Friday AP Update 2/16/07

Dear Parents:
I hope that my students enjoy their weeklong break. They do have two things to complete this week. They need to finish the book Hiroshima and be prepared to compete a writing assignment on that book the day they return from winter break. They can take notes on the book, which can be used on the writing assignment. The also have an essay on the Scottsboro Boys trial of 1931 to type and turn in the day they return from the winter break. Students have already done the research, so all they have to do is type the essay. The week we return from winter break will be spend largely on preparing for the Unit Seven Exam, which will be March 5th, and 6th. There will be review sessions at various times after school that week. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday students can come from 3:30 to 5:00. On Monday they can come from 5:00 to 7:00 and on Thursday they can come from 6:15 to 7:30. I have different times in an attempt to accommodate all the wonderful students who are participating in spring sports. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable week.
Ken Foster

CHS Social Studies Department
(770) 382-4765
Kenneth_Foster@cartersville.k12.ga.us
http://fostersap.blogspot.com/
http://teacherweb.com/GA/CartersvilleHighSchool/KenFoster/

The mission of Cartersville High School is to prepare students to become informed, contributing members of society through vigorous instruction in a caring, compassionate culture.

Assessing AP Essays as Good to Excellent

AP Essays Assessed in the Good to Excellent Category MUST:

1. Have a topic sentence that is a sub-thesis or mini-thesis for every body paragraph in the essay
2. Be organized in a clear and logical manner
3. Have legible penmanship, good spelling and proper grammar
4. Not have any road maps nor any writing in the margins
5. Not have sentences that begin with pronouns
6. Not use contractions (they make you sound less intellectual)
7. Always be written in the past tense
8. Not be written in the first person
9. Use complex sentences where appropriate (see examples below)
10. End each body paragraph with a clincher sentence or analysis

Sample Complex Sentences

The Kansas-Nebraska Act, designed to use popular sovereignty (or letting the people of a territory decide) to determine the slavery status of the Kansas and Nebraska Territories, only increases growing tensions over the slavery issue.

The Missouri Compromise made it so that any state below the 36-30 line was allowed to have slaves, while anywhere above that line, except for Missouri, slavery would be prohibited.

The new Fugitive Slave law, which proclaimed that runaways were to be denied a jury trial and could not testify in court, upset the North greatly because they feared it would start a dangerous precedent.

The Stamp Act, a tax on legal documents during the colonial era, united the colonies in protest against British policy.

With strong opposition toward the war, the Federalist Party met at the Hartford Convention, with demands for the federal government.

With the death of the Federalist Party came the supposed Era of Good Feelings, a misleading term used during the Monroe Administrations, where there was only one main political party, the Democratic-Republicans.

Sample AP Free-Response Essay

(1)Decades before the Civil War began, sectional tensions between the North and the South were quite high, usually to the point where secession was seriously discussed. (2)Some compromises, such as the tariff compromises and the Missouri Compromise of 1820 did show that both sides could be consoled. (3)However, as time passes on and the slavery issue became more and more serious, the compromises showed that, at best, they could postpone conflict up to a point and at worst, lead to war.

(4)Compromises such as the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Compromise of 1850 demonstrated the ineffectiveness of consoling both the North and the South. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, (5)designed to use popular sovereignty (or letting the people of a territory decide) to determine the slavery status of the Kansas and Nebraska Territories, only increases already growing tensions over the slavery issue. A major cause was the fact that, in order for the compromise to work, the Missouri Compromise would have to be repealed. (6)The Missouri Compromise stated that slavery north of the 36-03 line was prohibited. Kansas and Nebraska were above that line. This act made the North upset because they viewed the Missouri Compromise as sacred as the Constitution itself. In addition, the Republican Party was formed, (7)whose main platform was a fierce opposition to slavery in the western territories. (8)So instead to trying to reduce conflict by determining a way to possibly end slavery, the Kansas-Nebraska Act did the exact opposite. The Compromise of 1850 was the major boiling point between the North and the South. Due to the increasing number of runaway slaves, the South wanted a new and stricter fugitive slave law to be enacted by Congress. (9)The new Fugitive Slave law proclaimed that runaways were to be denied a jury trial and could not testify in court. This upset the North greatly because they feared it would start a dangerous precedent. But nothing was as outrageous as what happened to abolitionists who supported the undergrounds railroad. (10)They would be jailed, fined or even forced to act as slave catchers. The North despised this “manstealing law” so much that they enacted state personal liberty laws (11)to nullify the fugitive slave law. (12)As time passed on, compromise between the North and the South was almost nonexistent. Acts such as Kansas-Nebraska showed the frailty of the Union and it became clear that something else would have to be done in order to deal with the slavery issue.

