Successful Strategies for Implementing Document-Based Questions

1. Successful Strategies for Implementing Document-Based Questions Scholars of History Integrating Primary Sources SHIPS: An American Journey University of Texas June 21, 2004

3. What is Critical Thinking? • Metacognition: Thinking about our thinking • “Quality control of the mind” • Critical Thinking is the ability to think about one’s thinking in such a way as to: • recognize its strengths and weaknesses. • recast the thinking in improved form.

4. Is Memory Malleable? • “Memories are malleable and vulnerable to post-event information - facts, ideas, and suggestions that come along after the event has happened. You can, unknowingly, integrate this information into your memory, modifying what you believe you saw, hear, experienced.” (Loftus, 2001)

5. Then what is “genuine” history? • If pupils are to learn genuine history they will need to understand how the discipline works, about the basis of historical knowledge, and about what marks off the historical from the practical past…Without an understanding of what makes an account historical, there is nothing to distinguish it from the ability to recite sagas, legends, myths or poems. (Bourdillion, 1997)

6. Why is this important? • “…students whose teachers reported using primary historical documents such as letters, diaries, or essays written by historical figures, on a weekly basis, had higher average scores than those whose teachers did so less frequently.” The Nation’s Report Card: U.S. History 2001 Executive Summary

7. Why is this important? Factors Affecting Admission Decisions – 2001 NACAC Bulletin – November 2001

8. Why is this important? Percentage of AP Exams Taken by US Students The College Board , 2004

9. Why is this important? • Beginning in March 2005, students taking the PSAT/NMSQT and/or SAT will be required to write an essay. • The High School ELA TAKS requires students to evaluate multiple documents/sources and write an essay.

10. What are Primary Sources? • Primary Sources are actual records that have survived from the past – letters, artifacts, maps, photographs, articles of clothing.

11. What are Secondary Sources? • Secondary Sources are accounts of the past created by people writing about events sometime after they happened – textbooks, secondhand descriptions or analyses

12. What types of historical evidence or accounts are used? • Graphs

13. Charts

14. Maps

15. Cartoons

16. Photographs

17. Artwork

18. "I remembered how Pearl Harbor looked the previous August," Adams said. "It was filled with what seemed like hundreds of ships--battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers. I thought nobody would be able to defeat us. Now Battleship Row was wrecked. Four battleships were sunk, and the other three were damaged. There was oil and every type of debris floating in the harbor. I said to myself, 'This will go down in history. Everybody in the United States should see this.' I was only 17 1/2 years old.” -Joseph H. "Jack" Adams • Eyewitness Accounts

19. Preamble to the United States Constitution We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. • Historical Documents

20. The Historical Record • Contains both Primary and Secondary Sources. • The Historical Record is huge. • Is only a tiny glimpse of the past. • Most of what happened was never documented. • Much has been lost or destroyed.

21. Your Historical Record - Assignment • What kind of historical records do you leave behind in your daily life? • Think about all the activities you were involved in during the past 24 hours. List as many of these activities as you can remember…….

22. Your Historical Record - Assignment • Did you create any records of your activities? – diary, notes to yourself, letter or email to friend or relative • Would traces of your activities appear in records someone else created? – diary, notes, calendar entry, letter or email • Would traces of your activities appear in school records?

23. Your Historical Record - Assignment • Did you write a check or use a charge card? • Would anyone be able to offer testimony (oral history) about your activities (who and why)? • What’s in your trash?

24. Your Historical Record - Assignment • Which of your daily activities were most likely to leave trace evidence behind?

25. Your Historical Record - Assignment • If future archaeologists had the materials mentioned, what could they infer or conclude about your life? • What could they conclude about your family, community, region or nation?

26. Your Historical Record - Assignment • Choose one primary source document that you have with you today.

27. Your Historical Record - Assignment • Who is the author of this item? • What is the place and time of this item? • What prior knowledge do you have about the item? • Who is the audience for this item? • Why was this item developed? • What is the main idea of this item? • What is the item’s significance?

28. Rationale for Using Primary Sources: • Expose students to multiple perspectives of issues past and present. • Most issues were furiously debated at the time – why stop now?! • Help students develop knowledge, skills and analytical abilities – think critically, make intelligent inferences, develop reasoned explanations

29. Selecting Primary Sources • Teach the TEKS • What are your goals and objectives for the lesson?

30. Selecting Primary Sources • Interest – what is interesting to my students? • Reading Level – what is the reading level of the source compared to my students’ abilities? • Length – Do I need to excerpt a portion of the source for my students? Can I excerpt a portion and preserve the meaning of the source?

31. Time and Place Rule • The closer in time and place a source and its creator were to an event in the past, the better the source will be – • Direct traces of the event • Accounts of the event by firsthand observers • Secondhand accounts of the event from interviews or evidence at the time of the event

32. Bias Rule • Every source is biased in some way – • Every piece of evidence and every source must be read or viewed skeptically and critically. • No piece of evidence should be taken at face value. • The creator’s point of view must be considered. • Each must be cross-checked and compared with related sources and pieces of evidence!

