Unit 2: DBQ Skill Practice

Slavery and U.S. Society DBQ: S.P.Y. Method & Color-Coded Examples

AP African American Studies Course SKILLs 2C & 3B: EXPLAIN The significance of a Source’s perspective, purpose, context, and audience and…Support a claim or argument using specific and relevant evidence.

Objective: Students will analyze primary source documents in order to evaluate the extent of the impact of the institution of slavery on the development of the society of the United States.

Notes

I have been an AP history “exam reader” since 2018. My first read revolutionized the way I taught and evaluated the DBQ. I ditched the popular HIPP acronym for evaluating sources and created the S.P. Y. Method as a more effective approach to writing about each source. It is vital, for both teachers and students, to understand how DBQs are evaluated. These color-coded examples represent student examples.

My Method for using these resources: (Middle to End of Unit 2)

• Start class with the prompt and Benjamin Banneker’s letter to Thomas Jefferson (Doc B). Instruct students to S.P. Y. the doc.

• Then read A and C with a partner and instruct them to write a thesis together.

• Handout DBQ Feedback and have students attempt to assess sample context and thesis and S.P. Y. attempt of Banneker’s letter

• Go over the answer key and explain why each example would or would not get credit

• Give students 5 mins to S.P. Y. either doc D or E

• Handout the full student sample DBQ (non highlighted) and go through and show the highlighted version on the screen and have students follow along and highlight the first few paragraphs in order for them to understand what the DBQ is supposed to look like

Or you can just hand them the documents and give students 45 minutes to read and write the DBQ and then start the next class with the DBQ Feedback Handout.