View handout

I. Unit of Study:                                  Preparation for the Document-based Question

II. Length of Time:                            Two days

III. Author/County:                            Matthew Ellenberger

Anne Arundel County, MD

IV. Grade Level/Subject Area(s):     AP Modern European History
                                                            (Generally 10th and 12th Graders)

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V. Abstract

An important skill taught in Modern European History and tested on the AP exam is the Document-based question.  As the name suggests, this is an exercise in history writing in which the student answers a question relying upon an analysis of a given set of documents.  An important component of this exercise is some analysis of a document's author “point-of-view.”  This is, broadly, a recognition on the part of the student that the document is not an unvarnished recounting or reaction to an event, but a reaction filtered through the viewer's filters of gender, class, nationality, distance from the event and/or intent of document (distinguishing, for example, between a diary entry and a public speech).

The intent of the activity is to foster in the student a more sophisticated understanding of the nature of historical research and, indeed, of history itself.  It has been my experience that students in high school have trouble with these concepts, that even after a year of study, a significant minority of my students never fully grasp this understanding of history, and of those who do, only a small number actually understand in any meaningful way the intent of the exercise.  Thanks to ideas gleaned from the Crossing Borders seminar, I have devised a different approach to the matter at hand.

VI. Background

This lesson will come very early in the year, probably the second and third day of classes.  (My school system has an A-Day/B-Day block schedule.)  This lesson will describe in detail the first day of the lesson; the second day, focused on the introduction of the Document-based Question (“DBQ”) itself, will only be briefly outlined.

VII. Materials

Handout – “Examples of ‘Narrative’ in History”

VIII. Standards/Learner Outcomes

Content Standards:

• “The primary purpose of the document-based essay question is not to test students’ prior knowledge of subject matter but rather to test their ability to formulate and support an answer from documentary evidence . . . Documents are chosen on the both the basis of the information they convey about the topic and the perspective they offer on other documents used in the exercise.  Thus the fullest understanding of any particular document emerges only when viewed in relation to others. . .  There is no single ‘correct’ response; instead, various approaches are possible, depending on the students’ ability to understand the documents and ultimately judge their significance. . .  The crucial skill that Readers are looking for in student’s approach to documents is the awareness that the documents are the descriptions, interpretations, or opinions of events and developments made by particular people at particular places and times and  for specific reasons.”

(taken from College Board Modern European History Course Description)

IX.       Objectives/Skills

Content Objectives:

“The European History Development Committee strongly urges teachers to ensure that students are familiar with and capable of meeting the following requirements:

• Providing an appropriate and explicitly stated thesis that directly addresses all parts of the questions and does not simply restate the question;

• Discussing a majority of the documents individually and specifically;

• Demonstrating understanding of the basic meaning of a majority of the documents;

• Supporting the thesis with appropriate interpretations of a majority of the documents;

• Analyzing the documents by grouping them in at least three appropriate ways;

• Taking into account both the sources and the author’s point of view.”

(taken from College Board Modern European History Course Description)

X. Keywords/Vocabulary

• history

• document

• DBQ

• narrative

• Luso-tropical

• bourgeoisie

• proletariat

• Aryan

• Prometheus

XI. Motivation

Students will be asked to summarize their own time in high school – and upon reflection will see that they are selective in their “histories,” that they have constructed their own “narratives.

XII. Scope and Sequence

A. Teacher Directed Discussion

• We will begin by the students writing a deliberately short (25 words) summary of their high school experience.  I will then ask the students to give their summary a title.

• We would then analyze what they have written – and, importantly, what has not been written.  I would guide the discussion by asking them if their “history” has left out important events, to suggest that their memories have made choices among two- or four-years of memories; asking them if their title reflects only this “selective” version of events; and, finally, by suggesting to them that they have constructed a history of high school that is distinctly a subjective “narrative” of the past.

• I would then look to give them some examples of these points from history with which they may already be familiar.  Using the blackboard or the overhead, I would begin with titles of events, two sets of which are very suggestive: a bloody conflict between native soldiers of the British East India Company and their masters in the 1850s is called the Sepoy Mutiny by the English and the Great Rebellion by the Indians; and the “recent unpleasantness” of 1861 - 1865 in the United States is called by southern partisans the War Between the States and northerners as the Civil War.  Discussion will try to bring out the different views of the past inherent in the different titles, that each side is implicitly arguing for a different narrative of the past; at some point in the discussion, we may bring out Marx’s point that history is written by the victors.

• At this point, we would distribute the handout and ask the students to read the selections.

B. Guided Reading

• For each selection, I would ask the student to identify (1) the “narrative” that teach author is presenting as their view of history and (2) what people or events may not fit into that narrative. 

• The Freyre excerpt would require a good deal of background and context for the students; but this selection is useful because the students will have no emotional attachment to the “truth” or “falsity” of the argument.  This emotional distance will be useful to help students appreciate this element in their analysis and understanding of narrative.

C. Independent Practice

If students are understanding this concept, they should be redefining their definition of “history.”  At this point, I would ask students to jot down three or four implications of what we have discussed for their understanding of “history.”  Points I would like to see made:

• People have biases.

• These biases affect their view of the past.

• People construct “narratives” that reflect their biases.

• Since what a historian does is study the documents left by people, the historian should be aware these biases may affect the documents.

And, if the students are very sharp,

• The historian has biases that affect his view not only of the past, but (of course) of the documents themselves.

And, finally,

• “History” is very elusive, a necessary narrative that can not capture the entirety of the past.

XIII. Assessment

Discussion of the results of the “independent practice” will indicate the level of student understanding of the concept of “narrative” and its relation to history.

XIV. Closure/Reflection
           
I will conclude the lesson by saying this very important concept – that our views of the world shape our views of the past – will be the very foundation of understanding “bias” in the DBQ, which will be the subject of the next class.