Henderson-Vegas Invite

While in Henderson, Nevada this summer, I got to work with a group of national history teachers; we discussed the direction of history education and various approaches that should be reconsidered in the discipline of history. I was honored to attend this conference since it was by invitation only. One of the things we looked [...]

The Conference

I conducted a European history session with a colleague this past weekend; it went seemingly well. My colleague was a star and did a great job engaging the audience and asking great questions. The audience was wonderful. The overall conference went great. Now that part one is complete, we must now finish the writing process [...]

AP European History Reading 2009: Too Much Hitler

It has been an excellent week at Colorado State University in Fort Collins – – site of the 2009 European history read. We spent our days reading essays while attending seminars, lectures, and forums at night;  I found myself dinning most nights with bright scholars, ambitious teachers, learners, and colleagues. Honestly, to call them just a colleague [...]

European History Reading and Debating the Drinking Age

Above: Downtown Fort Collins
For the third year in a row, I am spending the second week of June doing European history work and reading at Colorado State University.  It is safe to say that I love this college town; it has all of the ingredients one would want: shops, bookstores, restaurants, bars, live music, and [...]

My Top Student Award in US History

Sarah Salinas came by today to hand me a great thank you note and a gift filled with chocolates; I am a big snacker, especially as it relates to junk food; I justify this as fuel for some big run. Hey, I am scheduled to do an 8 mile run today at my marathon goal [...]

An Approach to Teaching about the Nazi Youth

I never show movies in class; however, I love using clips that make some historical point. Oh, I think this one does. I really hate teaching about Hitler; I must compete with the History channel.

Just Another Day on Campus

This particular section of AP European History spent time on the inner lawn of HCHS; I am a sucker to say the least. They needed additional motivation on what is an absolutely gorgeous day. We discussed World War II and the motivations that drove the likes of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin to seek greater power; [...]

Princeton Visit ‘09

Left: Friend and former student Alejandro Penafiel
I have spent the past four days here in Princeton working with a group of great friends and excellent colleagues; I like to think that I am pretty smart, but when I am around this group I realize I have much to read. I find this most exciting. I [...]

More Issues Over AP Courses

The Advanced Placement debate continues on campuses across the nation. The dichotomy that exists between college and upper school faculty appears to be clearly defined: college instructors teach specialized courses to students in a less democratized fashion; students who apply to attend a college or university are supposed to be the best and the brightest [...]

San Antonio Conference

I attended the San Antonio two-day Advanced Placement history and social science conference this weekend; it was a great meeting with a number of great teachers that turned out. I presented three sessions at this conference in which I witnessed great attendance in my sessions. Teachers were great during Q & A. I want [...]

My AP European History Friends and Colleagues

2008-09 Development Committee Members
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
These dedicated educators play a critical role in the preparation of the Course Description and exam. They represent diverse points of view and areas of expertise. As a group, they are the authority in their fields when it comes to making subject-matter decisions in the exam-construction process. The AP Development Committees represent [...]

Race, Class, and AP Courses

AP Examinees by Race and Gender in Selected Fields

Subject
White
Latino
Black
Asian
Native American
Female

Calculus AB
64.4%
8.4%
4.5%
16.5%
0.4%
48%

Computer science
58.2%
6.5%
3.7%
24.5%
0.3%
17%

English literature and composition
64.9%
10.2%
7.4%
10.3%
0.6%
64%

European history
68.1%
7.9%
3.7%
12.7%
0.4%
54%

French literature
66.3%
5.6%
6.0%
10.6%
0.0%
71%

Government and politics: U.S.
63.3%
11.5%
5.9%
12.4%
0.5%
53%

Human geography
59.7%
12.3%
9.7%
10.7%
0.4%
55%

Macroeconomics
56.6%
11.7%
4.6%
19.8%
0.3%
45%

Physics: electricity and magnetism
58.8%
3.9%
1.7%
28.6%
0.3%
22%

Psychology
64.7%
8.7%
6.5%
12.9%
0.4%
65%

Due to much of my academic work over the past 7 years with the College Board and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s AP Center, I have come to understand the [...]

TCU Day One

Edward Hussein Carson pontificating in the Amon Carter Lecture Hall
Day one at the Texas Christian University AP European History Institute I am leading went well. As always, I have a great group of people who ask tough questions – – which I love. I have a few guest speakers coming in over the next few [...]

Books for the European History Syllabus

The following books are works that take a much more narrow path towards collective historical analysis vis-à-vis European studies; however, they can be extrapolated to address political, social, and economic matters during a particular periodization. Students tend to find the following works enjoyable to read. The following works at one point have been a part [...]

AP European History Read at Colorado State University

It has been an excellent 11 days at Colorado State University in Fort Collins – – site of the 2008 European history read. We spent the day reading essays while attending seminars, lectures, and forums at night; I will admit that I played more at this read than I have in recent memory. I found [...]

New Book addressing the History of an Elite Boarding School

I am off to Colorado State University until June 20th for the AP European History reading. I am looking forward to serving as a Table Leader for the very first time. While I am off reading essays by day, I hope to be very productive at night. I need to clean up a paper while [...]

Faculty Tension Over Courses

The dichotomy that exists between college and upper school faculty appears to be clearly defined: college instructors teach specialized courses to students in a less democratized fashion; students who apply to attend a college or university are supposed to be the best and the brightest from their high schools – – of course that is [...]

Students of Color and Advanced Courses

Students of color (SOC) face challenges that many of their white counterparts will never experience. For one, black students disappear in the more advanced courses. In high school, students of color are thought to be ill prepared to enroll in courses such as AP English, AP European History, or AP Calculus. Teachers, many who draw [...]

Travel and Work

I am off to Rochester, New York for research reasons. While there, I will be having dinner with my friend and European History development committee colleague Celia Applegate, a historian at the University of Rochester. After my visit to her far away world, I will leave for Princeton to conduct a few days of [...]

Advanced Topics Seminar at TCU

I am not as busy as I have been in past summers; I have agreed to be an instructor at Texas Christian University’s European History Summer Institute during the 2nd week of July. I have been asked to do TCUs’ institute each of the past three summers….This summer will be my fourth. I have had [...]