WELCOME VHT!

• Please sit with grade level groups today. We know you will miss your team, but you’ll have time to catch up with them soon.

VHT Important Dates• Turn in sources with questions to Sue by 3/11.• Turn in paper to John & Sue by 3/25.• Upcoming Grade Level Cluster Meetings

• 1st meeting: Writing the Student Assignment & Rubric• 2nd meeting: Peer Review DBQ

• Final VHT Meeting on 4/28: Review & Finalize Vertical Maps & Share DBQs (copies for everyone?)

• Party on May 25 at Sue’s House at 4:00: • Please bring $5 to our last VHT meeting on April 28. Sue & Angela

will provide food and drinks for the party. Sig Os and kids are invited (unless you want to party hard).

Grade Level Brainstorm• In grade level groups, break into pairs (with someone who is

not at your school) and talk about how you will teach your DBQ. Each person should answer all five questions below.

1. How will your DBQ question engage students?2. What parts of the DBQ will you do as a whole class?3. What do you think the student product will be?4. What skills will you have to teach to prepare students?5. How much time will you devote to teaching this?

• Each partner must share out the most interesting idea they heard.

TEACHINGHISTORY.ORGSome of the following resources were taken directly from this awesome site, which is affiliated with Teaching American History Grants. Please make sure to check it out when you get a chance. There are great DBQ topics and other teaching resources for all grade levels.

A THESIS EXPLAINS…

WHAT DO I THINK?WHY DO I THINK THAT?HOW CAN I PROVE IT?

Your DBQ question should require that students write a thesis, even if an essay is not the final product.

A thesis is a clearly communicated answer (claim) to the DBQ question which leads the reader into the argument and evidence that will follow.

Explicit Teaching• The process of answering a DBQ is a SKILL that must be

TAUGHT, not just assigned.• Students need to learn how to answer a broad question

with a thesis. Some ideas for teaching appear below:

MODEL *Give students a few correct thesis statements to choose from in developing their own essays or arguments.*Work as a class to determine an author’s thesis in a current event or other article.

DEMONSTRATE WITH INACCURATE EXAMPLES

*After assigning historical readings, give students a multiple choice question about the thesis of the author. Have them work in groups to describe why three of the theses are not correct.

PRACTICE *After bucketing, have small groups write a thesis together and then peer review that of another group.*After lectures, have an exit-ticket that includes the thesis of the day’s lecture with large portions left blank for students to fill in.

A PRACTICE ACTIVITY1. Read along

for some initial background on the Haymarket Square Anarchists.

2. Look over the 7 documents for this DBQ.

Effective Thesis Statements• A thesis makes a claim that will be backed up with ideas, quotes

from documents, details, and explanations of details.

• A thesis is NOT just a descriptive statement. It must make a claim or take a position.

• The claim must answer the question asked.

• A thesis that is too broad will not be provable in an essay.

• A thesis for a DBQ must be one that you can prove and support using the primary and secondary sources provided.

• A thesis can be more than one sentence.

Document Based Question

•Describe the Haymarket defendants’ beliefs about violence, and explain why those beliefs did or did not justify the great fear many in Chicago felt toward the anarchists during their trial.

• DBQ Source: National History Education Clearinghouse (www.teachinghistory.org)

Match thesis statements with descriptions.Thesis Statements

1. Haymarket Anarchists and Labor Conflict in Chicago in the 1880s.

2. Anarchism in the 1800s was a worldwide movement that often frightened people, especially when they didn’t understand it.

3. The eight Haymarket anarchists were found guilty of murder (and four of them were executed).

4. The Haymarket defendants often seemed to express positive views about the political uses of violence. Given conditions in Chicago in the late 1800s, this explains why these anarchists were feared by so many.

Descriptions of Thesis Statements

a. ___ A thesis statement, but one too vague or broad to deal with in a short essay using these sources. It does not address all parts of the DBQ.

b. ____A brief heading on a broad theme. Not a thesis statement at all.

c. ____A descriptive statement. Not a thesis statement making a claim it needs to prove.

d. A more specific thesis statement, organized so that it addressed each part of the DBQ.

The Answers• 1 – B• 2 – A• 3 – C• 4 – D

• With a partner, determine a definition of a thesis statement that you could give to your students.

More Practice: Identify Effective Theses.

Remember, any good thesis statement should…

• Make a claim you can back up with evidence and with your general background knowledge (not too broad nor too vague). It should be closely related to the evidence provided.

• Address ALL aspects of the question.

• Act as a guide in helping to organize the whole essay.

Your Job

• Match the five thesis statements with the five descriptions.

• Two of these thesis are well-written and effective. The others fail to meet some or all of the guidelines to the left.

Use pg. 5 in “The Haymarket” packet.

HISTORY PRESENTATIONAt the end of John’s presentation, you will need to be able to articulate what you believe John’s thesis statement is.

Remember, as teachers, that you often have a take on history (a thesis that guides your delivery) and are not simply regurgitating facts.

These three pictures tell different stories about the Civil Rights Movement. Choosing your focus picture provides a thesis for your teaching.

DBQ PROJECT WORK TIME

Hoorah for computer labs!

DBQ Requirements• Cover page with DBQ question and your contact info• Historical background essay• (Teaching Tips: if you would like to explain effective ways to

teach your DBQ)• Sources

• Header with question• Vocabulary• Document Note• Document• Source• Scaffolding Questions

• Student Assignment Sheet• Rubric/Assessment Tool for Teachers

1:30-3:00 Work Time Considerations• Choose your focus: writing the background history essay,

finding documents, writing scaffolding questions, or formatting the DBQ according to the template. Then, sit with others who are doing what you are doing so you can help one another and not cause distractions.

• Sit in the front row if you would like some pointers on formatting, and I will work with you.

• If you choose to work on document scaffolding questions, make sure that you have a partner check your work. Write down in one sentence what you want students to get out of each document and have your partner make sure that they can get to that understanding through your questions (LOTS, MOTS, HOTS).

Major Work Assignments• writing the background history essay

• finding documents for your DBQ

• writing scaffolding questions

• formatting the DBQ according to the template

You are welcome to start writing your student assignment sheet and rubric for the DBQ. But we will be devoting work time to this in a later cluster

meeting, so you might want to start with these other tasks.

WRITE TWO POSSIBLE THESIS STATEMENTS FOR YOUR DBQ.What would be two different, but equally viable, ways to answer your DBQ?

This is a test as to how well written your DBQ is.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HARD WORK TODAY!Please fill out the evaluation form before you leave.