(13)While most compromises tended to shatter the Union more than help it, the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and even the tariff compromises showed that both sides of the Union could be satisfied, even if only temporarily. The Missouri Compromise came about when Missouri wanted to enter the Union as a slave state. (14)Many in the North were opposed to this because it would disturb the balance of free states and slave states in the Senate. Henry Clay, “The Great Compromiser,” came up with an idea to resolve this issue. Luckily, Maine also wanted statehood, but as a free state. (15)The Missouri Compromise made it so that any state below the 36-30 line was allowed to have slaves (the exception being Missouri of course) while any where above that line slavery would be prohibited. Until the Clay Compromise of 1850, for every slave state admitted, a free state was also admitted and vice versa. The tariff crisis began in 1828 with what the South called the “Tariff of Abomination,” which put a high tax on imported goods. (16)For about five years, South Carolina rebelled against the offending tariff, and even talked of secession. With the Compromise Tariff of 1833 things pretty much calmed down (though slavery would still become a hot topic of debate. (17)In the earlier parts of the 19th century, there were no explosive events like the Mexican War, or even Manifest Destiny, where Americans believed they were fated to expand westward, to cause such conflict as with what went on in the middle part of that century. For this reason, compromises such as Missouri and the tariff compromises were so successful, even if they barely held the union together.
Elaine Nichols (2006)

SFI (Specific Factual Information)

1. Kansas-Nebraska Act used popular sovereignty to determine the slavery status
2. Missouri Compromise would have to be repealed
3. Missouri Compromise stated that slavery north of the 36-03 line was prohibited
4. Kansas and Nebraska were above that line
5. Republican Party opposed slavery in the western territories.
6. Compromise of 1850
7. South wanted a stricter fugitive slave law to be enacted by Congress.
8. Fugitive Slave law proclaimed that runaways were to be denied a jury trial and could not testify in court.
9. “manstealing law”
10. personal liberty laws
11. Missouri Compromise came about when Missouri wanted to enter the Union as a slave state.
12. North opposed Missouri because of the balance of free and slave states in the Senate.
13. Henry Clay, “The Great Compromiser,”
14. Maine also wanted statehood, but as a free state.
15. The Missouri Compromise made it so that any state below the 36-30 line was allowed to have slaves (the exception being Missouri of course) while any where above that line slavery would be prohibited.
16. Until the Clay Compromise of 1850, for every slave state admitted, a free state was also admitted and vice versa.
17. The tariff crisis began in 1828 with what the South called the “Tariff of Abomination,”
Compromise Tariff of 1833

Explanation of Numbers

1. Sentence to introduce the essay topic or historical setting of the essay
2. Connecting Sentence or bridge to the thesis statement
3. Thesis Statement
4. Topic Sentence
5. Explanation of SFI
6. Explanation of SFI
7. Explanation of SFI
8. Analysis
9. Explanation of SFI
10. Explanation of SFI
11. Explanation of SFI
12. Analysis
13. Topic Sentence
14. Explanation of SFI
15. Explanation of SFI
16. Explanation of SFI
17. Analysis

Link to Practice AP Exam Questions

http://teacherweb.com/GA/CartersvilleHighSchool/KenFoster/photo1.stm

AP Essay Writing Guidelines

Introduction:
1st sentence should identify the time period that is relative to the essay question.
2nd sentence is a bridge to the thesis Statement.
3rd sentence is the thesis - include the economic, political, geographical, or social factors that impacted the essay question.

Body:
At least ONE body paragraph for each part of the thesis
Topic sentence for each part of the thesis is a contention/argument that must be proven
Prove each contention with 3-5 hard facts (SFI), i.e. laws, events, court cases
Provide analysis (causes and results) for facts (SFI)

Conclusion:
Restate the thesis
Step forward - identify a result in the future related to the question.

Important Links

http://easybib.com/

http://www.cartersville.k12.ga.us/chs/ppt/foster/fosterapreview.html

http://teacherweb.com/GA/CartersvilleHighSchool/KenFoster/

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/ftrials.htm

AP Reading Photo #2

2006 AP Reading Table #95 on the eighth day after having scored over 8,000 student essays!

AP Reading Photo #1

2006 AP Reading in San Antonio
Table #95 was the BEST!!!!!