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Info for Parents of WHAP students

4/8/2012

1 Comment

 
The main purpose of this page is to publish the regular emails I send to parents making you aware of upcoming deadlines, suggestions for assisting your student and generally keeping you aware of the goings on in class. If you see a post here and did not receive an identical email from me, (Bingham), then either I have a bad email address, your email client is blocking my messages, or I don't have an email address for you at all. In any of those cases, please use the contact form on this site to let me know and give me a good email address.
The second purpose, just as with the student forum, "What works" is for you to engage in a public dialog with other parents and with me about challenges, concerns and solutions to issues with kids managing ther way through this rigorous, college level class. I look forward to hearing from you!
Here is the email sent to all students on 5 August:

Hey Dude!

I hope your summer has been as interesting and restful as mine. (Tell you all about it later) And the last thing I would want is to intrude on your last few days of summer, really! On the other hand, I want for you to have a smooth and stress free start to this school year. WHAP is going to be both the most challenging AND rewarding mission of your academic career so far.

So…I hope you have managed to pick up a copy of Strayer’s Ways of the World and read/outlined chapter 3. And you have a copy of Marks, Origins of the Modern World. Please let me know if you have not obtained a copy of either. If the cost of the Ways of the World is too great a financial burden for your family, that’s okay.  Just have your parent or other family member email me and we’ll figure something out.

If you DO NOT have Ways of the World - by NOW you need to have downloaded, read, and outlined the PDF file on the website. The password is EFFORT.

I’ve heard from some people and there is some stress out there about the readings and the tests in the first weeks of school.  Don’t be afraid of that. That’s your inner drive giving you some healthy anxiety. Turn that stress into focused, positive action, and you will be rewarded by the unmatched confidence and sense of power that comes from accomplishing a challenging (and scary) mission.

And I’m here to help. I’m putting stuff up on the website (BinghamsPlace.com) all the time to keep you informed and ready to succeed in the class. Stop in regularly to see what’s there, how to find things, check the calendar.

Under the “What works” forum, post your questions, worries, pleas for help, whatever. I’m checking and I’ll reply within a day or two. Other students may be nice enough to offer help too. Remember, you retain 90% of what you teach!

If you have more personal questions, email me through the contact form on the website.

I’m nervous and excited about taking on WHAP with you this year! Come in and tear up this course!

Bingham

1 Comment
Bingham
10/8/2012 08:49:24

Parents; if you did not receive this message, please use the contact form so I can add your email address to my distribution list.

Dear HSPVA student advocates,
My records, which I’ll admit are at least three months old, indicate your student is enrolled in World History Advanced Placement (WHAP) for the fast approaching school year. You may be aware that your student received an email from me on Monday. I wanted to give you some vital information to help me help your child do the very best he or she can this year.
WHAP is likely the first AP class your student will encounter, and the transition to college level rigor comes with some growing pains for any student. The secret of success, as your child may have related to you from me, is effort. The only homework I will assign for the course is reading. Not Harry Potter reading, the kind of reading that includes surveying the text, outlining, re-reading, responding to questions the author poses and comparing every passage to the “big ideas” offered by me at the beginning of each unit.
By now, your student should have read all of Robert Marks’ monograph, Origins of the Modern World, A Global and Ecological Narrative from the 15th Century to the 21st Century and Chapter Three of Robert Strayer’s The Ways of the World. (If purchasing the Strayer text would place financial burden on your family, please email me and we’ll work something out.) If he or she hasn’t started, your student needs to jump on them ASAP! Information about these books can be found on my website - BinghamsPlace.com – the web site will be extremely useful to you in monitoring the goings on in WHAP. The class calendar offers the most up-to-date schedules; offers copies of most class handouts in downloadable form; gives help with the readings; provides information about books, videos, class procedures; info about College Board and the advantages of AP classes; academic writing assistance; a contact form straight to my phone; and lots more. The idea is to give you and your student every possible advantage in gaining substantial personal growth from the class and getting a score that earns college credit on the AP exam in May.
You can find a copy of the email I sent your child on the “What works” page of the site. There is a forum there for you as well to pose questions to me, read responses to other parents, and interact with other members of the HSPVA community.
If you would like to meet with me before the start of school with any private concerns or questions, shoot me an email. I’m sure we can work out a time to meet at school during the week of August 20th.
I’m looking forward to a great year with amazing kids in WHAP! This is an exciting age to see young minds make those big leaps. See you soon,
Wyatt

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