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.