This Week in AP U.S. Gov #5

Well gang, it's here, your first exam. It's a big deal of course - you only take three or four of these this semester - so treat it with the respect it deserves. STUDY!

Your Unit 1 Basics cover the most critical material, and I have also posted on the calendar page a "Fast Track" for the exam which has a brief review of each chapter and sample questions to study. I think if you know the "Basics" and the "Fast Track" you're going to be in good shape for the exam.

The exam is multiple choice and "free response". Check out the document called "FRQ Strategy" to help understand how to do well on the written section.

You catch a break and have ZERO homework due the day after the exam. Enjoy.

~Mr. G.

NPR: "blogosphere is shaping our political and news environment"

Traditional news outlets like NPR and the New York Times are heralding the influence of the blogosphere and Facebook in putting the Jena story into the national discussion.

Additionally, NPR reports blogs are increasingly responsible for decisions made by prominent national leaders.

Yup, you people are the persons of the year.

Click here for the story.

Note: The picture above is a screenshot of the story in the link (above) on NPR's website.

This Week in AP U.S. Gov #4

It's the 4th week of school and we're getting ready to wrap up the first unit of study. Make sure you are caught up on all the reading and making good notes. Know chapter 3 for class this week! {wink, wink}

You should have commented on 3 blogspots by now;Friday is the deadline for your second blog; and this weekend the AP U.S. Government & Politics podcast goes live on iTunes. More on that soon...

~Mr. G.

Blogs and Comments

AP Gov-ers,

The first Friday of the 3rd week has come and gone and nearly every one of you is a published blogger. Congratulations!

1. Stick to politics - don't post about your pet rock, mom's apple pie, or your new stamp collecting club.

2. The tone of your blog entries should fit the subject, audience, and purpose. You're writing opinions about American politics - a silly tone will make your opinion seem silly, which will render it unconvincing. That goes for comments on other people's blogs too.

3. Comments - the "soft" due date for these is mid-week-"ish". By Wednesday 9/19-ish, you should comment on 3 blog entries on 3 different blogspots. For each of the next 14 weeks, choose a new 3 blogspots on which to comment. By the semester exam, you'll have commented on 45 different blogs. You can always comment on more than 3 blogs, or become "a regular" on a particular blogspot, but you still must do the 3 different blogspots each week. If you get into the assignment by posting extra blog entries and commenting on more than 3 each week, you'll find you really enjoy politics!

4. RSS - The APUSGOV Blogosphere Directory (on the right) can help you navigate all our blogspots. Additionally, you may find setting up RSS feeds of the blogs you like and those you commented on might be worthwhile for you. You can see in the picture above (click on it) that I've done that for all our blogs. And you were wondering how I was going to surf around the web to all 150 blogspots! Remember, I'm the person of the year - they come to me!

This Week in AP U.S. Gov #3

Some reminders:

• By Friday 9/13 at 3:00pm, you should be a published blogger. The subject must be related to anything in the American political sphere, but that's about the only content requirement - that leaves you many possible subjects!
  
  
• If you haven't already, email me your Blogspot URL immediately. If I don't have your blog address by Friday, no blog project points for you this week! mgwaltney@chaminade.org
  
  
• How long should your blog entry be? For having had many days to think about your entry, it should be of a substantial length. "A paragraph" is too short. If you really need a specific length, try this entry on my personal blog as an example: http://mikegwaltney.blogspot.com/2007/08/socialist-plot-excellent-krugman.html
  
  
• Keep up with the reading! I won't always quiz you or ask if you did it, but I won't cover everything in the reading that will be on the quizzes and exams - if you don't read it and I don't explain it in class, you'll be stuck if it shows up on the exam.
  
  
• There are a few great PowerPoint lecture notes on the Lecture Notes page that I'd suggest you go through when you have time. You may notice that I'm bumping around through them in class but I may not go through each one completely. It's to your advantage to print, study, know, love, and be those notes!
  
  
• The last announced reading quiz is Thursday/Friday. After that, they'll come without warning.
  
  
• Check the course calendar online frequently to know what's coming - there's an exam on the horizon!
  

Comment here if you have questions or concerns.

~Mr. G.

Blog Project Assignment Podcast

If you weren't in class for the explanation of our project in "authentic political participation", you'll love this - I've created a podcast with my audio explanation of the assignment and the Powerpoint presentation that accompanied it in class. Check it out below.

If you were in class, you've lived through this already. If you want to clarify details, learn more about the project, or if you weren't in class for this original presentation, or if you just love to hear me talk, click on the video and get everything you ever wanted to know about the Current Events Blog Project. Enjoy

~ Mr. G.