Introducing DBQ's

DBQs, or Dialogue Based Questions, are used in the classrooms to help students learn to think critically AND historically. Students are usually presented with a packet of primary sources that include letters, pictures, cartoons, memos, etc. During the unit on the French Revolution, my CT and her team teacher decided to incorporate DBQs in the lesson. This would be a nice change from the routine, which was usually answer questions from the textbook.

To introduce the unit, CT told the class that they would be doing something different and explained what DBQs were. She then very methodically modeled how she wanted them to examine the documents in the packet. First, she put this picture of Louis XIV on the Promethean Board, but did not tell them who he was.

She then asked the students to give their initial thoughts on the image. Next, CT asked them to think about what this portrait said about its subject. The students gave a variety of answers: he was rich, he was gay, he was important. After a few minutes of hypotheses, CT asked them who they thought he could have been? Someone quickly answered "nobility, or a king," allowing CT to segue into an introduction on French royalty and their spending habits.

The remainder of the unit gave the class an opportunity to answer the essential question "Was the Reign of Terror justified?". They looked at a variety of documents from peasants and nobility alike. At the end of the unit, they were required to answer the EQ in two paragraphs. (I know that CT modeled writing the paragraphs as well, but I was not observing that day.)

I learned the hard way in a different unit how important it is to model for students. Even though they are sophomores, teachers cannot assume that they have any particular set of skills. The next time I teach a lesson, it would behoove me to really reflect on CT's methods of modeling.

This activity was only done once by my CT. Unfortunately, I think that in some ways, the students sort of suffer from that. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the students usually answer questions from a workbook, then answer questions on a reading guide, and then fill out guided notes during a brief lecture. I feel as if many of them really responded to this change in instruction for the better; the majority of them rose to the challenge. However, these skills need to be practiced on a semi-regular basis. Just because they did it one time does not necessarily make them experts--again, I learned that the hard way.

When I begin teaching, I really hope to use DBQs and historical inquiry in my lessons. I believe that it teaches students history in a new fashion that will allow them to explore history on a deeper-than-textbook level, analyze sources, and learn how to gather evidence to form their own arguments. I just cannot be reminded enough that even if a topic was talked about in class, even if I learned about a certain vocabulary word when I was in middle school, even if the class has done a new activity once before, that IT IS IMPERATIVE that I model and provide them with necessary scaffolding until they have mastered the skill.

Diverse Teaching

Teaching students to be historical thinkers is a difficult task that involves a lot of time and guidance from the teacher. However, in order to teach students to read and think historically, they must have basic reading skills. On my first day of student teaching this semester, my cooperating teacher explained her basic method of instruction for every chapter and unit: after a test, she had students answer questions in a workbook that was supplemental to the text. Next, they would answer between 50 and 60 questions on a chapter reading guide. Finally, she would pass out guided notes and give a 15-20 minute lecture on the topic. My CT said that she liked to use all three of these because the students were receiving the information three different ways.

Although the questions on the reading guide were mostly lower-order thinking questions, the questions from the workbook required a higher level of thinking. The reading guide, for example, would ask questions like "in what year was King Louis XVI executed by the guillotine?" These questions are extremely simple and students can often answer them verbatim from the text. Questions from the workbook were of a higher-order, often asking students to read a passage and provide a summary or analyze a graphic organizer.

I think that this only benefits students on a superficial level. At the beginning of the year, yes, students should start with simpler skills and the teacher should provide them with more complex assignments as the year progresses. My CT did try other reading and literary activities with them, such as a DBQ, but it was common for her to stick with workbook, reading guide, lecture, review, test, repeat. She is faced with an extremely intellectually diverse group of students. There are 3-5 students in her class of almost 30 that have the skills to answer higher level questions. The rest are average to below average. The majority can answer low- to middle-order questions, but there are a few in the class who cannot answer the simplest of questions. I believe that several of them have been pushed through grades so they are "on track," but that does not mean they cannot learn new reading skills, even if they are behind their classmates.

I say with the idealism of a preservice teacher that I would not use this routine for every chapter and every unit. I would love to incorporate Dialogue Based Questions and historical inquiry into my lessons. However if I have a class with such a diverse group of learners, I do not know what will best meet all of their needs. I believe it is important to understand what their reading skills are when they enter my classroom and I think that answering a variety of lower- and higher-order questions individually (or in pairs) can provide the answers. However I hope that I will be able to diversify lessons away from only making my students read and answer questions from an outdated textbook.