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Teaching Tips for AP U.S. History
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Constitutional Amendments
Counter-Factual Assignments
Debate
Diaries, Letters, Soap Operas
Mediators
Oral History, Local History, Family History
Partisan Journal Articles
Preparing Questions
Presidential Transition Team
"3 Minutes: An Investigative Journal"
Constitutional Amendments
Propose a series of amendments to the U.S. Constitution to address the problems of an era. For example, a hearing in the late 1850s might call for an amendment for or against the extension of slavery. After student witnesses testify on the topic, all students vote and write essays justifying their votes.
Counter-Factual Assignments
Ask students to write papers explaining what would have happened if the South had won the Civil War or if William Jennings Bryan had won in 1896 (or similar events).
Debate
Some topics that lend themselves to this approach include the arguments between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson or between Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois.
Diaries, Letters, Soap Operas
Students write fictionalized versions of events and movements in history, especially in the area of social history. To ensure historical accuracy, require them to provide a bibliography for their work.
Mediators
Students act as mediators between two groups with wildly divergent interests and design proposals that both sides will accept. One example is trying to find a middle ground between a late-nineteenth-century corporation leader and representatives of the Knights of Labor.
Oral History, Local History, Family History
Although each is different, these histories can be used interchangeably in class. For an AP course, they are used effectively only when they are tied to some traditional scholarship. For example, some teachers have students rewrite a chapter of their textbook on World War II at home, based on interviews the class has conducted.
Partisan Journal Articles
Students write a short essay for a partisan paper or journal and, after submitting their work, they write an essay on same topic from the opposite point of view.
Preparing Questions
Students take turns devising and presenting to the class a thematic question that is relevant to a particular era. One 20-minute presentation is scheduled every other Friday beginning in November. The day before the presentation of the question, the student hands out to the class a timeline and four documents to use in answering the question. Two of the documents must be in a form that is not primarily text. Students may use sources such as film clips, slides, CD-ROMS, posters, and books. Three other students make up multiple-choice questions on the same topic with rationales for the correct answers. After the timeline and documents are presented, the three students hand out copies of their multiple-choice questions.
Presidential Transition Team
Appoint some students members of the president-elect's transition team charged with recommending people for the president's new cabinet. Assign other students the roles of possible cabinet members who will be interviewed by the transition team.
"3 Minutes: An Investigative Journal"
Students role-play news correspondents on a program styled after television's 60 Minutes to get to the essence of an era. They investigate how an event or person represents or typifies a particular historical era. Students prepare a 3-minute report about their findings, work up cue cards, and have their report videotaped. Their report must last at least 2 minutes and 45 seconds and may not go over 3 minutes.
Students also prepare commercials about imagined products specific to the era. The commercials may be as creative as they can make them and may last for as long as 30 seconds each. The commercials are interspersed with the 3-minute reports on the video. Students learn how to use an event or person to describe the essence of an era; how to be precise and concise in articulating their ideas; and how to go beyond the text and do a bit of historiographic digging.
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