At Lynn Camp Middle-High School in Corbin, Kentucky, history is no longer a collection of dusty dates and distant names. For students tackling Document-Based Questions (DBQs), the classroom has transformed into a laboratory of inquiry. Through the layering of specialized strategies, students don’t just read primary sources—they dissect them with the precision of a historical scholar.
In Mrs. Welch’s Social Studies II classroom (10th grade), the journey into a complex historical text or image begins with “Notice and Wonder.” This strategy serves as the essential entry point, allowing students to first record objective observations (what they notice) before moving to subjective curiosities (what they wonder). By stripping away the pressure of “getting it right” immediately, this phase lowers the barrier to engagement and ensures that every student, regardless of reading level, has a foothold in the evidence. Students record their notices and wonders using “jot thoughts.” Students quickly write down facts, inferences, or connections on sticky notes, literally covering their desks with collective knowledge. This rapid-fire exchange helps students identify patterns across different documents and cross-reference their wonders with their peers’ notices, effectively building a mental map of the historical context.
The final bridge between analysis and the written essay is the Socratic Seminar. In these student-led discussions, the classroom becomes an intellectual arena. Armed with their jot thoughts and primary source evidence, students engage in a formal dialogue, questioning interpretations and citing specific document evidence to support their claims. It’s here that raw data is forged into a coherent argument.
By the time students sit down to write, the “blank page syndrome” has vanished. They aren’t just summarizing; they are synthesizing a conversation they have already participated in. These multi-step strategies are proving that when students are given the right tools to talk through history, they are better prepared to write about it.
Rhyana Welch
Lynn Camp Middle High School
Knox County Public Schools
Grades 10-12
