Mr.

Jason Neiffer
Capital HS Social Studies
Room 23 (4th-6th)
Student Lounge (2nd-3rd, 7th-8th)
406-202-2761 406-324-2568
jneiffer@helena.k12.mt.us
http://www.geekteach.com
2009-10 Syllabus
Welcome to AP European History at CHS!
Welcome to the wonderful and challenging world of AP European History. This
is the fourth year of the AP European History program at Capital High School it
is my pleasure to accompany you on this journey.
@ Capital High School
I am making some broad assumptions about you, the students of AP European
History. First, by nature of reading the course description, you understand that
AP European History

this a very challenging curriculum. We have approximately 140 class days to cover
European history from the Renaissance to today in considerable depth. The test
offered in May is very challenging and will test your ability to study for a compre-
hensive exam, reconstruct knowledge in a time-pressured format, and apply specific
skills.
Second, you understand that an Advanced Placement course is, by nature, home-
work intensive. We will read a textbook cover to cover (averaging just over 8 pages
per class day), read hundreds of pages of primary source documents, analyze hun-
dreds of maps and paintings and discuss questions of historical, political, economic
and social import.
Third, I expect you to look inside yourself and maximize your potential. I choose
not to place any limits on you and I ask you to do the same.
Class Expectations
Here is where I would normally list an extensive set of rules, but community rules
and norms tend to evolve over time. I do have a few expectations, however, that are
absolutely not negotiable:
Tolerance. Recognizing that other people have different values, beliefs, appearance The AP Exam
and desires is a hallmark of maturity. I will not tolerate language or actions that
exclude or demean. Heated argumentation should be the model for our class—ar- My goal is to give you
a meaningful class
gumentation that is focused on issues and not personality. experience in European
history first, and study
Respect for Substitutes. This is an absolute requirement. Subbing can be an un- for the test second.
pleasant experience; it should not be for people who sub in my class. However, the curricu-
lum we follow is the
Mindfulness to Plagiarism. If you plagiarize an assignment, you will receive a zero. Advanced Placement
If you plagiarize twice, you will receive a failing grade for the semester. If you are curriculum and I will be
giving you aggressive
confused about what constitutes plagiarism, please ask or check the resources on instruction on how to
the website. pass the exam, includ-
ing detailed instruction
Regular Class Attendance. The reality is that you can probably pass most classes and practice on how to
if you have spotty attendance. I think it is definitely possible to succeed in this write the essays on the
test. I believe it is very
class without regular attendance, albeit with extraordinary outside effort. However, important to take the
understand that I expect regular attendance as a sign of respect to the learning en- exam. In the weeks
vironment. It is difficult to recreate lectures, activities and especially assessments before the exam, I
when you miss class. will schedule several
practice tests oppor-
tunities and exams
Respect for Time. School rules apply for tardiness. My goal is to start right when after school and on
the bell rings every day. If you come late, you are making it difficult to begin class weekends so you can
with any reasonable consistency. get a feel for the exam.

Respect for Deadlines. Assignments are always due at the beginning of the period, The AP European test
is scheduled for Friday,
even when I don’t ask for them right away. There is no late work. May 7th, 2010 at
12:00pm. For Juniors,
Mindfulness to Absences. You will have one day for each day you missed, plus one this is the same day
day to make up assignments. You must get the information from the website or as the AP US History
by asking. I will not keep track of makeup assignments for you. For school related exam, scheduled at
8:00am. For artistic
absences, you must arrange for makeup before you leave or expect no opportunity types, this is the same
to do so. day your Studio Art
portfolio is due. Un-
The bottom line, however, is that you treat this process with respect. That means like past years, this is
respect for your fellow students and respect for contrasting ideas and opinions. the week after Vigilan-
That also means making a meaningful contribution to your education. te Parade. Although I
don’t discourage you
from participating in
the festivities, I will
be scheduling study
sessions throughout
that week and it isn’t
a week to check out.
Class Texts
We will utilize a number of resources this year
to assist us in our journey. The Western Heritage:
Ninth Edition, by Kagen, Ozment and Turner,
is the mail classroom text. You will be assigned
regular reading assignments from that text.
I have several other classroom resources avail-
able to you upon request including other European
history texts to help increase understanding, study
guides for the AP exam and other reference books.
I will also be handing out regular readings with
primary source documents and interesting articles
from historical journals and the like. These are
also required reading, unless otherwise noted.

Classroom Webpage/Paperless Classroom

http://www.geekteach.com
http://www.europeanessaynation.com
It is my intent to make these two websites the alter-
native textbook in the course. In an attempt to use
less paper, here are the two ways I will be attempting a
“paperless classroom.”
Electronic Essays: Until the beginning of March, we
will be doing all of our essays electronically. You will
type them electronically and I will grade them elec-
tronically. I will take you into a lab soon to show you
how.
Electronic Handouts: I intend to limit paper hand-
outs in my classroom this year. I will show you places
that these materials are on the Internet and I will have
a workshop in my classroom if you would like to print
them. Otherwise, you are on your own. This will take
organization on both of our parts!

Grading
I adopt the standard grading scale (90% A, 80% B,
70% C, 60% D).  You receive the grade you earn but I
do reserve the right to “bump up” close grades, however,
I will never do it at the request of the student. Be ad-
vised that there are no “freebie” points in this class: no
worksheets, no packets, no “participation” grades.  You
need to give every assessment your utmost attention to
guarantee that you get the grade that you want.
Keys to Success in AP Euro
You need to take notes. Good, quality lecture
notes are an absolute must. You will have some
opportunity to develop your skills in this regard
but if your notetaking regime is not working, it
is important to retool to make it work.
You need to read. Simple fact: the more you
read (the textbook, the supplemental reading,
outside reading), the higher your AP score will
be.
You need to write. Writing skills are extraor- Something about
dinarily important on this exam. Learning to
become a better writing is critical for success in my philosophy
this course.
you need to know:
You need to be self-motivating. Can you slack
in this class and get an A? Sure. It’s possible. I believe that
Can you slack and pass the exam? Sure, it’s pos-
sible. Your chance for an outstanding grade and
classes are as fun
great score on the AP exam are dramatically less as you make them.
than if you blow off this class. A certain guaran-
tee: you won’t find this class as valuable, educa- Do you want this
tional or fulfilling if you don’t put effort into it.
class to be hard
You need to have a positive attitude. I am by
no means a super happy positive guy, but I be- and boring? It
lieve any student can be successful in this class
and any student can pass the AP European His- will be hard and
tory exam. I can’t be positive for you, though.
You need to bring your positive attitude every
boring. Do you
day to class, even when challenged by the cur- want this class to
riculum. My motto? PLAY LIKE A CHAM-
PION. be challenging,
Other Class Opportunities informative and
Consider the AP World History exam! In the entertaining? I
last three years, 14 students have taken the AP
World History exam, and 10 passed! Much of
can be that too. I
the content is the same as AP European History will do my best to
and the format is similar. This year, we will be
studying more closely. Consider joining us. make it as inter-
Join us for coffee and studying! Last year, I esting as possible
hosted coffee at The Red Atlad before nearly ev-
ery class exam. We went over notes and talked (I am wacky that
about the unit’s content. If there is interest, I
am happy to do it this year as well.
way) but what
Consider Model United Nations! CHS’s
you to bring to
Model United Nations group is one of the big- class is just as
gest in the state. We go to the Montana MUN
conference in November for two days of inter- more important.
national negotiation and wacky fun.
Consider the school newspaper! This is not
related to European History, but I am the ad-
visor. We are looking for smart, hard-working
folks to help us build the best newspaper in the
state. See me ASAP. :)