APGov Assignments

Week of October 31 to November 4

Period 1
Tuesday:
Thursday: Sabato pp. 478-489 ( Read and take notes)

Period 3
Monday: No Homework
Tuesday: Sabato pp. 483-486 (Read and take notes)
Wednesday: Sabato pp. 486-489 (Read and take notes)
Thursday:
Friday: Voting and Elections campaign on Wednesday (Vocab, too!)

Period 6
Monday: Sabato pp. 473-478 (Read and take notes)
Wednesday: Sabato pp. 478-489 (Read and take notes)
Friday: Voting and Elections campaign on Wednesday (Vocab, too!)

HOA Assignments [UPDATED 11/1]

Week of October 31 to November 4

PERIOD 4
Monday: America's History pp. 177-192
Wednesday: America's History pp. 192-200
Friday:

PERIOD 7
Tuesday: America's History pp. 192-200
Thursday:

You can now create your own account to access America's History online!  Click here to download instructions on how to create a student access account.  This means that I will no longer be posting pdf versions of your assignment.

HoA: Your Quarter Exam

The format of the quarter exam will be "identifications".  You will receive a list of 10-12 terms from the first quarter.  These terms can be people, events, documents, or concepts.  You will be required to choose 5 terms and provide a definition and explanation of the historical significance of each term.  Definitions can generally be provided in 1-2 sentences.  The explanation of its significance will require more space, often 4-6 sentences.  You'll have 45 minutes to complete the exam.

4th period: Since I wasn't in class on Thursday and you guys handled the absence of the substitute so well, I'm holding an exam review in Room 3011 during first lunch on Monday.  I'll be providing pizza!

Period 4 - Rating Unrest

Click here to submit your group's "unrest ratings".  Remember that the ratings for the 9 events must add up to 45.

Period 7 - Unrest Ratings

Click here to register your unrest ratings.

HOA Assignments

Week of October 24 to October 28

Period 4

Tuesday: Quiz on Thursday; America's History pp. 143-166 (read and take notes)

Thursday: America's History pp. 169-177 (read and take notes)

Period 7

Monday: Quiz on Wednesday; America's History pp. 143-166 (read and take notes)

Wednesday: America's History pp. 169-177 (read and take notes)

Friday: America's History pp. 177-192 (read and take notes)

APGov Assignments

Week of October 24 to October 28

Period 1
Monday: Sabato pp. 455-463 (read and take notes); project presentations begin Wednesday
Wednesday: Sabato pp. 464-473 (read and take notes)
Friday: Sabato pp. 473-478

Period 3
Monday: No homework; project presentations begin tomorrow
Tuesday: Sabato pp. 455-463 (read and take notes)
Wednesday: Sabato pp. 464-473 (read and take notes)
Thursday: Sabato pp. 473-478 (read and take notes)
Friday: Sabato pp. 478-483 (read and take notes)

Period 6
Tuesday: Sabato pp. 455-463 (read and take notes)
Thursday: Sabato pp. 464-473 (read and take notes)

APGov Assignments [UPDATED 10/20]

Week of October 17 - October 21

PERIOD 1
Tuesday: Study for Thursday's Political Parties Exam, Ch. 12 vocab worksheet due Thursday
Thursday: Sabato pp. 444-455 (Read and take notes)

PERIOD 3
Monday: Sabato pp. 433-439 (Read and Take Notes)
Tuesday: Sabato pp. 440-443 (Read and Take Notes)
Wednesday: Study for tomorrow's Political Parties exam, Ch. 12 Vocab worksheet due tomorrow
Thursday: Sabato pp. 444-447 (Read and take notes)
Friday: Sabato pp. 447-455 (Read and take notes)

PERIOD 6
Monday: Sabato pp. 433-443 (Read and take notes)
Wednesday: Study for Friday's Political Parties Exam, Ch. 12 Vocab worksheet due Friday
Friday: Sabato pp. 444-455 (Read and take notes), complete gmail and GoogleDocs assignment as posted below in assignment to period 1

APGov: Why Gold?

We had an interesting, but short discussion in 6th period AP Government about U.S. currency and that it used to be backed by gold, but now it's backed by nothing but our faith in the U.S. Government.  About a year ago, the NPR podcast Planet Money (which I cannot recommend enough - it's absolutely brilliant) did a story explaining why gold wound up as the most desirable precious metal for money.  It's a cool story, and contains a lot of chemistry info.

