AP History Summer Assignments 2007

Please e-mail Mrs. Anderson and Mr. Dunbar that you have received your Summer Assignment so we can add your name to our AP list.
AP World History

Summer Assignment – W. Anderson/M. Dunbar

E-mail assignment – Due August 13 or earlier

Research the following religions/philosophies: Hinduism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, and Islam. For each religion cut, paste, and answer the following questions:

Where was the belief system founded?

What is the approximate date the belief system was founded?

What was the name of the founder, if any?

List the book or books that are guidelines of the belief system?

Is there an after life? If so what is it like and how is it achieved?

How has the religion/philosophy changed since its founding and why?

Watch the world wide spread of religion/belief systems in ninety seconds. www.mapsofwar.com

There are two branches of Islam, Sunni and Shi’ite. What are the differences in their beliefs and how have these differences contributed to conflict in Iraq today?

E-mail your assignment or questions to both AP teachers

wanders4@houstonisd.org ; MDunbar730@msn.com

If you have time and want to get started on work that will be due 2007-2008 we have listed three assignments that will be due during the 2007 – 2008 school year.

HISTORY FAIR

AP World History students participate in Waltrip’s History Fair.

The theme for 2007 -2008 is Conflict and Compromise in History – visit the National History Day website for rules and information: http://www.nationalhistoryday.org/Contest.htm

Topics are due September 4/5, 2007, depending upon when your class meets. Included with your topic, you need to submit what type of project you will be doing. Your choices are as follows:

Group or Individual Exhibit - no more than three students

Group or Individual Performance – three students –permission needed for more

Group or Individual Documentary - no more than three students

Group or Individual Interpretive Websites - no more than three students

The final project will be due the week of October 8, 2007. We will choose the projects eligible to compete in the Waltrip Fair which is held at the end of October. Additional competitions are as follows: January 17/18 – Central Region, February 15^th or so – HISD, and April 25^th – Texas State History Fair (these dates are tentative.)

READING ASSIGNMENTS

First Semester Reading Assignment – due in November

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World (2004) by Prof. Jack Weatherford. This book looks at the "Pax Mongolica" from the fresh perspective of recently translated Mongolian texts. Were the Mongols bloodthirsty barbarians or enlightened rulers and liberators?

Second Semester Reading Assignment – due in February

Choose one of the following books to be read during the summer or during Second Semester. We are including them in this notice to give you the choice as to when you read your book.

Shanghai Diary (2004) by Ursula Bacon. A young German Jewish girl and her family flee Nazi Germany just in time, and wind up spending World War Two in Japanese-occupied China. Think of "Anne Frank goes to China." A good coming-of-age story and an interesting mix of perspectives. See WW II & the Holocaust—from a unique perspective. Eye-opening.

or

The Wave by Todd Strasser. Based upon actual events in a California high school in 1969. Ben Ross, a high school history teacher, begins his usual unit on World War II with a film strip depicting the horrors that occurred in Nazi concentration camps. His students have mixed reactions to the film. The teacher concocts an experiment to illustrate to his students just how this type of blind following can easily happen, even in their own school. It begins simply enough as a game in his history class but soon the students want to spread their new found discipline to other areas of the school including the school's football team.