2013-14 Guide for Academics and Student Life - Tampa Preparatory ...

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS - HISTORY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCESHistory in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries,also complements the students’ study in American Literature.United States History focuses not only on the historicalevents of the text, but also on their relevance to currentissues. Students must fulfill several requirements, includingdaily reading assignments, frequent essays, and occasionalprojects.AP United States History (11)This college-level course is designed to prepare studentsboth for the Advanced Placement United States Historyexamination and for some of the skills and knowledge theywill need in other academic classes and life experiences. Theintensive curriculum surveys the history of the United Statesfrom before the arrival of Europeans to the early twenty-firstcentury. A discussion format used in class is fueled bystudents’ responses to assigned readings and daily primarysources. A strong emphasis is placed on the instruction,training, and practice in the composition of college-levelessays. Writing objectives include the formulation anddevelopment of thesis statements in response to questionsbased upon the analysis, understanding, interpretation,and reconciliation of historical documents. Political, social,economic, literary, and artistic aspects of American historyare integrated to the greatest extent possible throughout thecourse. Prerequisites: World History 2 or AP World History,and instructor’s approvalAP American Government (11,12)This course will give students, in line with the AP specifications,an “analytical perspective on government and politics in theUnited States. It includes both the studies of general conceptsused to interpret United States politics and the analysis ofspecific examples. The course requires familiarity with thevarious institutions, groups, beliefs and ideas that constituteUnited States politics. The following themes are examined:Constitutional Underpinnings of United States Government;Political Beliefs and Behaviors; Political Parties, InterestGroups and Mass Media; Institutions of National Government;Public Policy; Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Skills expectedof the students are: knowledge of facts, concepts, and theories;understanding of typical patterns of political processes andbehavior and their consequences; analysis and interpretationof data and relationships in government and politics; writtenanalysis and interpretation of the subject matter; carefulattention to the specific free-response question posed; andability to stay on task.” Prerequisite: Instructor’s approvalAP Art History (11,12)Through slide lectures, class discussions, and library resources,this year-long course focuses on major developments in visualthought and expression. The course strives to develop anunderstanding of history through art and art through historyand to analyze the form and nature of art works. Students writenumerous short essays in this class. Prerequisite: World History2 or AP World History, and instructor’s approvalAP European History (12)This intensive, college-level course is intended to providepreparation for the AP European History exam. Students readand write extensively and are responsible for comprehending,analyzing, and discussing the major political, economic,social, and religious events of the entire European continentfrom the formative era of the Renaissance to contemporaryEurope. Excerpt reviews and Document Based Questionsprovide additional writing practice. Prerequisite: WorldHistory 2 or AP World History, United States History andinstructor’s approvalAP Economics (12)This course focuses on the factors at work in themarketplace, affecting both consumer and producer behavior.Microeconomics will emphasize the concepts of demand andsupply, elasticity, production theory, cost theory, marketstructures, market failure, factor markets and the applicationof theory to contemporary issues. Additionally, the student isintroduced to the workings of the aggregate economy. In analyzingthe “health” of the economy, students will explore the importanceof certain measures including inflation, unemployment, GrossDomestic Product, and economic growth. This course will alsoexamine the impact of international trade given the currentglobal market. It is an upper level course and recommended forseniors only.HISTORY ELECTIVESAfrican American Arts and Letters:A Study of the Harlem Renaissance (10-12)This one-semester course features a three-pronged approachto the creative and cultural forces that shaped the historicalperiod. Much attention in the course focuses on literaturethrough study of novels, short stories and poetry by Hurston,Larsen, Hughes, Cullen, Bontemps, Wright, McKay, and Himes.Another area of focus is art, with an exploration of themes inthe paintings of Douglas, Jones, and Johnson. Music roundsout the trio with a soulful focus on some of the pioneers ofthe Jazz Age, such as Waller, Basie, and Ellington. Studentswrite responses to readings, conduct art house discussionsand listening parties, and produce two major projects.African American History (11,12)This semester course is a study of the origins of AfricanAmericans. This culturally profound journey begins witha focus on the African continent. Students will learn aboutWest Africa, the slave trade, and the explorers of the Atlantic.Students will study the Middle Passage and the effect of theWest Indes on the development of American slavery. On theNorth American continent, the course focuses on the earlyinconsistencies of slavery and freedom, tracing the evolutionand emergence of the unique, enigmatic culture of AfricanAmericans from Jamestown to the Civil War. Students willwrite, examine current events, and create a final technologyproject as a culminating assessment.GUIDE FOR ACADEMICS AND STUDENT LIFE | 55