New AP European history class offered for the 2015-2016 school year
Current Pre-Ap World History teacher Dustin Stinnett dicusses the new AP European History class
February 19, 2015
Why is the Pre-Ap World History class being replaced by AP European History?
It is good for kids. It is a course that has been offered at other area schools for quite sometime and any time you are going to impalment a new course there is a growth period that has to take place, where you get the materials, figure out the content, and find a teacher in place to teach it. Then, you have to deal with getting approval, so we knew wanted to head in that direction. We just had to jump through all of the hoops to get it to where it is.
Explain how the AP European Class will differ from the current Pre-AP World History.
It won’t differ a ton because we will do much of the same application process with the same content. It is just going to be a little bit faster pace. Right now as a Pre-AP teacher, I’m allowed to cut [content out], if we need to. Next year, we have to get though certain amounts of content in a set amount of time without the option to stop and catch everybody up.
Describe the students who should consider taking AP European History.
In my opinion, any student who wishes to complete a secondary school class equivalent to a college class. Anyone who takes interest in history, enjoys to read a write and is a hard worker.
Should students who have taken Pre-Ap World History take AP European History?
I think so. They definitely an advantage because they will have two thirds of the content already taken care of, and then they understand the application process, DBQ’s (Document Based Questions), long and short essay’s and that kind of stuff. They already have a strong understanding of the content to supplement what they already know.
What are the standards for curriculum for the class?
[The class covers] modern European history 1350 to modern day. Briefly addressing the middle ages, and then [we will] make it close to present day as possible. Most of the current AP curriculum ends at the Cold War. We will stop around the 1990s. There is some change because from last year to next year, they are actually revamping the standards to be a little closer to common core standards. So they will change the content a little bit, so European history will be the same stuff.How will this class prepare students for the AP test?
Everything we do will is geared around requirements set by the College Board that will help [students] be successful in the exam.
How will the test and homework be different from what it is in Pre-AP world history?
It won’t be much different. It will be very similar except for there will be some increased information that will have to be added already set in place content that I give now. We will be running off of a different text book than the one I currently use, but they both reference the same historical time period. In [Pre-AP World History], we definitely hit on the main parts of everything we have to study but there are some less well known information that is easy to throw out when you are not mandated to use it , [AP European History] will not be able to throw out.
What are you most excited about for the class next year?
A new challenge.
