World History AP

Today in WHAP we did some last minute studying for the Examination of Knowledge on Friday. First, we started class with Mr. Profitt yelling "Show me the money!!!" in regard to answering the prompt on our LEQ essays on Friday. I got the reference. After that, the class seceded into two parts where one half listened to Mr. Profitt talk about the LEQ, and the other half, of which I was a part of, engaged in silent study. I was pretty much in my own WHAP world until the end of the period, where Mr. Profitt was going to show us something neat under the condition that we wouldn't freak out. He then revealed an example AP exam to us in class today, and showed us the LEQ section. The point to be gathered is that the question was quite broad, but ours on Friday will be more specific and if you studied, easier. With that, the bell rang and we were dismissed. Enjoy your last day of not having a final, then move into the fun on Thursday and Friday. There won't be any blog

Today in WHAP we went over formation for the LEQ. One of the known trickiest parts of the LEQ is the contextualization, and today some "cheat codes" were provided in order to aid our success in getting that one point. They came in the form of a 5 sentence outline. S1: Introduce the historical period S2: Identify the main idea of the period S3: Explain the main idea of the period S4: Introduce and explain the specific topic of the question so that... S5: The thesis can take a position on the topic That's just a guideline, and you may be able to combine sentences and make it shorter. After this, we formed a thesis statement over societies before 600 B.C.E., and then looked them over as a class. What we went over was that if you need a second thesis sentence, with a "thus" statement, then use it. Grab the lowest hanging and most succulent fruit. After this, the bell rang and we were dismissed. Until Tomorrow!

Today in WHAP we started preparing for our assessment. We started class off by talking about how we need to know chronology and geography in order to be successful on the AP exam and potentially the December assessment. We the moved on into a motivational video called "Why do we fall". It was used as  motivation for us to study for our finals. Message of the video aside, I found it ironic how they kept portraying D. Rose, and how that situation still reflects his current dilemma to this day. Some various questions were then asked about the exam, and eventually a question about the conclusion paragraph led into planning for the causation essay. The conclusion (pun) we came to about the conclusion was that it is NOT necessary in the essay, but if we have time then by all means go for it. Mr. Profitt then pulled up a neat graphic on the PowerPoint slide detailing how 3 causes/effects are necessary to form the causation paragraph. Roughly 9 pieces of evidence are needed t

Today in WHAP we took a Clicker Quiz and some notes. First, we started off class when the bell rang. Yeah, the bell actually rang for the first time in a long time. Exciting stuff. We immediately jumped into some notes over the Bubonic Plague or The Black Death, as some like to call it.  So first of all, the plague was a pandemic and not an epidemic, the difference being that a pandemic is a disease outbreak that effects multiple regions or even continents, whereas an epidemic is mainly in a small area. We then went into information over emperor Justinian of the Byzantines, and how he made a code, Justinian's code, which was a revision of the current Roman rules and is still in effect today. He also built the Hagia Sofia. One of the most important lessons to be taken away from class, as it was mentioned in the notes and in the CQ was that history can be moved by other factors than humans. Often times this is in reference in disease. We continued talking about th

Today in WHAP we took a clicker quiz. First, we started off class in our table teams to review for our Clicker Quiz. It was over the Mongols, so after making an acceptable amount of jokes, we went over how bloodthirsty Genghis was and how great of military warriors they were. We didn't have any full class review, so we went straight into the quiz. I don't think we got the bonus today. After the quiz, we did an activity where we had to relate a key term to a margin review question. We had the term Kipchak Khanate, and we related it to margin review number 8 because we KK was unique in how the Mongols weren't occupying it, but still collected tribute yearly from the city. To state a bit of an opinion here, I didn't like that activity at all. The reason I disliked it was because we weren't allowed to leave class until we finished it. While my group finished in time that I could make it to Degen's class before the bell, others weren't so fortunate and ha

Today in WHAP we did the SIS, and then had a discussion about improvements to the class. We started off by doing the SIS, and then Mr. Profitt opened the floor to questions from those who finished. Scheibe asked about reading quizzes being graded too harshly or the worth per question...something like that. Before I spiral into that part of class, I want to share one of my biggest "Wants" for the second semester. I want the return of the Frayer Models, mainly because of that extra bonus point they give on the quiz. That was something we only got to do once this year, and it's something I'd REALLY like to see more often. Back on topic, Mr. Profitt started talking about how an 11 is really where he wants us to be on reading quizzes, as that roughly translates into a 5 on the AP exam. Mr.Profitt when you mention percents After that, he took a poll from the class on whether they wanted more debates. Sadly, I was a minority on not wanting to debate more often.

Today in WHAP we took our last reading quiz of the year. We started off class in our table teams, reviewing for the quiz. We then tossed some questions at Mr. Profitt, who opened the floor for some rapid fire questioning. He offered us a new option today where we could pick if we wanted a long or a short explanation. The first question was about Feudalism and Manorial ism, and the differences, to which he responded that Manorial ism was more of the economy whereas Feudalism was the political way thing went down. There were a few more questions, and some of the students didn't clarify whether they wanted the short or long definition, so they went to the default of the long answer. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but before a quiz the general need is to stuff as much into our brains in the time before so that we can be ready. We took the quiz and got blessed with a nice HTS, and then went over the multiple choice. With that, the bell rang and we were dismisse

Today in WHAP we reviewed for the quiz. First, to start off class, Silas left us a little gift of talking about Iconoclasm, so that's how we started class. We then preceded to move onto the subject of studying for finals. Mr. Profitt said that if we haven't started to study yet, we need to get our...stuff together and start putting in that work. We then moved on to doing table team review for our clicker quiz. We had no time for class-wide review, so after a few minutes we jumped right into the action. Note that from know on that there will be an extra question to throw us for a twist at the end of Clicker Quizzes where it references something from Strayer. Great... something else to worry about on Clicker Quizzes, the so-called easiest grades. I guess it worked out today for us because we ended up getting the bonus on the quiz, with everyone getting the first 3 questions correct. Always good to have a 120 or 100 sitting in your grade book. Now lets try and do that on a r

Today in WHAP we had a free period...free of clicker quizzes. Since one of the WHAP classes didn't take a clicker quiz, we had the option to take or to not take the quiz today, to which the class voted not to take it. We voted on if we wanted to talk about the Crusades or the Byzantines, to which the class voted the former. Mr. Profitt then asked us all to write a question about the Crusades, and he called upon me to ask mine, which was "Could the Crusades happen now?" The short answer to that is probably not, but we ended up going into more detail for the rest of the class on background information on the topic, which eventually explained just how it couldn't happen today because of the difference in the kind of power the Pope had back then and has now. So first, Rome was essentially being destroyed culturally and physically at the same time, with the process of the Byzantine empire splitting happening. This whole situation started when Diocletian, a roman empire