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World History Course Perspective
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by Bill Zeigler
Teacher
College Board Faculty Consultant
Valhalla High School
El Cajon, California
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| | Please note: The official College Board® Course Description is available below in "More."
Multiple Perspectives and Historical Analysis
AP World History has a very simple mission: teach the world's history. Simple.
In reality, the class is about multiple perspectives and historical analysis, not about memorized facts, dates, places, and events. The course description for AP World History tells teachers and students what information is important for the AP Exam and what information is not.
For example, students are expected to know the "Jacobins, but not Robespierre." And you say to yourself, "How can you teach the Jacobins, let alone the French Revolution of 1789, without discussing Robespierre?" You wouldn't. I wouldn't. And, in fact, students don't need to know Robespierre in any great detail, but they do need to understand the importance of the Jacobins in relation to revolutionary movements and new political ideas. In fact, students will also need to know revolutionary ideas that come from the United States, Haiti, China, Mexico, the rest of Latin America, and other areas of the world.
With this information, students will piece together global patterns over space and time, compare movements, and assess universal standards. What do these revolutions have in common or are they unique? How are they connected? What universal human needs do they meet? Or do they?
Spend a great deal of time teaching writing and thinking skills. Students will need to construct arguments for three different types of essays: analysis using documents, change over time, and comparison/contrast. Each type uses a different set of skills that must be taught. For example, the document-based essays will require that students identify another point of view not presented or another type of document or documents that would help draw a more complete picture. Using the SOAPS (Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Speaker) and PERSIA (Political, Economic, Religious, Social, Intellectual, Artistic) techniques, encourage student analysis.
Multiple-choice questions also require that students think historically. Or, students will be asked to evaluate the relative strengths of an argument or to interpret information. Pictures, graphs, maps, and artwork should be used in class so students become familiar with interpreting these artifacts.
If students can think historically, construct an historical argument, and analyze data within an historical viewpoint, they will be most of the way there. The rest of the way is lined with historical jewels -- some that need to be taught, some that would be nice to know, and still other gems that are best left to other classes.
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