Practice DBQ: Intro to DBQs

This product is perfect to introduce DBQs at anytime in the school year. It also is a fun, engaging activity for the first week of school to encourage students to debate their position with textual evidence. This product consists of a PowerPoint, a graphic organizer for students to record their answers, and the 7 documents students will analyze to answer the question: Who or what was most at fault in causing the fight between the two students? The following is included with this product:

POWERPOINT (11 slides)

• "For Teacher Only" Instructions
• Agenda
• Bell Ringer
• Overview
• Question
• Full Prompt
• Small Group Document Analysis Instructions
• Discussion (Small & Whole Group)
• Wrap Up

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER (4 pages)

• Microsoft Word Document
• This graphic organizer is for every group to document their analysis of each document. It includes the prompt at the top and spaces for all 7 documents to be analyzed.
• It is 2 pages (1 page front and back)
• Includes answer key (additional 2 pages)

DOCUMENTS FOR ANALYSIS (5 pages)

• Microsoft Word Document
• 7 total documents that fit on 5 pages
• Types of documents: attendance record, referral, text message, conversations, note on Bell Ringer, tweet from Twitter

I used this lesson in a 50 minute class. However, you could easily increase the duration of this activity.