May Madness Round 1 Final and Round 2 Info

Now that the preliminary round of voting has been completed, we have some stragglers who had a buy in because of their placement on the seed list.

Click this link to vote for the final three stand-offs of the first round.

For those of you who did not make it out of Round One, you are now a minion to the victor.  As a minion your job is to help your leader achieve success.  You are at their whims, and your role may be to help research the competitor, act as a practice debate partner, etc.  You will get a grade based on your helpfulness as a minion!

Minion Assessment Form - to be completed by the Minion Supervisor/Victor

If you DID move on, you have an entirely new challenge ahead.  On June 6, we will have the second round of head to head debates.  For round two, each leader is allowed up to a 3 minute* statement.

Topic: What is your lasting legacy and what makes you a ruler worthy of this competition? Following the statement, each may ask the other up to three questions. The higher seed asks first, then lower seed asks, then higher, then lower and so forth. You have one minute to answer the question and time will be called.

Breakdown: 6* minutes for statements - 3 per side, Question 1A - B1 min to answer, Question 1B - A1 min to answer, etc.

*3 minutes is not the minimum, you do not need to use all three of those minutes. You will not be allowed to go over three minutes, and will be cut off from talking if statement exceeds three minutes.

For Round 2, visuals, costumes, props are OPTIONAL, but may be used. Any and all props/visuals/costumes must be of your own design (ex, can't just print off a map).  

Voting will by done by your classmates digitally. All debaters may use ONE 3x5" index card. No violence and all language must be PG-13 (keep it clean for the kids in the audience, folks.)

May Madness Round 1

List of Links HERE

VOTING ROUND 1 HERE - Vote for one ruler per pair.  For the random people without a Round 1 vote, those will happen tomorrow once the play into  round one happens tonight.  

MAY MADNESS

Now that the AP exam is over, the class will be shifting to two simultaneous activities.

The first is the traditional May Madness game, where each of you will take on the rolls of "great" leaders from world history and have a tournament to determine which was the "greatest."  The description of the project is linked up here, and details about the rounds are linked up here.  Much of the work for the tournament will be your homework and will be completed outside of class time. Comment on this post with who you will be representing!

While you are working on the May Madness outside of class, we will spend time in class working on a current events project.  The class will select an area of the world and an issue in that area.  The regions are aligned with those we've been looking at all year long, and the issues reflect the themes of AP World's curriculum.  After the region is identified, the class will generate a list of questions that need to be answered in order to be informed about the current issue the region is facing.  The class will then find answers to those questions.

Students will then be tasked with finding where the conversations about this issue are taking place.  Is it being discussed on Twitter? Facebook? Instagram? Newspaper comment boards? UN security council minutes? Students will then analyze the conversation to determine who the responsible players are; join the conversation, become a credible (knowledgable) participant in the dialog, seek to present solutions/ways forward, and get feedback on their ideas.  We will flesh this out more as we go along.

For homework tonight, visit each of the following links for each of the topics below, read the short articles about the issues, and come into class with a set of priorities about what you want to get involved with! These are just my suggestions for topics, a valid argument for something else can be made!

Territorial Claims Made by China

Boko Haram's Kidnapping of the Nigerian School Girls

Russian Aggression in the Ukraine

Israeli/Palestinian Peace Prospects

Protest in Venezuela

Class work 5/16

1) Complete this survey APWH End of the Year Survey It is anonymous and your answers will help me upgrade this class into newer and improved version for next year.  I appreciate your feedback! 

2) Rough draft of a friendly letter that will be given to a APWH student next year.  In this letter you can/should reflect on your time in APWH, what you wish someone had told you at the beginning of this school year, what you would do differently if you could do it again, what you enjoyed (and maybe what you didn't like), what they can look forward to and what you are taking away from your experience in APWH.  These are just general ideas...

Homework 5/16 - PROOFREAD YOUR LETTER and maybe have a pal read it over because you don't want next years juniors to think the seniors can't read or write (they might get uppity).  Then, type your letter up (you can do whatever font etc, just make sure it is legible!)  and print it out.  Do not sign your letter with your real name, but you can do 'AP Survivor' or something else that is appropriate if you'd like.  

Keep your letters under two pages typed (maybe a page+) and I will make them double-sided.  Due Monday! 

Classwork 5/16

Moving on from WWII (but not really), we are going to start to wind down our study of WHII with the Cold War and the more recent implications of the Cold War on the world.

Next week, we'll work on how WWII flows directly into the Cold War, but for now lets just refresh memories from last year.

Today in class, please read THIS ARTICLE by Jeremy Suri, a Cold War historian and professor (this is similar to the types of readings you get in college, fyi).

Before you read:
Geopolitics is a term that refers to the study of how geography (and economics) can influence politics (ex/ where things are in the world, how to rule them, what is closer/far from your border, etc)

Indochina = where Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos are today

After you read, answer the following questions on your blog;
- What were President Truman and Stalin's fears about each other in 1945?
- What does Suri mean by 'third world'?  What regions is he referring to?
- What were some unintentional effects of Reagan and Gorbachev's meeting in 1988?  Do we still see any of those effects (or the effects of the effects) in the world today?

Whatever you don't finish in class is homework!  

AP History Review

Explore this site - he a GOD among AP Review Freeman-Pedia

Past APWH Essay Questions - a list of the essay prompts, broken up by Period (Notice how none are from the 8000BCE-600BCE time frame)

AP Test Info - helpful hints

World War II Notes
End of the Year History (Post WWII, Cold War, Decolonization, specific to regions)

Reading Homework until the AP Exam

If you have time...Stalin video - first 29 min [I think the whole thing is pretty good if you have the time to watch it)]

Friday in Class: Rise of Mussolini and Hitler/fascism and watching Mao video (first 22 minutes)

Friday Homework: If absent, watch the Mao section - everyone = reading pgs 1006-1020 (YES THE THOUSANDS) 

Monday in Class: Rise of Nationalism (Africa and India)
Monday Homework: Read 1032 - 1046 (Since you've done WWII before in USII, skim the Europe bits and read the parts about Asia a bit more diligently) and 1057-1059 

Tuesday in Class: WWII Activity - Holocaust discussion 

Tuesday Homework: Read 1064-1077 about the Cold War, Getafive Diagnostic Test  (login code 

7429AFE) BEFORE FRIDAY. 

Wednesday in Class: Cold War 

Wednesday Homework: Skim 1084-1090, Read 1095-1106

Thursday in Class: Outline DBQ 

Thursday Homework: Finish Chapter 39

Friday in Class: Global Struggles 

Friday Homework: Skim chapter 40

WEEK OF MAY 12-16

Monday in Class: Review weak areas in groups (per diagnostic test results)

Monday Homework: STUDY STUDY STUDY

NO CLASS TUESDAY BECAUSE OF MCAS! >:[ 

~~AM AP STUDY SESH 7:45-9:00: content? practice test?~~

~~AP STUDY SESH AFTERSCHOOL?~~

Wednesday in Class: Review 

Wednesday Homework: STUDY STUDY STUDY

~~AM AP STUDY SESH 7:45-9:00 - Essay Refresher~~
~~AP STUDY SESH AFTERSCHOOL~~

Thursday: AP EXAM OMGSDKFHD.  Spread your AP wings Period 4, you got this.

Friday: "I survived AP World" 'Party' - snacks are welcome. We'll watch Monty Python and not read chapters ever again.

~~AP AM or Afterschool study seshs are optional, but are in your best interests to attend whatever you can~~