AVIATION HIGH SCHOOL
Summer Assignments 2014 Class of 2016: Juniors IF YOU ARE TAKING… Junior English Instructor *Read Antoine de Saint Exupery’s The Little Prince. Mr. Troy Hoehne *Be prepared to write a brief response to the following prompt:
[email protected] Is this a book for children or adults? *With the book, make a “close reading,” which is a study of the work in addition to simply reading. Make notes of key points, phrases that attract your attention, and be prepared to discuss why you think the author wrote what he did. Students need to buy the following books: Wind, Sand, and Stars by Antoine de Saint Exupery My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Last Flight by Amelia Earhart God is My Copilot by Robert Lee Scott The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White There are four editions of The Elements of Style and any will serve you well. It is the best style book in print and has the added benefit of being very small. Following its guidelines will do wonders for your writing. All of the rest are available online, in paperback, and at used book stores. AP Language and Composition There are three separate tasks. You will find the assignment sheet on my website at https://sites.google.com/site/juarezahs/. Due on the first day of school. Late assignments are not accepted.
Instructor Ms. Michelle Juarez
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Algebra 2; No summer assignments.
Instructors Mr. Michael Gudor
[email protected] Ms. Karen Wilson
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Calculus and AP Calculus BC Go to Dr. Edgerton’s website for assignments: edgerton.us/ahs
Instructor Dr. Rich Edgerton
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AP Calculus AB Go to http://www.nrjoshi.info/ for the summer assignments.
Instructor Mr. Nikhil Joshi
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Chemistry and AP Chemistry No summer assignments.
Instructor Mr. Garrett Shiroma
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U.S. History No summer assignments.
Instructor Ms. Marcie Wombold
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World Languages No summer assignments.
Instructors Mr. Ken Kumakura
[email protected] Mr. William Peterson
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AP Physics 1 See memorandum at end of document.
Instructor Mr. Robert Steele
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AP Physics 2 Course website: https://sites.google.com/site/ahssciencemccomb/
Instructor Mr. Scott McComb
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This year in physics will start with a study of thermodynamics and heat. The summer assignment will take approximately eight hours to complete. Plan ahead. 1. Visit the course website (see above) 2. Read Chapters 13, 14, and 15. 3. Make a concept map of key ideas in each chapter. 4. Prepare for open-note test on Monday, 8 September. 5. Respond to the questions. AP U.S. History See memorandum below.
Instructor Dr. Mike Katims
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MEMORANDUM FOR AP US HISTORY Hello APUSH students, I know that you are getting ready for your summer vacation, and that more school is the last thing on your mind right now. However, the clock is already ticking toward May 8, 2015 when you will be taking your APUSH test. This year we have only about 153 school days from the first day of school until AP test day. So now is the time to make a plan to squeeze in some schoolwork among all the activities that you will be busy with this summer. You are the last APUSH classes I will teach in my career here at RAHS, and I am hoping this will be the best year ever! I am asking you to do three assignments this summer, to help us get a good start on our sprint from 1607 to 2015 in US History: 1.
Reading the Textbook Our textbook for APUSH is America Past and Present by Robert Divine et al, published by Longman, a division of Addison-Wesley, in 2002. I am asking you to read and study the first three (3) chapters, covering most of the early Colonial Era in American history. There are four chapters in the text about the Colonial Era, but you can read the last of these once school starts. To see how you take notes, I would like you to plan to turn in your notes on Chapter 3. These notes will be due when school starts.
2.
Reading from Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James Loewen This is an excellent book that previous year’s students enjoyed. It helps give us perspective on our textbook, and it fills in gaps left by typical textbook treatment of different topics, particularly about our interactions through history with Native-Americans. For this summer, I am asking you to read the first four (4) chapters of this book. To help me get to know your writing in history, I am asking you to write a personal reaction to one (1) chapter. This reaction should not be more than one long paragraph. In the paragraph, I don’t want to know what the author said. Instead, I want to know how you reacted to what he had to say.
3.
Memorizing the Presidents in Order In APUSH there is a need for students to get good at memorizing information. In addition, we need a way to organize our chronological understanding of historical events. It will help us greatly if everyone knows the Presidents in the order of their administrations. So I am asking you to memorize the names of the
Presidents in order, and I want you to know which ones had one term and which had two (do you know which president had more than two terms?). There will be a test on the Presidents that first week of school, and you can only make two mistakes in order to pass. Students will have to pass the President’s test, no matter how many tries it takes. You can all memorize the list of presidents successfully; if you don’ know another way, there is a song. Students who cannot memorize these simple facts simply aren’t trying, and those who don’t try will not do well in APUSH. So impress me. Pass the test the first time. I’m biased, of course, but I think that APUSH is the best course in the school. Come help me keep it that way!
