OGT and Written Response Questions OR How Do I Get My Students to Pass This Thing? Used with permission of Dr. Martha Pallante, Chair History Department,Youngstown State University

Types of Questions  Multiple Choice  Short Answer  Extended Response

Knowledge Base References  Fact base questions -- students must recall answer  Example Based question –students must interpret information—use critical thinking/analytical skills  Skill Based Questions –students must describe or identify skill of historian/social scientist

How to Prepare Students Answer the questions that are asked. Answer the questions that are asked. The early 20th century saw a significant northward migration of African-Americans. During the 1920s, nearly 400,000 African-Americans settled in New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois. Many lived in large cities such as New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. Identify two economic effects of this migration on the United States. Correct answer requires two statements that speak to money or employment.

How to Prepare Students  Answer the questions that are asked.  Use straight forward sentences.  Make the same number of statements as points in the question.  Don’t waste time on unnecessary details.

Problems for Students Students can’t identify the question  For what sort of information does the question ask.  Is it descriptive: who, what, where when.  Is it process: cause and effect, motives, short or long term result.  Is it method: best practices and scholars’ habits

Problems for Students 2. Students don’t understand how to read a text – document, quotation, statistic, image  Rubric for interpretation Describe it Describe it Identify author and motive or bias Identify author and motive or bias Audience or for whom was it meant Audience or for whom was it meant Context or place it in time and space Context or place it in time and space

Solutions for Students 1. Scaffolding Learning 1. Scaffolding Learning  Break down the steps into small increments: Identify the following terms: George Washington Ideally student would tell who he is, when and where he acted, and why he was significant or what his contributions.

So how do you teach it: Start with the following format: Who was George Washington? When and where did he live? Why is he important to the development of the United States? OR What were his significant contributions?

Then move to less constructed model: Tell me who George Washington is, when and where he lived, and what his significant contributions were to the development of the United States? Write one sentence for each of the questions asked.

Solutions for Students  Teach them to recognize what the questions are asking 1.Use highlight or other indicator to define what question is asking. What sort of information does the answer require? 2.Used highlight or other indicator to indicate quantity. Write one sentence for each.

The early 20th century saw a significant northward migration of African-Americans. During the 1920s, nearly 400,000 African-Americans settled in New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois. Many lived in large cities such as New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. Identify two economic effects of this migration on the United States. *African American migration to northern cities in the Twenties resulted in an increase in the labor force. *They were also sometimes used as scabs to prevent union success.

Extended response item During the years between 1945 and 1950, the period directly following World War II, the Soviet Union expanded its influence in Central and Eastern Europe. Describe two concerns the United States had about this expansion. During the years between 1945 and 1950, the period directly following World War II, the Soviet Union expanded its influence in Central and Eastern Europe. Describe two concerns the United States had about this expansion. For each concern, (two more responses) identify a related action taken by the United States to counter Soviet activities in Europe during this time period. Write your answer in the Answer Document. (4 points)

Red identifies type of question. Blue is the formation that can be used to answer the question. During the 1960s, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) organized Freedom Rides throughout the South to end segregation on interstate bus routes. James Farmer, national director of CORE at that time, described in an interview one of the strategies used by the Freedom Riders: We … felt that one of the weaknesses of the student sit-in movement of the South had been that as soon as arrested, the kids [were] bailed out.... A better tactic would be to remain in jail.... Fill up the jails, as Gandhi did in India, fill them to bursting if we had to. In other words, stay in without bail. Source: Howell Raines, My Soul Is Rested: Movement Days in the Deep South Remembered James Farmer’s statement would be a credible source of information (historian’s method) about a strategy used during the civil rights movement because  A. it is free of bias.  B. it was published in a book.  C. he was a civil rights leader.  D. he uses statistics to support his opinions.

Extended response item During the years between 1945 and 1950, the period directly following World War II, the Soviet Union expanded its influence in Central and Eastern Europe. Describe two concerns the United States had about this expansion. For each concern, identify a related action taken by the United States to counter Soviet activities in Europe during this time period. Write your answer in the Answer Document. (4 points)

Decoding an image  Use the photo to describe the different sorts of workers employed at this factory, the Niles Fire Brick Company. Indicate at least five signs of class or divisions of labor.