During this two semester AP-level course, we will journey through Europe’s history from the past 700 years.  Our point of departure will be the Middle Ages and we will plow forward through the demise of the Soviet Union (just around the time you were born…)   In order to truly understand the past, we will have to learn many names and dates.  But in this course, we will strive to go well beyond simple recall and “regurgitation” and observe and analyze the larger themes that emerge; the names and dates will serve as a skeleton as we raise essential questions and issues that are relevant to our lives today and impact us both individually and globally.

Welcome to college at BHS!  That is, college-level course material per the standards of The College Board.  Because you are taking an advanced level course that has the potential to provide future college credits for your bachelor’s degree, you will be held to the highest standards of academic rigor within a high school setting.  You should be here because you “like history” and excel at it. 

I have personally visited dozens of countries in Europe from the United Kingdom to Lithuania.  I am truly thrilled to take you on this journey where we will explore the political and diplomatic, intellectual and cultural, and social and economic history of Europe.  In order to do so, we will be reading a variety of documents, including our textbook, primary source readings, and examples of literature. 

WHY SHOULD WE CARE? (Names and dates are boring…)

This is the mantra…  names and dates are terribly boring when they are disconnected from real meaning and context.  History is the study of the past, but we must remember that history is alive and not separated from our lives today.  As long as we examine the material closely and develop “informed opinions” which utilize evidence, typically there will not be one “right answer” in our classroom, but instead there will be many reasonable and unique answers.  Learning from any of these requires knowing how to read them effectively, so the skills we’ll be working on will include learning how to closely analyze a text, how to improve our observation and reflection abilities, and how to synthesize and articulate what we’re learning.

ACADEMIC RIGOR & AP TEST PREP

Because this is an AP-level class, I expect all of you to take the AP European History Exam in May.  The exam consists of a 55-minute multiple choice section and a 130-minute free response section, which includes a document based question (DBQ) and two free response questions (FRQ).  Therefore, we will also be working throughout the year on our test taking skills and preparing for the exam’s demands.  I advise you to purchase early on an exam review book and use it to prepare for the test throughout the year.  I also encourage you to develop regular study groups to prepare for both class assessments and the Big Kahuna in May.  Lastly, while the AP test is enormously important, I will not “teach to the test”; you will consistently be held to a high level of academic rigor which will in itself be the best test prep.