AP World History Islam

For tonight read pages 352 to 359 to see how the Dar-al-Islam grows.  Be sure to bring your textbook to class tomorrow!

AP World daily reading and Thanksgiving assignment

Aren't tests fun? For homework read page 318 (start at The Early Byzantine...) to page 330 (Stop at Classical Heritage...). You can skim the section titled "Islamic Conquests and Byzantine Revival" since we haven't read about Islam yet...

Over Thanksgiving break, you have a book project to complete.  The document describing what to do is linked here: Thanksgiving Book Project.  The list of summer reading books is linked here: AP Summer Reading List.  I can't recommend Three Cups of Tea and Ishmael strongly enough, students have really liked Nectar in a Sieve, Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, and Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. But peruse the list, spend some time in the library and pick a book you think you will enjoy.

AP World Review day

Today we started to work through the COT essay format using Rome and China at the end of the classical era.  The question was: Analyze the cultural and political continuities of ONE o the following civilizations during that last centuries of the Classical Era: Rome--100-600CE; Chinese 100-600CE; {India 300-600CE} we aren't dealing with India this time.  Second period completed much of the outline, but first and fifth were cut short, so homework is to get a thesis, global context and the analysis added to your T Charts to discuss tomorrow.

Additionally, you need to come in with 5 questions typed up and double spaced for the review tomorrow.  They can be questions that you want to have answered, or they can be questions that you think would be good to ask as part of a review.  I'll collect them, and we'll play the Feud!

Don't forget to have your parents sign up for conferences!

US China Paper

Since you are all creatures of last minute work, the topic, once again, is:

Can the Taiwan issue be resolved peacefully?  You must draw at least three references from the book Untying the Knot, by Richard Bush available on reserve in the library, in your answer to this question.

We are discussing the WTO and currency markets this week...

AP World Change over time

Today we went over the categories of the Change over Time Essay, the second of the three essay structures.  Tomorrow we will draft out an essay in class and workshop it.  Finish up the projects for homework, make sure your parents know about the online sign up for parent teacher conferences, and begin to review content for the test on Monday.  Don't be fooled! This will be a full test on less material, it is not a "short" test with few questions, etc.!

AP World: diseases, climate change and St. Augustine...

Today we covered the above subjects.  Unfortunately Google is not allowing me to share the reading with you in a non-pixelated form; so surprise! you don't have to do the reading! (stupid technology...) I'll see if I can get it fixed, but for tonight, you have unexpected time to work on the project... Don't forget to bring in all your pocket maps tomorrow!

Don't forget to remind your parents about the sign up spreadsheet via Google (see previous post).  They can also contact me via phone or email if that is more comfortable for them!
We will be having a test on chapters 11 and 12 (Rome and the Silk Road) on Monday of next week--remember that we don't have school on Friday, so the review will be on Thursday!

AP World and Parent Conferences

Today we were talking about the movement of religion on the Silk Roads, and left off with the notion of syncretism--the blending of two ideas to make a new religion.  For homework, work on the project.

Please tell your parents about the link in the blog to the google document spreadsheet so they can sign up for a time to come in.  That way I can tell them good things about you all...  the link is also up on my website under Parent Conferences if they want to access it that way.

AP World History

Talking about the Silk Road in class today, and giving a shout out to Nico--hope the shoulder is better.  We are now starting a project, and the instructions follow:

Silk Road Research Project

As the cultures of the Classical Period grew and expanded, they began to rub elbows with one another and begin to exchange multiple goods, ideas and other items.  These fall into four major categories:

Agricultural products

Religion

Disease

Luxury Goods

Use the contents of Chapter 12 and the magical thing called “the interwebs” to learn more about the items in the categories above.  You need to choose one item from each category above and place it on a map of your composition.  (NB: This does not mean it has to be drawn!)

On the map, indicate:

• where the items were created/originated,
• where and how do they travel,
• where are they sold/distributed
• major geographic formations that may have aided or hindered the flow of goods, ideas, disease, etc. 

