redesign Commission. Ane has written instructor’s guides and student guides for several of the texts used in both AP European and World History, and has written many articles and papers on World History topics and pedagogy and presented papers at the World History Association, NCSS, and American Historical Association conferences. Ane has served twice as the Secretary of the World History Association. Currently she is on the board of directors of the free electronic journal World History Connected An E-Journal of Teaching and Learning.

"Our instructor provided so many valuable suggestions and materials. I have learned about many strategies that I will include in my AP class."

- Past Client