Sunday, August 25, 2013

Agenda: August 26th, 2013 - August 30th, 2013

A.P. World History with Mr. Mers
Unit 1 and Summer Assignment Review

Week at a Glance:  
Mon-  Chapter 2 Reading post-Quiz, Chapter 3 Reading Quiz/post-Quiz, Geography
Tues-  Summer assignment- Paleolithic Era
Wed-  Summer Assignment- Civilization Comparison
Thur-  Primary Source Analysis Basics- Hammurabi
Fri-  Unit 1 Exam (ONLY Unit Exam w/ notes)
Weekend-  Prepare for Socratic Seminar using Jared Diamond/Unit 2- Chapter 4 notes

In Crash Course World History, John Green frequently encourages his viewers to avoid looking at history through Eurocentrism or Great Man theory, but to be conscious of a broader historical context. Crash Course World History has a broad following, with devotees all around the globe, but it has a particular appeal to American students taking the AP World History exam administered by the College Board. Many students and teachers use the videos to supplement their courses and review for the exam. Raoul Meyer, who writes the series, is himself an AP World History teacher and many of the themes of the course are explored in the YouTube series. Raoul often responds to viewers questions, tweets about World History, and even answers questions before the exam.






Summer Assignment Review- Geography




Jared Mason Diamond is an American scientist and author best known for his popular science books The Third Chimpanzee, Guns, Germs, and Steel, Collapse and The World Until Yesterday.

...And oh what a sweet beard!

Diamond's article about humanity's worst mistake is further capitulated by his fatal five reasons why societies fail...perhaps they would not collapse if they maintained their Paleolithic way of life.
Why societies fail? Here’s their Fatal Five:           
 Human impacts on the environment. 
Climate change. 
Friendly neighbors going. 
Hostile neighbors coming. 
Dysfunctional political and cultural practices. 




Thursday, August 15, 2013

In this first week, as well as throughout the course of the year, we will be focusing on the following themes within each of the periods shown in the "Periodization" chart below.
In order to remember these THEMES, I like to use the acronym SPICE...
S-  Social Structures
P- Politics, as in state-building, expansion, and conflict
I-  Interaction between humans and the environment
C- Cultures
E- Economic systems

Each of the periods above will be covered throughout the different units in the Strayer text book.