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Stop by the MAIN OFFICE and (politely) ask for an AP US History text anytime after Friday 6/18. They'll have you fill out a book card and you'll be all set! Thanks for your flexibility.


 * Textbook StudySpace**: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/america7/

//(What follows is the same thing you received on the "gold sheet."//) =**The Summer** Assignment= US History (Hiester / Katz) Summer Assignment 2010-11

1. Read . ..
chapters 1-16 in your textbook, America: A Narrative History by Geroge Brown Tindall and David Emory Shi (7th edition).

2. Compose . ..
5-7 “Summary Statements” for each chapter (for chapters 2-16). Use the Chapter 1 Summary Statements (below) as a model for your work.

3. Review . ..
At your discretion, make use of the chapter outlines, interactive maps, “Chrono-Sequencer,” flash-card feature, and review quizzes available on the textbook’s website, called “StudySpace.” Do this to build up some recall and to check your understanding, but do not study for detail mastery they way you would for a during-the-year test. (StudySpace Link: [|http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/history/america7/)]

4. Turn-in (on the first day of class) . ..
your typed Summary Statements for chapters 2-16

You will also take a quiz covering big concepts and themes from chapters 1-16 on this first day.

Order of business #1
Please understand that this is not a note-taking assignment. You will have an opportunity to take notes on specific details when we review the 16 chapters during the 1st quarter. Instead, the summer assignment is designed to force you to process information and to come away with a concise sense of each chapter’s essence. The assignment is intellectually challenging rather than plug-away challenging and, for this reason, it may feel weird and even uncomfortable. You can do it. Sink you claws and brains into the material and make meaning of it; you will find that it sticks.

//What are these “Summary Statements?”//
 * These are long-ish (but grammatically sustainable) sentences that do a lot of work. Collectively, they summarize the chapter. They identify the major idea clusters, tensions, insights, dramas, turning points and, sometimes, key terms of the chapters. They can be used by readers as note-taking and/or study guides: each part of each statement serves as a kind-of scavenger-hunt clue that forces readers to dig into the chapter for illuminating details. In fact, when we return to school in the fall, we will use them as outlines for our chapter presentations. But this summer, all you have to do is write the Summary Statements.
 * You should find yourself drafting and revising your Summary Statements rather than just throwing down the first thing that comes to mind.
 * So that you may have a better idea of what I’m talking about, Summary Statements for chapter 1 are posted below. As you read chapter 1, keep the Summary Statements handy and notice that by writing down a specific example or two for each part of each statement you would come away with a pretty good outline of the chapter’s material. Again, you don’t need to write down these details this summer; just notice how the statements work so you will be better able to craft you own statements for chapters 2-16.

//And what about the on-line materials?// You should use these materials to help you make sense of and retain the basic ideas in the reading. You may benefit from using the quizzes as reviews. Keep in mind that this summer, you are not reading to master the details of the material—you do NOT need to arrive to the first day of class with the 16 chapters memorized! Hence, you will likely not earn high scores on the review quizzes. On the other hand, if you find that you retain virtually nothing, experiment with different reading strategies (read aloud, follow along with the chapter outline as you read, stop after each section and jot down key terms, etc.) Part of your job is to figure out how to use our textbook to facilitate your learning in a way that works for your learning style.

A SUGGESTED APPROACH TO WRITING YOUR SUMMARY STATEMENTS

 * 1) Print-out/copy to your own computer document the questions that start-off the on-line study plan for the chapter (on the web-site, not in the textbook). I do not love all of these questions; I think they leave important elements of the chapters out and/or overemphasize other elements. However, they can be a helpful starting point for your Summary Statements because they identify most of the main topics covered in each chapter.
 * 2) Read the chapter and craft 5-7 statements that collectively capture the principle insights, themes, shifts, and dramas of the chapter.

a. complete and thorough (they cover all parts of all 16 chapters) b. accurate and precise (they avoid generalizations that result in inaccurate/vague statements) c. written well (they are grammatically correct, original, thoughtful, memorable, powerful, creative) d. “meaty” (they are crafted so that they capture and consolidate the many elements and ideas of the chapter)
 * Excellent Summary Statements are**

EXAMPLE SUMMARY STATEMENTS
Chapter 1: The Collision of Cultures
 * 1) //From Mesoamerica to the Ohio Valley, North American Indian civilizations emerged that were interconnected through trade and had important similarities, but were as diverse as the landscapes upon which they depended for survival. They were also more human (in some disappointing ways) and more sophisticated (in some impressive ways) than many assume.//
 * 2) //Long before Renaissance-era innovations and pressures propelled Europe into an era of exploration and conquest, America had other “first” settlers.//
 * 3) //Thanks to their gunpowder, ships, steel, horses, dogs and germs, Europeans were eventually able to dominate the Americas; Europeans generally came out ahead, but not without considerable resistance and adaptation on the part of American Indians.//
 * 4) //The arrival of Europeans in America resulted in exchanges and interactions of people, animals, food, diseases and elements of culture that forever changed life all over the planet and that, in some cases, had clear winners and losers, and in other cases were a mixed-bag for those involved.//
 * 5) //Spain’s American empire, a true study in contrasts, was founded on greed as well as religious devotion; it was characterized by intolerance but was also accommodating of many Native American ways; it was, at first, a land of individual initiative but was ultimately characterized by remarkably centralized rule; it had a very different character in the Northern borderlands than in the heart of the empire in the South and it was the basis of Spain’s great power and prestige but ultimately a liability.//
 * 6) //By the late 1500s, England’s tumultuous and often political drift towards Protestantism, France’s on-and-off interest in New World exploration, and the independence of the Netherlands, propelled these newly powerful nations to challenge Spanish supremacy in the Americas, culminating in the defeat of the Spanish Armada and in significant, though largely unsuccessful English plantings//