Is APUSH Right for You? Some students know that APUSH is the course for them, but others are more anxious. They are concerned that maybe the workload is too much for them, that they won’t be able to keep up, or that they won’t have a chance to pass the AP exam in the spring. My purpose here is to give students more information about what the course is like so they can make an informed decision about whether or not to enroll in the course. APUSH can be a great college-level learning experience, but it can also be an unpleasant and depressing experience if you aren’t prepared to do what the course demands of you. I am hoping that I can provide the information that will help you decide which of the two versions of U.S. History is the best for you. All students must earn a credit in this subject in order to graduate. But students should take APUSH only if it is right for them. So here’s what I can tell you about the APUSH experience: • APUSH is primarily a reading course, so be prepared for a heavy reading load, and the demand that you read for ideas quickly. There are 10 units in APUSH, and each one requires that you read 3-4 chapters from our textbook. Each chapter is about 25 pages long, and you must not only read the pages, but take notes and study the notes. All reading must be done independently; we talk about the history in class, but never the textbook. Students in APUSH must read and study about 8-10 pages per night, and that is every night, from September to the end of April. • In addition to the basic text readings, many times during the year I will be giving you specific smaller readings for class activities. These pieces must be read and studied that night, independent of your progress in reading the text. • The most difficult APUSH test format is the document-based question (DBQ). These assessments require extremely quick reading with understanding; your grade on the test is based on your use of these short readings, so reading quickly for understanding is essential. • APUSH is also a memory course. There are between 50-100 specific facts in each unit that must be remembered for performance on the unit test, and the AP exam expects you to remember everything. If you memorize easily, it will help. But you must find some way to study and remember if you are to succeed. • APUSH success requires you to do well on multiple-choice tests. Despite the fact that I would never give one of these, we will need to practice them throughout the year. Your course grade can be achieved without success on a multiple-choice test because of the way I grade. But it will be quite difficult to pass the AP test in the spring if you cannot do well on these kinds of tests. I work very hard to make each class interesting and thought-provoking. My goal is to bring history to life, and to get every student to appreciate if not enjoy US History. We will do practice readings; we will do role playing/simulations whenever we can, and I will prepare you for each test and for the AP exam. Furthermore, I can tell you that whether or not you pass the AP test in the spring, you will be better prepared for college learning if you have taken APUSH. Still, the course is not what everyone is seeking. I hope this information helps you make an informed decision about which version of U.S. History is right for you. Having said all that, you should know that APUSH is a terrific learning experience. I take care of my students’ grades while they are learning how to do the course, and I help students whenever I can, with study hints, with feedback on their work, and with care and understanding. Over the course of the year, we become a learning community—taking care of one another while we are on the American History roller coaster. We will count down the days to May 14 together; we will cram together at the end, and we will celebrate that we made it!
SUMMER ASSIGNMENTS for AP Physics 1 (2014) Two parts… reading and math pretest Part 1 - Summer Reading Assignment - 2014 Please Read and comment on the following article… I think it may give you a better perspective about learning AP Physics……… You will need to turn in a one page review of your own reflections after reading the article.
Déjà vu
I have read some work of Greg Shulman, another AP Physics teacher. After reading his work I found that he had documented my exact philosophies and views concerning the approach to teaching and learning physics. He distributes this handout at the beginning of the year so students will have a better grasp of how to set priorities and approach the class. I highly recommend you save this handout and keep it in the front of your notebook. Invest the time to read it several times to become familiar with its contents. You may find it necessary to review it when you begin to feel stressed out and overwhelmed. One element for doing well in any class is to try to identify and develop an appreciation of what the teacher considers important. In this handout Mr. Schulman has clearly identified what is important to me, your teacher, so you, my student, should try to take to heart the advice that is being offered. Or, Seven Things My Students Know in June after the AP EXAM that I Wish They Had Known the Previous September Physics has a poor reputation. I know this from experience: strange people are often asking what I do for a living, so I tell them “I teach high school physics.” Nine times out of ten, the strange person’s response is, “Eww. I hated physics.” I have grown to realize that what these strange people hated was not physics, itself. Rather, they hated their experience learning physics. What I try to teach my students is not simply the theory and application of physics,. Instead I try to teach them to process of problem solving, how to think like a scientist. Physics is just the medium through which I choose to communicate these abstract lessons in thinking. The students who wrote this figured out my pedagogic motives early on, and as a result, each found his first physics course to be a decisively positive experience. This doesn’t mean there weren’t struggles, frustrations, times when problems seemed hopeless. I suggest that any worthwhile endeavor involves some sort of tribulation. (For example, I don’t know any actor who doesn’t curse tech rehearsals the week before the performance of a play; yet not one of these actors would consider giving up the stage because of the difficulty of these unbearable rehearsals.) When I look back on physics class, it is the good times, the camaraderie, the “eureka!” moments that I remember. It usually takes one to two months for physics students to get the hang of the class. It is in this initial portion of the school year that most of the frustration occurs. Every year I find myself wishing that my new students knew some fundamental, inalienable truths about how to approach a physics course. Of course, I understand that some of these things can only be learned by experience. But here’s my list of instructions. Read them, try to take them to heart, and maybe at the end of the year you’ll see what I was talking about. I. Ignore your grade. This seems to be the most ridiculous statement you’ve ever read. You probably are asking, “Are you sure you’re a teacher?” But this may be the most important of these ten suggestions. You should not ask yourself or your teacher “How could I have gotten more points on this assignment?” or “Are you going to grade this?” You’ll worry so much about giving the teacher merely what she wants that you won’t learn physics in the way that’s best for you. Rather, whether your score is perfect or near zero, ask, “did I really understand all aspects of these problems?”