You may have to speculate about some of this, and that’s fine.  Be informed in your speculation—if you can’t find something that specifically says something went strapped to the back of a camel through the desert, it may still be a reasonable assumption to make…think about how the goods needed to be protected from the elements (if they were perishable) without modern refrigeration.  How do you keep silk from getting wet on a leaky boat with no plastic?  How to spices travel anyway?  What about disease?

In no more than two (2) typed, double-spaced pages, discuss the impact your items had on the various societies that contacted these objects (both in terms of their export and their import).  Based on your research of these objects and the impact they had was the Silk Road a positive experience for the cultures that participated in it, or was it a source of greater harm than help? Include a bibliography of sources so I know where you got this information.

You will bring in your maps and pages to hand in on Wednesday, November 17th.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Please tell your parents that they can sign up for a time to meet with me by using this link to the Parent Teacher Conference Sign Up Sheet.  This is also up on my website.  Times are first come, first served, so they want to sign up sooner rather than later!

AP World History Christianity the early days

Apologies for not posting last night's reading!  It was page 305-310 for the collapse of the Roman Empire.  Tonight's assignment (11/9) is to read the start of the chapter, from pages 287-305, which covers the Silk Road through the collapse of the Han Dynasty.  We will finish the early Christianity activity today and begin talking about the Silk Road and its impact on Rome and the Han.

US China Relations--the new paper topic

I'm changing the paper topic for paper #2. You should now write on the following:

Can the Taiwan issue be resolved peacefully?  You must draw at least three references from the book Untying the Knot, by Richard Bush available on the nooks (electronic readers) in the library, in your answer to this question.  Note that there are only 5 nooks, and they can only be checked out for one night at a time, so you don't want to wait too long to pull this material together. You can check the local public library as well if you like, and the Minuteman Library Network would be a good resource.  I'll post some guidelines for what chapters will be most helpful to you over the weekend. 

Additionally, pay close attention to President Obama's trip to Asia over the weekend to see what he is and is not saying about China to China's neighbors.

AP World History Christians in Rome

Over the weekend you have a few things to do.  First, finish up the pocket map if your class was assigned it.  Second, you got a reading in class that describes the Roman responses to Christianities spread in the empire. Read this before going on to the next item  Third, you should watch the video located here.  When you open up the web page, you are going to be watching two selections from Part Two, so click that link. If you put your cursor over the top of the video bar (where it says Chapters/From Jesus to Christ) you will have the chapters/scenes appear as a horizontally scrollable menu.  You will first go to Chapter 7 (Christianity in the 2nd and 3rd Centuries). Begin watching at the start (53:57-ish) and continue to 59:16 to get a sense of the religious structures of the Roman Empire.  Then jump ahead to Chapter 9 (The Prison Diary of Perpetua: a Martyr) Start at 1:12:13 (the start of the chapter) and continue to 1:18:40 (or the end of the chapter.)  You are, of course, welcome to watch more if you like... ;)  We will talk about the martyrs and the eventual acceptance of Christianity on Monday.

AP World History

We are in the midst of Rome; tomorrow will be about Christianity so take a look at page 281 for some selections from the early work of Jesus and compose a chart in response to the question listed below the reading.  No full sentences, just bullets will be fine, and bring them to class--no need to email it either. (the night before's assignment was the primary source document on page 270  and email me a response to the question...)

US China Relations: Negotiation

Today we took a look at the Prisoner's Dilemma, and began a discussion of negotiation to become familiar with the terms involved.  We will spend the next week resolving the Taiwan question to see what if any solutions present themselves.  The next paper topic is changed from the one listed on the initial handout, and will be presented in class on Wednesday.

AP World--Building the Roman Empire

Today we had a brief introduction to the foundations of the Roman Empire and read excerpts of the 12 Tables, the early law of the Roman Republic.  Over the next two days, please read the following documents:  The Assassination of Julius Caesar by Plutarch, The Deeds of Augustus, (note that Octavian wrote this document himself...) and Dio Cassius and Tacitus' accounts of The Powers of the Emperor.  All the documents are websites, and the translations are pretty reliable.  As you read, think about how the role that violence plays in the establishment of the Roman Empire.  Often times we associate internal violence with the collapse of a society--Is this the case of Rome? Why?  We will discuss this in class on Wednesday.