野花社区视频

This is my 11th year teaching at 野花社区视频 ISD and my 6th year at Karen Wagner High School. Previously, I taught Theatre Arts, Speech, and AVID at Kirby Middle School. I have two Masters Degrees from Kansas State University. My undergraduate degree is from Stephen F. Austin University; I completed a teaching internship at Lufkin Middle School and my student teaching at Central Heights ISD. Before teaching in JISD, I worked as a marriage and family therapist for 12 years with adolescents and families in both community and residential settings. Mental wellness and validation of all students is very important to me.

I would like to take this opportunity to provide you with information about Advanced Placement (AP) World History.  (At WHS, students are enrolled in Honors for the first semester and AP second semester so that they can earn 2 credits for the entire course. Although it is called Honors, think of fall semester as Part 1 of the AP class). First, this course is designed for students who want an enriched and challenging history course while meeting state course requirements.  The course will follow the curriculum for AP World History provided by the College Board.  (See course syllabus.)  The approach to this course will be global, comparative, and analytical. At the end of the course (in the spring), students will be prepared to take the AP World Modern exam and may earn college credit, depending on their performance on this exam.

The course is equivalent to an introductory college-level course.  As such, the student is held accountable for a greater portion of materials and expected to meet a higher expectation than the on-level course.  We issue a textbook as a foundation for the course.  Students will be expected to read on their own, outside of class. This textbook will be heavily supplemented with reading from other college-level sources.  The course demands the use of higher order thinking skills to master the overarching themes and the habits of the mind that are instrumental for the course.

This class will also teach your students to write effective essays which will aid their progress in future upper level high school courses and college coursework.

Overarching themes:

• Mastering content
• Seeing global patterns over time and space
• Developing an awareness and appreciation of the commonalities and differences of human experiences
• Constructing and evaluating arguments, both oral and written
• Using historical data, either primary or secondary, in an analytical fashion
• Developing sophisticated research and writing methods

Habits of the mind:

• Think critically and analytically
• Write persuasively
• Discuss articulately
• Read extensively with content mastery and discernment

Students are admitted to the course on the basis of open enrollment, meaning that any student with an interest in the course is encouraged to join. 

The course will use Canvas to connect with students and their parents.  If you register as a parent-observer in Canvas, it will give you an opportunity to access the content of our course and keep informed about the latest assignments. In addition to Canvas, I am using Remind 101 to communicate announcements and allow students to send messages to me with their questions. Parents are also welcome to join Remind. To join the Remind for our class, text @worldapjc to 81010. I also encourage you to check grades and set alerts in Skyward (the link is on the JISD homepage at the bottom of the page) in order to stay updated on your student's grades.