12th Grade Close Reading DBQs

Let’s face it, close reading isn’t often a skill that comes naturally. When our students get a new reading assignment, their first instinct is often to race to the finish line rather than engage deeply with a text. Getting students to slow down, engage with the text in different ways, and reflect as they read are challenges for every teacher, and are the goals of close reading. They’re also at the heart of the Common Core English Language Arts standards. There’s no magic way to turn your class into top-notch readers overnight, but there are specific close reading skills you can teach that will help your students now and down the line. This Close Reading includes a Primary Resource excerpt from "Uncle Toms Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It breaks down the vocab used and gives teacher lead questions, student creation of questions, as well as a summary. We all know that it’s not enough to just understand what a text says. Close readers not only grasp an author’s message, but they also take a look under the hood, so to speak.

Determining the feelings and emotions of moments in history through comics and propaganda is a great way to explain events to students. This close read is going over exactly that for the Temperance Movement. This will break down vocab, references, and context clues. This could easily be a simple DBQ or an in-depth close read opportunity for either a US History class or a Reading/ ELA course.

Check out samples on my Instagram: @HistoryGuruTeachShare

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SS.8.A.3.2 Explain American colonial reaction to British policy from 1763 - 1775.

SS.8.A.2.4 Identify the impact of key colonial figures on the economic, political, and social development of the colonies.

This is an anonymous article that was originally published in The Providence Gazette Newspaper in 1775. This article was found in the American Archives

and edited by Peter Force, who collected records from newspapers, state papers, committee papers, and gathered them together in several volumes as

part of forming a documentary history of the American Revolution. However, it is clear that the article is not written by an objective source.

Scholars In Action presents case studies that demonstrate how scholars

interpret different kinds of historical evidence. This newspaper article was published in the Patriot press in 1775 and describes a political demonstration in Providence, Rhode Island, where protesters burned tea and loyalist newspapers. As opposition to British rule grew in the years leading up to the American Revolution, many people in the colonies were forced to take sides. Popular movements such as the "Sons of Liberty" attracted artisans and laborers who sought broad social and political change. Street actions against the British and their economic interests brought ordinary citizens, including women and youth, into the political arena and often spurred greater militancy and radicalism. By 1775, a number of major political protests and clashes with the British had occurred, including the Stamp Act riots, the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party.

Before you move to the next page, read this newspaper article. How does the article describe the event? Can you tell who participated in the protest? Are the political issues and tensions clear? What is puzzling or unclear?

SOAP (Source, Occasion, Audience, Purpose)

Who/what is the Source?

What person or group produced this document?

Whose perspective is being voiced?

What is the Occasion?

When and where was this evidence created?

What context or situation encouraged the creation of this document?

Who is the Audience?

Who would be expected to see or read this piece of evidence?

What is the Purpose?

What was this document intended to accomplish?

What was its creator’s aim?

Adapted from “Building Success Program: Participant’s Manual” New York, The College Board, 1998. Reading and Thinking in the History Classroom, April 2002. Area 3 History & Cultures Project, UC Davis http://historyproject.ucdavis.edu

Check out samples on my Instagram: @HistoryGuruTeachShare

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This close read model on the "Canefight! Preston Brooks and Charles Sumner" from ushistory.org. This model walks students through teacher guided questions, student created questions, vocab, a summary, and an exit question about the Stamp Act. This is great for an ELA, Reading, US History, Government, or Civics class.

Let’s face it, close reading isn’t often a skill that comes naturally. When our students get a new reading assignment, their first instinct is often to race to the finish line rather than engage deeply with a text. Getting students to slow down, engage with the text in different ways, and reflect as they read are challenges for every teacher, and are the goals of close reading. They’re also at the heart of the Common Core English Language Arts standards. There’s no magic way to turn your class into top-notch readers overnight, but there are specific close reading skills you can teach that will help your students now and down the line. This Close Reading includes a Primary Resource excerpt from Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points" Speech, January 8th, 1918. It breaks down the vocab used and gives teacher lead questions, student creation of questions, as well as a summary. We all know that it’s not enough to just understand what a text says. Close readers not only grasp an author’s message, but they also take a look under the hood, so to speak.