World History A is the first half of a full-year course. It covers California standards 10.1-10.5 — the moral and political roots of Western thought, the democratic revolutions, the Industrial Revolution, the New Imperialism and the First World War — and World History B covers 10.6-10.11. Every one of the 29 content standards and sub-standards in 10.1-10.5 is cited in at least one lesson, and every unit cites a reading (RH.9-10), a writing (WHST.9-10) and a speaking-and-listening (SL.9-10) literacy standard and at least one Historical and Social Sciences Analysis Skill (HSS.9-12).

The A-G area A case. UC reviewers look for three things in a history course: substantial reading of primary and secondary sources, sustained analytical writing, and historical thinking rather than coverage. The course answers each concretely. Students read primary sources written for adult readers in every unit — Aristotle in the Jowett translation, Locke, the English Bill of Rights, the Declaration of the Rights of Man, Adam Smith, the Communist Manifesto, Kipling and U.S. consular reports. They write at least 3,000 words of formal, multi-draft argument and explanation across the semester, and every summative task goes through a plan, a peer-reviewed draft, a revised final and a presentation or defense. They weigh historians’ competing interpretations by name — Allen, Mokyr, Pomeranz and Williams on why Britain industrialized first; Fischer and Clark on responsibility for 1914. If a reviewer asks where the rigor is, point to those three features and to the performance tasks.

The literacy standards are the method, not an add-on. RH.9-10.1 (citing evidence and attending to date and origin) is practiced in every inquiry launch. RH.9-10.6 and 9-10.9 (comparing points of view and treatments) run through the seminars. WHST.9-10.1 (argument) and 9-10.2 (explanation) alternate in the workshops, so students learn the difference between proving a claim and making something understandable. SL.9-10.1 governs every seminar and the structured academic controversy.

Pacing. The semester runs about 18 weeks: Unit 1 in weeks 1-5, Unit 2 in 6-9, Unit 3 in 10-13, Unit 4 in 14-18. Each unit has five lessons, but each lesson is a sequence, not a single class period: plan roughly one week for each culminating task, because of its four stages. The performance tasks are what the course is assessed on, so protect them first. When time runs short, cut in this order: optional digital tool routes (TimelineJS, StoryMapJS — the paper alternatives earn equal credit); the second half of each lesson’s formative checks; a seminar round (run it as a written exchange instead). Do not cut the peer-review stage of a performance task; it is where most students improve, and it is part of the A-G case for sustained writing.

Minimum coverage if you lose a week. In Unit 4, combine Lessons 4.3 and 4.4 into a single seminar-and-map lesson, but never cut the human-cost lesson and its treatment of the Armenian Genocide, which the standards name explicitly (WH.10.5.5).