HOA Assignments

Week of October 17 to October 21

Period 4
Monday: America's History pp. 116-123
Wednesday: America's History pp. 123-132
Friday: America's History pp. 134-143

Period 7
Tuesday: America's History pp. 123-132
Thursday: America's History pp. 134-143

Additional in-class reading: The Albany Plan of Union

Period 3: Today's Assignment

This activity will require some cooperation with your 1st Quarter Project partners for the later steps, so make sure that you're sitting close to your partners.  Today you'll be completing some basic computing tasks that will get you started on your project (if you haven't started already) and prepare you for other assignments in class.  Ready?  Here we go!

1. Navigate to gmail.com in a separate browser tab or window.
2. You will need a gmail account this year for your APGov class.  If you already have a gmail account, you can skip ahead to step 5.
3. Select the button labeled "Create an Account" in the upper right hand corner of the window.
4. Complete the form to obtain an email account.  Your email account should be in the format of FIRSTNAME.LASTNAME.2014@gmail.com.  If it is not in this format you will be required to make another new email address.  CHOOSE A PASSWORD YOU WILL REMEMBER - YOU WILL BE USING THIS ACCOUNT ALL YEAR!
5. Once you've created the account, open your gmail and send an email to both of my email accounts:
1. mccarthyroom3011@gmail.com
2. jeffrey.mccarthy@apsva.us
6. Now send an email to your project partners and have them reply to it.  When you receive their email add them to your contact list by clicking the triangle next to "reply" and selecting "Add 'NAME' to contacts list".  Make sure that you've added all your partners to your contact list.
7. You've now created an email address, shared it with me, and added your partners to your contact list.  Great!  Moving on...
8. Now go to docs.google.com
9. Have one member of your group select "Create" from the left side of the window, and then "presentation".  This should open a new window with a blank slideshow presentation.
10. Now have that member select "Share" from the top right corner of the screen.  It will open a new window.  At the bottom of that new window, you can choose to "Add people" to your document.  Add your partners by typing in their gmail addresses.  Now add my mccarthyroom3011@gmail.com as well.
11. Check to make sure that everyone in your group has access to this presentation.  If not, go back to step 8 and try again.
12. The presentation that you just opened will be the presentation file that you share in class in two weeks.  Every member of your group will be able to edit it at any time.  You will not need a flash drive in order to share it with the class or with me.
13. Now you can start working on your research.  I'd suggest that you try a few internet searches through Room3011's custom-made search engine.  You can find it by scrolling down the sidebar on the right until you find the link labeled "APGov Internet Search"

Period 1: Today's Assignment

This activity will require some cooperation with your 1st Quarter Project partners for the later steps, so make sure that you're sitting close to your partners.  Today you'll be completing some basic computing tasks that will get you started on your project (if you haven't started already) and prepare you for other assignments in class.  Ready?  Here we go!

1. Navigate to gmail.com in a separate browser tab or window.
2. You will need a gmail account this year for your APGov class.  If you already have a gmail account, you can skip ahead to step 5.
3. Select the button labeled "Create an Account" in the upper right hand corner of the window.
4. Complete the form to obtain an email account.  Your email account should be in the format of FIRSTNAME.LASTNAME.2014@gmail.com.  If it is not in this format you will be required to make another new email address.  CHOOSE A PASSWORD YOU WILL REMEMBER - YOU WILL BE USING THIS ACCOUNT ALL YEAR!
5. Once you've created the account, open your gmail and send an email to both of my email accounts:
1. mccarthyroom3011@gmail.com
2. jeffrey.mccarthy@apsva.us
6. Now send an email to your project partners and have them reply to it.  When you receive their email add them to your contact list by clicking the triangle next to "reply" and selecting "Add 'NAME' to contacts list".  Make sure that you've added all your partners to your contact list.
7. You've now created an email address, shared it with me, and added your partners to your contact list.  Great!  Moving on...
8. Now go to docs.google.com
9. Have one member of your group select "Create" from the left side of the window, and then "presentation".  This should open a new window with a blank slideshow presentation.
10. Now have that member select "Share" from the top right corner of the screen.  It will open a new window.  At the bottom of that new window, you can choose to "Add people" to your document.  Add your partners by typing in their gmail addresses.  Now add my mccarthyroom3011@gmail.com as well.
11. Check to make sure that everyone in your group has access to this presentation.  If not, go back to step 8 and try again.
12. The presentation that you just opened will be the presentation file that you share in class in two weeks.  Every member of your group will be able to edit it at any time.  You will not need a flash drive in order to share it with the class or with me.
13. Now you can start working on your research.  I'd suggest that you try a few internet searches through Room3011's custom-made search engine.  You can find it by scrolling down the sidebar on the right until you find the link labeled "APGov Internet Search"
14. Any questions?  You can try contacting me through twitter (@Room3011) or by leaving a comment on this blog post, but I'm at a doctor's appointment so I might not be able to reply.

