I woke up this morning with a very sore throat.  I do not want a cold right now, so I hit it with everything I had (vitamins, Zicam, aspirin, tea).  By evening time, I was fine.  Still, I’m going to set up a humidifier tonight – the sore throat could have come from dry air caused by a change of weather.

I started reading through an AP World History study guide.  As I got into it though, I came to the realization that this was way different from what I had studied earlier on in the World History textbooks.  AP is definitely college level, and college thinking in the way the material is presented (assessing, not rote).  It assumes that you already know the material, now it’s a matter of what to do with it.  And while I intend to teach this way (which is why I want to teach AP History), it’s not how the test is going to be.  The test is based on California Standards, which is by in large, rote memory.  Now that I’ve wasted a day of study (at least as far as reading choices are concerned), I’ll go back to the World History textbooks tomorrow and look through the California Standards at the beginning of the book – this is what will be on the test.

By the way, the current college video lecture series that I’m on, “Turning Points in American History,” is by far the best history “class” I’ve ever had.  This guy, Dr. O’Donnell, is awesome and I’m learning a great deal as a result. I’m looking forward to finishing this 48 lecture series right before the test.  If I ever do teach US History, and I find myself sick or out of the classroom for some reason, I’d likely tell the substitute to run one of these videos.