Thanksgiving Break Book Project

Over each vacation in this class, you are required to complete a book/film project. The format of the project is unchanging each vacation, so feel free to plan ahead and read whenever you have the time.

The description of the book report is linked up here. Remember, you can substitute the word "book" with the word "film." You may do up to 2 fictional books, and 1 non-fiction and 1 fictional film. You must get the film approved by me ahead of time. A blanket rule: No Disney!

The rubric I'll use to score the project is linked up here.  Pay attention to the difference between "meeting expectations" and "exceeding expectations!"

The list of books and films is linked up here.  You may use another book that is not on the list, but you must have it approved first before you submit the project.  Likewise, you must also have approval for your film if you choose to go that route.  An email conversation is sufficient for attaining approval.

Homework for the weekend of October 26

This weekend you will need to download the app Venn Diagram onto your iPad if you were not able to do so in class today.

Read pages 302-308 about the collapse of the Roman empire and the Han Dynasty.  As you read, create a venn diagram in the app in which you compare and contrast the underlying causes of the collapse.

I do not believe that you can export the final product to anything other than email, so once you have completed the venn diagram, screenshot it and post the image to your blog.

There is an annual tradition in AP World to dress up for Halloween for extra credit points on the next quiz.  The rules are simple:

1) Come in lame costume of some type and get 1 point. (I'm wearing a Red Sox hat: I'm Dustin Pedroia!)

2) Come in a good costume of some type and get 2 points (I've got a hat, beard and jersey! I'm Dustin Pedroia!)

3) Come in costume as a historical figure and get 3 points. (I've got a beard, crown, toga-ish dress and strappy sandals! I'm Cleopatra!)

costumes should cost as little as possible (read: do not go out and buy/rent some elaborate get up!), not include overt weaponry, (read: even if the person used a weapon, leave it at home...)  and be school appropriate (read: Don't do the following: I'm only wearing a carpet! I'm Cleopatra when she met Julius Caesar!)

The quiz will be on Halloween day and will cover the contents of chapter 12.

Roman City. For the long weekend...

For the weekend, read pages 265-271.

Watch the video Roman City, linked up here. Enjoy the cartoon, and don't be frightened by the scary druids...The host's sweet 90s mustache will keep you safe...

Respond to the prompts about the video linked up here on your blog.

Next week, we will have an in-class essay on Friday, compare and contrast, the topic will be politics.  On Monday we will have a test on the Classical Era, chapters 7 (Persia) - 11 (Rome) inclusive. It will consist of 70 multiple choice questions. I'd suggest going back over the weekend and updating the charts/webs you started to organize the information if you haven't been doing so...

Be sure to pay tribute to genocidal, avaricious European "explorers" on Monday...

Homework for 10/10 Roman Republic to Roman Empire

Today in class we looked at some documents that are connected to why Rome changed from being a republic to becoming an empire.  Below are the Storified tweets that you all wrote about each document.  Look over each collection to see what your peers had to say about the documents (which are linked up after each Storify).

Storify 1 #reptoemp1: The Twelve Tables

Storify 2 #reptoemp2: Republican Government Structure

Storify 3 #reptoemp3: Murder of Tiberius Gracchus

Storify 4 #reptoemp4: Life in the Late Republic

Storify 5 #reptoemp5: Maps

Then, on your own blog, write one thing that you can say that you know (that is, you are 100% certain) about why Rome made this transition. This can be one sentence if you wish. After that, write what you want to know, or feel you need to know in order to explain why this change happened; what parts of the story did you miss?

Homework for October 9: The Roman Republic (be sure to roll the R's...)

FOr tonight, read pages 259-264 about the early Roman Republic.

You will need to have a device that can scan QR codes tomorrow, and you will be using twitter, so be sure that your account is either open to the public or set up an account for AP World.

Project info

The project description is linked up here

The groups are linked up here.

The reading is linked up here.

Sorry that this was a little rushed in class today.  There are 5-ish of you in each group, and there are four regions we will be looking at, so there will be one region that pulls two philosophers into the dialog. You should divide the regions amongst you so that each of you takes responsibility for one region.

Tonight, read your section of the reading. One of you should start a google document from your home computer and share it with the rest of the group and with me.  Tomorrow you should decide who is going to be which philosopher, I will give you your topic, and you can then start the dialog.

homework--Alexander the Great

For tonight, watch the clips from In the Footsteps of Alexander the great listed below (the numbers are the minutes in the video when you should start watching--should be around 45 minutes in total).  On your blog, post a response to what you watch: Does Alexander deserve to be called "The Great?" Why or why not?

Part 2 "Lord of Asia"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJnuMBZnAbQ

2:00-8:00 In Iraq, on the plane with the Brits

28:26-34:00ish Persepolis burns

43:53-47:40 death of Darius

Part 3 Across the Hindu Kush

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=277cyzL5nLc

It opens in Kabul, which shows what the city looked like before the US invasion...not pretty. And they go to the equivalent of the MFA in Kabul, and that’s upsetting...

