The final months

Hi students --

We have three crucial months left until the AP exam on Friday, May 9th.

I've noticed that many of you are doing a great job pulling through and continuing to follow all your obligations as students. However, I am disappointed with many of you who seem to have forgotten what you committed to when signing up for AP U.S. History in the beginning of last year. I want to take the time to remind you of these obligations:

1) You must attend class on time. If you are in my second period class this means that you should be in your seat and ready for class to begin at 8:15 am. On a good day there are at most 7 students ready to start at 8:15 am. I am going to start factoring lateness more heavily into your grade. Lateness to class not only takes away from your learning experience but when you come in late you interrupt the entire class. Please do what you need to do to get to class on time and be more considerate.

2) You must hand in homework assignments on time. These assignments are to prepare you for class discussions. When you continuously hand in your homework days late then you are not following the class rules and not getting the most out of class which brings me to...

3) You are required to participate in class discussions. I understand that some of you are shy and don't feel comfortable talking in class. However, you need to work on this skill (especially for college and the job world). In addition, it helps me to understand what material you need help with or might require a deeper study or analysis. If you do not do the nightly readings as assigned it makes it even more difficult to participate in class. Please be mindful of the due dates and when you read the book make a list of a few points that you would like to make in class.

4) Starting on March 30th (Monday) we will begin an INTENSIVE six week review for the AP exam. You will be required to attend after school reviews and Saturday review sessions at the end of April. You will have homework (essays and questions) to complete almost every night and these must be handed in on time. This is a crucial time to get all the information in your head to get that 4 or 5 on the AP exam. In addition, the preparation work will be heavily factored into your final grade!