AP Political Science Assignments

This week we will practice FRQ's, both writing and scoring sample essays.

CH 19 Economic Policy oral presentation on "The Politics of Economic Prosperity"

CH 20 oral presentations on foreign policy.

CH 16 "The Judiciary" test & journals.

CH 15 Journals & test today.

CH 13 test & journals are due.

CH 12 "The Media" double entry journals and test are due today.

HW-A second FRQ is due today.

FRQ's due Monday.

CH 6 Test & Journals for "Civil Rights"

For tonight, take a copy of today's newspaper and choose one of six articles on next month's election. Then briefly summarize it in one paragraph and state, based on your particular article, "What's driving this election?" Cite specifics to support your findings.

A brief oral presentation on one court case dealing with civil liberties is due Friday.

CH 4 Test & Double entry journals are due today.

"The Tea Party & Days of Rage" from "Open Democracy" on 9/17/10. Read this and take notes to discuss in conjunction with our current chapter on Federalism.

CH 2 test and journals due on "The Constitution."

Read "Federalist 10" on pg A21, in the back of your text.

An older AP Central packet for Government-PoliSci. Lot's of sample test questions and graphs to check out. Go to the actual AP Central site to see more recent material.

The two essays for "The Brethren," one 2-3 pages and the other 1-2 pages. See attached.

Please print and return this by the second day of class, signed by you and your parent(s).

This is not a HW assignment per se, but an overview of our introductory in class assignment.
Assuming we get the class text right away and you begin reading CH 1 at night (it's quite short compared to the others and I won't give you a test on it, nor will you journal it so we can make up for our loss of the first wk of school). We first consider what the author(s) mean by "Who Governs (and to what ends)?" as they frame the entire text around those essential questions. Wilson poses that just who wields power is often hard to to ascertain. Nowhere is that more apparent in watching Obama's frustration in getting his policies through Congress. In my opinion it leads to the core questions "Why bother to care about politics?" or "Does city hall always win?" This might lead to a clearer understanding of where our populist movements come from. Hence, this year's big "shakers & movers," The Tea Party. What drives such reactionaries? What have they tapped into? Who will they 'turn off' from voting in the mid-term elections? As you read "the JP Roche article from our class anthology, "Founding Fathers: A Reform Caucus Action on Whether the Const. Conv was Elitist or Democratic?" keep these questions in mind? We will take approximately two pages a day in pairs as you journal (since you won't do the text this week) in class. I'd like to concentrate on Roche's concept of a "nationalist reform caucus" on pl1 and "the use of political legitimacy" on pages 1 & 12. An assessment will be on Friday, if all goes according to plan and then we'll begin CH 2 on 9/20th with a formal journal and a sixty question m/c test from the author's test bank by the end of the month.

If possible, please listen to, watch or read about (online) the President's speech tonight, 8/31 about the Iraq war. This is not a 'formal' assignment per se, but each time he speaks you are required to either watch/listen to it live or read about it later, online for discussion in class the next day. Sometimes I will also expect a brief synopsis of a paragraph. Thank you. Fitzpatrick