7:00 Hindu Kush upward to 11:00 Gives a good look at the terrain, and once again, car trouble...

18:37 Woods finds the root plant and tries to eat it, through the gunfire of bandits and the summit 23:00—nothing stopped him, nothing put him off…

36:30-38:30 Bessus captured, Alexandria the farthermost founded.

45:00-47:30 Cleitus' death

52:00 Marry Roxanne-declaration of worship as a god, Persian style. Assassination attempt, and falling out with Calisthenes 57:30

Part 4 "To the Ends of the Earth"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5HzkRO8TGA

32:30-36:30 on the wall

46:00 final march begins 48:30 water dumping incident

last five minutes of fourth disc: 50-55 minutes Death of Alexander in Babylon

Homework for September 30

Cheerful stuff, but read page 250 in the textbook and the description of the Death of Socrates.  We will talk more about who he was and what he did tomorrow.

Homework for the weekend of September 27--Going to the Cave

For this weekend, you are to read the selection of Plato's The Republic, which was shared with you via your school email and is linked up here.

It is not an easy read, and I expect you will have to read it closely a couple of times before it starts to really make sense.  Puzzle over it a bit, and be ready to talk about it in class on Monday!

Homework for September 24th--Indian Religions of Salvation

For tonight, read pages 217-221, about the formation of Jainism and Buddhism.  We will be spending some time discussing this in class.

Also, you will need to have a Twitter account for the activity we do tomorrow, so if you don't already have one, please set one up before coming to class tomorrow.

Homework over the weekend--Prevent the empire from collapsing...

Over the weekend, you are to post on your blog how you would prevent the Han Empire from collapsing.  When and how would you intervene?  What problems were there and how would you solve them?

Once you have posted your solution, look at the blogs of the other people in your group and discuss their plan. Try to convince them that your solutions are the best, or affirm the decisions that they made. You can find everyone's blog at: http://www.protopage.com/twhittenburlington#Blog_posts/Class_Blogs

We will briefly discuss the collapse of the Han on Monday, and then we are off to India for more philosophies and fun...

Homework for September 19-Han Dynasty

For tonight, read pages 193-203 in the textbook about the rise of the Han Dynasty.

Readings for September 18

For tonight, read pages 186-193 in the textbook.

We will be looking at Legalism and the Qin Dynasty tomorrow in class.  An example of Legalist thought is linked up here. Take a look and we'll discuss it a bit more if you have questions tomorrow.

Daoism...what the what?

For tonight, take a look at the selections from the Dao De Jing that were shared with you in class today and are linked up here.  Read #s 1, 2, 8, 11, 12 until you feel you understand them. If you understand them after only one reading, you are probably not doing it right. These are meant to be obscure, paradoxical and provocative. So read them a couple of times.

Once you think you get them, come up with one sentence that describes what Daoism is all about, and post it on your blog.

Homework for Thursday, Sept 12--Let's ask Map! Can you say "Map?"

Thanks, Dora...

Today in class all of you got a piece of paper that looks like this :

Your task tonight is to take the two maps of Persia in chapter 7 of the textbook, and compile them into one hand-drawn (freehand) map that fits on this piece of paper. Once you have drawn the map, upload a picture of it into your blog and tag/label it with "Persia" and "Map." (This will help you later when you are trying to find your posts about different topics to help you study.  You should always tag your blog posts. Last night's should get tags like: religions, ancient society, Zoroastrianism, etc.) You aren't being graded on your artistic ability, nor do I expect you to be a cartographer.  I'm looking for you to get the general location of the empires, the names of major cities, regions, and rivers, and the Royal Road's location and span. It should be neat and legible, but does not need to be ready for publication by Rand McNally...

Your essay re-writes are due at the start of class on Monday.  You may type the re-write or hand write it, either is fine.  You may use the book, notes, etc. when you re-write. When you hand in the re-write, it must be accompanied by the original essay and question sheet.  Be mindful of the fact that a re-write doesn't mean re-copy, it means start it again. Most of you don't have much to work from anyway, but since you will be changing your thesis, evidence that you used before may or may not be relevant again!  Follow the score guide, and look over what we talked about today!  The presentation is linked up here if you want to review it while you write.

The joy of AP: A test on day 2!

Welcome back to school!

Tomorrow (Wednesday) you will be taking a test. It will consist of 70 multiple choice questions.  The questions will be drawn from Chapters 1-6 of the textbook.  You will have 45 minutes to complete the test, and you will need to have a #2 pencil.  I will not be providing pencils. That's up to you.

On Friday you will be writing an in-class essay in the Compare and Contrast format. It will also be drawn from chapters 1-6. The scoring guide will be linked in tomorrow night's post for your review.

Both of these serve to tell me more about you and what help you will need as we go forward in the class; they are not happening because I'm mean. Mostly...

And to see the course prospectus and expectations, you should click the link here.

A copy of the letter I've emailed to your parents is linked up here.