Enjoy the Pep Rally and have a great weekend!

APGov Assignments [UPDATED 10/13]

Week of October 11 - October 14

Period 1
Wednesday: No Homework
Friday: Sabato pp. 433-443 (Read and take notes)

Period 3
Tuesday: Sabato pp. 429-433 (Read and take notes); tomorrow's class in Room 2010
Wednesday: No Homework
Thursday: Sabato pp. 433-439 (Read and take notes)
Friday: Political Parties exam on Thursday

Period 6
Tuesday: Sabato pp. 422-433 (Read and take notes)
Thursday: No Homework

HOA Assignments

Week of October 11 - October 14

Period 4
Tuesday: America's History pp. 93-100
Thursday: America's History pp. 103-115

Period 7
Wednesday: America's History pp. 103-115
Friday: America's History pp. 116-123

APGov: Rare Extra Credit Opportunity

Extra credit opportunities are very rare in APGov, but I've found a great event that's worthy of some extra credit.  From the WL Young Democrats:

The WL Young Dems and YHS Young Dems/ Teenage Republicans are working on sponsoring a debate for several candidates.  

The debate is going to be held at Yorktown High School at 7pm on October 11.  It will be open to the entire community, however, it will be run by student moderators and questions will only come from students.  We are trying to get as many students as possible to be there, and there will also be a voter registration drive taking place outside the auditorium.

We are still waiting on Bob Brink, Barbara Favola, and Caren Merrick to RSVP, however, we have reason to be optimistic that they will join us.

I was hoping that the government teachers at WL could have students submit questions for the debate.  Questions may be directed at a certain race, or just questions in general that we can ask any of the candidates.

Attending:

House of Delegates 48th DistrictJanet Murphy (IG)
Kathy D. Gillette-Mallard (I)
Bob Brink (D) -- Maybe attending

Senate of Virginia 32nd DistrictPatrick Forrest (R)
Janet Howell (D)

Senate of Virginia 31st DistrictCaren Merrick (R)
Barbara Favola (D)

Also, many elected officials who are running unoposed will be there and will be able to mingle and talk to students before/after.


Questions should be submitted to WLYoungDemocrats@gmail.com.  If your question is asked at the candidate debate you will receive extra credit on the Ch. 12 Exam.  Think about submitting questions that would be relevant to students like you.  If you attend the debate, you will also receive extra credit on the Ch. 12 Exam.  You will have to submit proof of attendance to me for the  extra credit.

HOA Assignments [UPDATED 10/7]

Week of October 3 - October 7

PERIOD 4
Tuesday: Complete Colonial PERCS assignment for next Tuesday's class
Thursday: America's History pp. 72-74 and pp. 89-93

PERIOD 1
Monday: Complete Colonial PERCS assignment for Wednesday's class
Wednesday: America's History pp. 72-74 and pp. 89-93
Friday: America's History pp. 93-100

APGov: Great Political Cartoon

APGov - First Quarter Project

You can download the project description by clicking here.

You can download the partner assignments by clicking here.

APGov - Chapter 12 Vocab

The vocabulary worksheet for Chapter 12 (political parties) can be downloaded here.  It will be due the day of the Chapter 12 exam.

APGov Assignments

Week of October 3 - October 7

PERIOD 1
Monday: Sabato pp. 404-415 (Read and take notes)
Wednesday: Sabato pp. 416-421 (Read and take notes)
Friday: Sabato pp. 422-433 (Read and take notes)

PERIOD 3
Monday: Sabato pp. 404-406 (Read and take notes)
Tuesday: Sabato pp. 406-412 (Read and take notes)
Wednesday: Sabato pp. 412-415 (Read and take notes)
Thursday: Sabato pp. 416-421 (Read and take notes)
Friday: Sabato pp. 422-433 (Read and take notes)

PERIOD 6
Tuesday: Sabato pp. 404-415 (Read and take notes)
Thursday: Sabato pp. 416-421 (Read and take notes)