Welcome to World History - Advanced Placement with Mr. Duez
Introduction to the Class & Summer Reading Assignment
Welcome to WHAP Flyer - About the class, Textbook (Strayer), and Summer Reading Assignment
Summer Reading Guide - Standage - A History of the World in Six Glasses
About World History AP:
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| Just do it! |
Your Advanced Placement test for World History AP is on Thursday, May 15, 2014 at 8 am. As of Monday morning, it is less than 350 days away (and counting). Everything we do in WHAP will be geared towards getting you prepared for that morning. You will have the opportunity to gain up to 6 college credits (depending on the college/university that accepts you).
Our WHAP course is College Board Certified and audited. The course is demanding, high paced, and rigorous. We cover the course at a pace of a chapter per week which will put us on a pace to have a month of review before the exam. You can ask any student who took the WHAP test and they will tell you, the month of review is absolutely essential.
The course covers these 6 units:
1 - Technological & Environmental Transformations 8,000 B.C.E. to 600 B.C.E.
2 - Organization & Reorganization of Human Societies c. 600 B.C.E. to c. 600 C.E.
3 - Regional & Transregional Interactions c. 600 C.E. to c. 1450
4 - Global Interactions c. 1450 to 1750
5 - Industrialization & Global Interaction c. 1450 to c. 1750
6 - Accelerating Global Change & Realignments c. 1900 to the Present
Our Textbook: Strayer’s Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources
The text we will use for the course is the same one used at The University of Texas at Austin for their World History coursework. We have had graduates of AHS attend and report that Strayer was the book they were using. It is quite popular because it provides a tremendous narrative and big picture analysis of world history. Strayer is written at a college level reading vocabulary. The sources provided with the text are documents that we will analyze that accompany each chapter. The book is 24 chapters (an average of 30 pages per chapter) over 1,200 pages in length. You will read each and every page. Most students read Strayer while consulting a handy dictionary at the same time. We recommend also purchasing a Webster’s New World College Dictionary for your desk at home.
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| Meet: "Strayer" - You'll love it! |
Strayer actually begins with the history of the universe, charts the emergence of mankind and then the first three waves of civilizations. The classical era (Eurasian Empires to 500 C.E., African and American variations to 1200 C.E.), birth of cultural traditions & religions, social hierarchies, commerce and culture are all explored throughout the first semester. Special emphasis is spent on Chinese Dynasties, Indian culture, The Mongol Empire, and the Worlds of Islam.
Our second semester begins with the birth of global trade in the early modern world (1450-1750), religion & science (The Enlightenment & Reformation), and the Atlantic Revolutions (American, French, Haitian, & Spanish American). Revolutions of Industrialization, colonial encounters, World War I & II, rise & fall of world communism, independence & development in the Global South, and accelerating global interaction since 1945 end our semester.
WHAP Commitment: It is worth it!
Taking World History AP is a massive commitment. 70% of the nation’s high school graduates attempt college. Yet fewer than 30% of adult Americans hold a college degree! Why is that? Most colleges and universities agree that it is because students are not prepared for the academic challenge of college coursework.
There is only one way to prepare for the rigors of a college education: fully challenge yourself in high school. The statistics tell quite a story. High school students who have taken at least two Advanced Placement classes double their chances of graduating from college, according to the College Board! This will be the toughest class you have yet taken in your academic career. Yet your teachers are here to help you. But, how can you succeed: “Those students who do the work, do the learning.” It is just that simple. Hard work and dedication will pay off in the end. Best of luck with the end of your freshman year. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
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| 6 Glasses |
The book needs to be completely read and understood by the first day of school. Your test on this book will be at the end of the first week. There is no better way to prove to your teacher that you are a serious and prepared student of history than to walk into class having mastered this book. 6 Glasses is a fantastic way to experience the history of the world through one specific dimension - drink. You will learn a perspective on the world that will be invaluable in preparing you for the scope and depth of the course.
How can I get help throughout the summer?
You are not alone in this. We will provide help to you as you make your way through the book. Do not be shy about asking questions. Forming a study group that meets once or twice a month can also provide you with a push to complete the book. There is no better way to know something with depth and clarity than to help someone else understand it.
Also, Mr. Duez will be posting short videos that correspond with each section of the book to help you understand it, in terms of how it relates to World History AP. Please do not hesitate to ask him if you have any questions while reading over the summer. http://whap.mrduez.com
How much does it cost and where can I find it?
Amazon.com and BN.com the price lists for just over $10 in paperback. Used editions are 1/2 off or more. Nook version is $10. Audiobook version available. Paperback: 311 pages Publisher: Walker Publishing Company; trade paper, later printing edition (May 16, 2006) Language: English ISBN-10: 0802715524 ISBN-13: 978-0802715524
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| This is actually a person reading Standage while at the beach. What could be better? ;-) |
About A History of the World in 6 Glasses
From beer to Coca-Cola, the six drinks that have helped shape human history. Throughout human history, certain drinks have done much more than just quench thirst. As Tom Standage relates with authority and charm, six of them have had a surprisingly pervasive influence on the course of history, becoming the defining drink during a pivotal historical period. A History of the World in 6 Glasses tells the story of humanity from the Stone Age to the 21st century through the lens of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola.
Beer was first made in the Fertile Crescent and by 3000 B.C.E. was so important to Mesopotamia and Egypt that it was used to pay wages. In ancient Greece wine became the main export of her vast seaborne trade, helping spread Greek culture abroad. Spirits such as brandy and rum fueled the Age of Exploration, fortifying seamen on long voyages and oiling the pernicious slave trade. Although coffee originated in the Arab world, it stoked revolutionary thought in Europe during the Age of Reason, when coffeehouses became centers of intellectual exchange. And hundreds of years after the Chinese began drinking tea, it became especially popular in Britain, with far-reaching effects on British foreign policy. Finally, though carbonated drinks were invented in 18th-century Europe they became a 20th-century phenomenon, and Coca-Cola in particular is the leading symbol of globalization.
For Tom Standage, each drink is a kind of technology, a catalyst for advancing culture by which he demonstrates the intricate interplay of different civilizations.
You may never look at your favorite drink the same way again!
Download the guide here:
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| It's a trap! |