Remember, the AP exam tests your physics knowledge. If you understand physics thoroughly, you will have no trouble at all on the AP. But while you may be able to argue yourself a better grade in your physics class even if your comprehension is poor, the AP graders are not so easily moved. If you take my advice, if you really, truly ignore your grade and focus on physics, your grade will come out in the wash – you’ll find that you got a very good grade after all, because you understood the subject so well. But you won’t care, because you’re not worried about your grade! II. Don’t bang your head against a brick wall. My meaning here is figurative, not literal. Never spend more than 10 minutes or so staring at a problem without getting somewhere. If you honestly have no idea what to do at some stage of a problem, STOP. Put the problem away. Physics has a way of becoming clearer after you take a break. On the same note, if you’re stuck on some algebra, don’t spend forever trying to find what you know is a piddly mistake, say a missing negative sign or something. Put the problem away, come back in an hour, and start from scratch. This will save you time in the long run. And finally, if you’ve put forth a real effort, you’ve come back to the problem many times, and you can’t get it: relax. Ask the teacher for the solution, and allow yourself to be enlightened. You will not get a perfect score on every problem. But you don’t care about your score, remember? III. Work with other people. When you put are struggling with a problem, it always helps to discuss that problem with others. Form study groups; have a buddy in class with whom you are consistently comparing solutions. Though you may be able to do all your work in every other class without help, there is no student I have ever met who is capable of solving most physics problems completely on his or her own. It is not shameful to ask for help. Nor is it dishonest to seek assistance – as long as you’re not copying, or allowing a friend to carry you through the course, group study is permitted and encouraged in virtually every physics class around the globe. IV. Ask questions when appropriate. I know that physics teachers have a reputation as mean or unapproachable; but in reality, we very much want to help you understand our subject. If you don’t understand something, don’t be afraid to ask. Chances are that the rest of the class has the same question. If the question is too basic or if the teacher can’t spend the class time to answer he’ll tell you so. Though there are benefits to taking this advice literally, as well. Sometimes the teacher will not answer you directly, but will give you a hint, something to think about so that you might guide yourself to your own answer. Don’t interpret this as refusing to answer your question. You must learn to think for yourself, and your teacher is helping you develop the analysis skills you need for success in physics. V. Keep an even temper. A football team should not give up because they allow an early field goal. Similarly, you should not get upset at poor performance on a test or problem set. No one expects you to be perfect. Learn from your mistakes, and move on – it’s too long a school year to let a single physics assignment affect your emotional state. On the same note, though, a football team should not celebrate victory because it scores an early touchdown. You might have done well on this test, but there’s the rest of a nine month course to go. Congratulate yourself, then concentrate on the next assignment. VI. Don’t Cram. Yes, I know that you got an “A” on your history final because, after you slept through class all semester, you studied for 15 straight hours the day before the test and learned everything. And yes, I know you are willing to do the same thing this year for physics. I shall warn you, both from my and from others’ experience: it won’t work. Physics is not about memorization and regurgitation. True, there are some equations you need to memorize. But problem solving skills cannot be learned overnight.
Furthermore, physics is cumulative. The topics you discuss in December rely on the principles you learned in September. If you don’t understand basic vector analysis and force diagrams (a.k.a. free body diagrams), how can you understand the relationship between an electric field (which is a vector quantity) and an electric force? Or the multitude of other vector quantities which you will eventually study? So, the answer is to keep up with the course. Spend some time on physics every night, even if that time is only a couple minutes, even if you have no assignment due the next day. Spread your “cram time” over the entire semester. The night before a major exam, I have always told my students not to study after 5 or 6 P.M. If they have done all the homework, understood all the quizzes, and gone over what they missed on minor tests, they will do fine on the big one. This is why my classes have a wild party each year on the eve of the AP exam. VII. Never forget, physics is phun. The purpose of all these problems, these equations, the exams, is to gain a knowledge of physics, a deeper understanding of how the natural world works. Don’t be so caught up in the grind of your coursework that you fail to say “Wow!” occasionally. Some of the things you’re learning are truly amazing. Physics gives insight into some of humankind’s most critical discoveries, our most powerful inventions, our most fundamental technologies. Enjoy yourself. You have an opportunity to emerge from your physics course with wonderful and useful knowledge, and unparalleled intellectual insight. Do it.
Part 2 – Math Pretest Please go to this website: http://www.algebralab.org/practice/practice.aspx?file=Algebra_MathPretestFormBpart1.xml Do this pretest and print out a copy of your results. Please print out the results from your first try. Please do this on your own without any help. Take as long as you wish to answer the questions. You will obtain credit for doing it… not necessarily for getting the correct answers. Please attach any scratch paper that you used to answer the questions. Turn in the printed copy of your answers and your scratch paper in the first week of class along with your reflection from Part 1. Have a great summer!! Mr. Steele