U.S. History
George Henry: Rowland Hall, St. Marks School, Salt Lake City, UT
Email: georgewhenryjr@comcast.net
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George Henry has taught AP* United States History in the public and private schools in Salt Lake City Utah since 1985. He is currently on the faculty at East High School, and an Adjunct Instructor in the Department of History at the University of Utah. George has been a consultant for the College Board in AP* U.S. History and served on numerous College Board Committees. He has been reading AP* U.S. history exams since 1991. He was a member of the Social Studies Vertical Teams Development committee, and has been a contributing writer of the Special Topics for Social Studies Vertical Teams. George recently completed the 2010 edition of the AP* Achiever Guide for Glencoe McGraw Hill. Currently, George is serving as a College Board National Trainer.
Course Overview
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
Topics for discussion (tentative)
Day One
-Understanding the Challenge: The AP* U.S. History test
-The pedagogy of an AP* course
-The philosophy of Advanced Placement*
-Course coverage: How much? What order
-Developing a syllabus
-Textbooks, and materials, selection and use
-Content: Strategies for teaching Colonial America 1492-1750; Revolutionary
America 1750-1800.
Day Two
-Analytic thinking and multiple-choice examinations
-The question of content
-Classroom activities beyond lecturing
-Reading, content and process
-Writing as a process
-Constructing and scoring essays
-Content: Strategies for teaching the Antebellum Period, 1800-1850; Civil War,
Reconstruction.1860-1877; Early Modern America to 1900
Day Three
-Documents and the study of History
-The DBQ
-The 2008 DBQ review
-Teaching Resources on the Web: AP* Central
Day Four
-Test Review
-Strategies for Advanced Placement* multiple choice testing
-Utilizing didactic, reflective and affective realms in AP* History
-Evaluation
-Content: Strategies for teaching Modern America to 1945; Contemporary
America to 1992.
Suggested Texts:
Graebner, William and Richards, Leonard. The American Record. Images of the Nation’s Past. McGraw-Hill, Boston Volumes I, II. Fifth ed. 2006.
Benton, Gregory etal. American History in Graphic Novel. Glencoe Mc-Graw Hill. Boston. 2007.
Walker, Donna E. Strategies for Teaching Differently, On the Block or Not.
Corwin Press, Inc. Thousand Oaks, CA. 1998.
