DBQ Superstar Teachers

Many teachers are finding success with The DBQ Project. I want to celebrate some of those educators. Each of the following individuals has taught one or more DBQs this school year, and has experienced success with their students both in terms of engagement and growth.

I will continue to share stories of standout teachers in future newsletters. If you have a DBQ success story you would like to share, I'd love to hear from you!

- Mollie Hackett, West Coast Professional Development Director

• Samia teaches 8th Grade U.S. History. Thus far this year she has taught four Mini-Qs.
• Fun Fact: Samia almost became a lawyer, and has worked to incorporate her love for law into her teaching. She even calls her unit on the Constitution "Law School," and part of passing law school is completing the Constitution Mini-Q.
• DBQ Online Support Tools: Samia regularly uses the Spanish Toggle, the Audio Read Aloud, Document Analysis Form, the Guided Essay, and the Essay Builder in her DBQ lessons. She particularly likes having the ability to add her own mark-ups prior to assigning a lesson."I love the teacher mark-up tool! It should be called "teacher magic tool!" I was able to use the sticky notes as directions. My students knew when they see certain color sticky notes it means something. For example, blue is a specific direction they needed to complete on the document, a green sticky note meant vocabulary, etc."

• Why DBQ Online: "There are so many amazing things about DBQ Online, but if I had to pick one top item I like the best it is the feedback. The stickers are super fun and students look forward to logging in to see if they got a sticker. I love the pre-made comments and the fact I can add my own comments to the bank. It is so easy and quick, I can actually go through all my students' "packets" and leave some feedback. I noticed I got better student products because I was able to check the documents in real-time, leave feedback, and give students the opportunity to fix their mistakes."
• Samia's advise for teachers new to DBQ Online:"The advice I would give teachers using DBQ Online is to take quality over quantity. There is SO much you can do but start small and get comfortable with all the features before jumping in and trying them all at once. Maybe focus on annotating documents with mark up tools the first time around and use the feedback. Next time, add the essay builder. Take it at a speed you are comfortable with. And always reach out if you need help or have a question. Their support is quick and friendly."

• Nicki teaches 6th grade Language Arts and Social Studies, and this year she did a deep dive into the Hammurabi's Code Mini-Q.
• Fun Fact: Nicki is a huge football fan, especially of Notre Dame.
• DBQ Online Support Tools: Nicki made use of the Audio Read Aloud, the Guided Essay, the Essay Builder, and the Customized Feedback Notes in her unit of study.

• Why DBQ Online?"I love how user friendly the DBQ Online program is. The cohesiveness of the program makes it very easy to guide students through each step of the process. From building context in the background essay to answering thoughtful questions after each document to organizing and bucketing students' ideas prior to writing, DBQ Online makes the analysis of documents and the creation of an argumentative essay a seamless, easy-to-implement process."I'm so proud of my students' finished products, their DBQ essays. They created strong arguments supported by textual evidence and explanation. Their essays demonstrated critical thinking and analysis."
• Nicki's advise for teachers new to DBQ Online: "I would advise teachers to jump right in, and go for it! I would highly recommend using the Guided Essay. The Guided Essay helps provide additional support and a structured format to assist students who may struggle with organization or who might be reluctant to write. It provides helpful prompts, sentence frames, and breaks down the essay into manageable parts."

• Allison teaches 9th grade World History, and 12th grade Current World Issues, and has implemented three different DBQs this school year.
• Fun Fact: Allison's mother-in-law was her third grade teacher and helped inspire her to become a teacher.
• DBQ Online Support Tools: Allison consistently uses the Spanish Toggle, the Audio Read Aloud, and the Customized Feedback Notes in her DBQ lessons.
• Why DBQ Online? "I really appreciate essential questions that students can answer using different evidence (claim, evidence, analysis, and refutation are important skills to use, and the DBQ lends itself nicely to that). I also appreciate not having to dig for quality primary sources; it's a time saver."
• Allison's advise for teachers new to DBQ Online:"If an entire DBQ or mini-Q seems too much for your students, doing a jigsaw so students discuss the answer to the DBQ based on what they read is a really engaging way to work smarter together."

Professional Development and Partnership Director, West Coast

Email: mollie@dbqproject.com
Website: dbqproject.com
Twitter: @DBQProject