This workshop will have two distinct parts, nuts and bolts of preparing students for the exam, and scholarship in the field of World History.

These interrelated dimensions are intended to help teachers teaching AP* World History to refine their own historical knowledge of key moments, themes, and developments in world history as well as develop or refine practical approaches and assignments for the classroom. Part of the session will be devoted to the intense discussion, possibly led by a guest expert in that field, of a specific historical moment, trend, or development using readings form recent scholarship and primary sources. The remaining portion of the workshop will focus on the practical challenges and methods of teaching an AP* world history course. Intended as an opportunity to collaborate, share, and compare approaches with your colleagues, this forum may cover, among other things: chronology and periodization; cross-cultural comparison; the effective use of primary sources, fiction, images, and films as historical documents in the classroom; examining and choosing textbooks and primary source readers; and concrete work on developing classroom-ready units, teaching students to write essays according to the AP* Rubrics, best practices in the field, and preparing students for the exam. There will be evening film showings.

Branden Stuart Schield teaches AP* World and US History at Irondale HS in New Brighton, MN. He is a certified consultant for the college board*. He was an Asian Studies major at Carleton College, class of '89 and has lived and travelled extensively in South and East Asia.