Exploring Documents and Manuscripts & DBQs

Many of my young students come to school with a lot of baggage: some are transients, living in shelters, some have parents in prison, some are living with grandparents, and some come from homes that are just struggling to keep their heads above water. All of this has been exacerbated, of course, by the downward spiral of our economy.

In contrast, I also have students whose parents are successful professionals or artists. These students have many more opportunities outside of school for intellectual and creative pursuits. These students, for the most part, come from stable homes, with doting, supportive families.

This dichotomy presents all of us in my building with unique challenges. How can we prepare all of our students to be life- long readers and learners? How can we instill in them the love of learning- even if it isn't reinforced at home? How can we help students develop the confidence they need to ask questions?

One of the ways we can do this is find a way to integrate primary source materials into the curriculum. Why should students read textbooks that describe people, places and events? They should read these documents and draw their own conclusions. They should study the images and speeches to acquire a deeper understanding of their world.

Document Based Questions have become a major focus in schools today. These questions challenge students to organize, synthesize and analyze information. DBQs force students to think. In a way, students are behaving like detectives or historians as they ask questions that lead to more questions.

Some sample questions:
Maps- What kind of map? What was it used for? Who created it? When was it created? List 3 features that you think are important.
Photographs- What is the date of this photo? Who created it? What objects are shown? Is this picture posed or candid- How do you know? What are the people doing? How are they dressed? What questions does this photo raise?
Sound Recordings- Whose voice(s) do you hear? What kind of recording is this? A speech? An interview? a broadcast? Are there any unique qualities to this recording, such as background noise? Was there an audience present?
Documents- What is the title? Who is the author? What type of document? When was it published/created? Why was it written- what is its purpose? Who is the intended audience? Is this document typical or representative of this time in American history?

These questions are specific. More general questions that are being addressed by DBQs are: What do you see? What do you think? What questions have been answered? What questions remain unanswered and, therefore, require additional research?