33. How can teachers use historical records? • Ask students to relate a single document or group of documents to a previous reading assignment. • Ask students to develop lengthier, more developed essays based on a wider array of research.

34. APPARTS Author Place and Time Prior Knowledge Audience Reason The Main Idea Significance

35. APPARTS

36. Online Sites for Historical Records: • DBQ Teaching with Documents http://www.edteck.com/dbq/index.htm • Doing History – Great Source Education Group 1-800-289-4490 http://www.greatsource.com

37. Online Sites for Historical Records: • The National Archives www.nara.gov • The Library of Congress American Memory Collection www.loc.gov/ammem • Images and Documents for Interactive Social Studies http://www.esc13.net/socialstudies/digital.htm

38. What is a DBQ? • Document-Based Question • Asks you questions about written or printed materials. • Some questions can be answered in one or two sentences. • Some questions require taking information from several documents to write a paragraph or more.

39. Sample DBQ – Components • Historical Background and Task • Scaffolding Questions A. Newspaper Article B. Cartoon C. Quotes D. Posters and Broadsides E. Graphs and Pictures • Essay Response to An Overall Question

40. What is a DBQ? • Include both – • Scaffolding Questions • Written Response Question – The Big Question

41. What is a Mini-DBQ? • Document-Based Question • Asks you questions about written or printed materials. • Some questions can be answered in one or two sentences. • Some questions require taking information from several documents to write a paragraph or more.

42. What is a Mini-DBQ? • A Mini-DBQ includes both – • Scaffolding Questions • Written Response Question – The Big Question

43. The United States Enters World War I Answer the questions that follow each document: Kaiser Wilhelm II issued orders to U-boat commanders on 1st February, 1917:“We will frighten the British flag off the face of the waters and starve the British people until they, who have refused peace, will kneel and plead for it.” Dr. v. Bethmann-Hollweg, Imperial Chancelor of Germany: “The determination to launch the unrestricted U-boat war depends, then, upon the results which we may expect. Admiral von Holtzendorff assumes that we will have England on her knees by the next harvest. The experiences of the U-boats during the last few months, the increased number of U-boats, and England's bad economic situation, will at least increase our chances of success.” 1. What was Germany trying to accomplish by using unrestricted submarine warfare?

44. 2. What would Germany hope to gain by Mexico’s entrance into the war? What did Germany ask Mexico to do?

45. World War I – Events of 1915-17 January 19, 1915First German Zeppelin air raid on England. February 4, 1915 Germany declares a submarine blockade of Great Britain. Any boat approaching England is considered a legitimate target. April 22-May 5, 1915Second Battle of Ypres marks first use of chemical weapons. April 25, 1915Allies begin assault on Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. May 7, 1915Sinking of the passenger ship Lusitania. May 23, 1915Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary. February 21 – Dec 18, 1916 The longest battle of the war, the Battle of Verdun, is fought to a draw with an estimated one million casualties. May 31-June 1, 1916 The Battle of Jutland, the only major naval engagement of the war is fought with no clear winner. July 1-November 18, 1916 The Battle of the Somme results in an estimated one million casualties and no breakthrough for the Allies. November 7, 1916Woodrow Wilson re-elected President of the United States. December 7, 1916 David Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister of Britain. December 31, 1916The self-avowed Russian holy man, Rasputin, is murdered by relatives of the Tsar's. February 1, 1917Germany again declares unrestricted submarine warfare. March 15, 1917Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates. Provisional government is declared. April 6, 1917 The United States declares war on Germany. April 14, 1917British and Canadian troops advance 3 miles at Arras. April 16-29, 1917 The French Army launches the Chemin des Dames offensive, but fails to break through the German lines. Mutiny breaks out amongst the French troops. 3. What events in 1915-1917 would have had the most significant impact on American public opinion regarding involvement in the War?

46. The Big Question: After years of neutrality during World War One, what were the compelling circumstances that led the United States to declare war on Germany?

47. What are Scaffolding Questions? • Scaffolding questions are essential questions included after each document • Provide information that will help students answer the “big question” • Should be clear and specific

48. Scaffolding Questions - Assignment • Choose 3 or 4 documents from your folder. • With your group, write at least one scaffolding question for each document or item in your file.

49. Sample scaffolding questions: • What are the pictures and symbols in this cartoon? • What does this cartoon tell you about ______________? • What expectations might you have about ________________ after hearing this speech? • According to the poster, what were two reasons for ______________?

50. What are Written Response Questions? • Require writing a paragraph to answer the question. • Require a topic sentence and support. • Look at the Whole Picture – What is the “Big Question”? (Essential Question)