Students can be assigned a topic, or choose, one of the major decisions that President Truman had to contend with during his presidency between 1945 and 1953. They will use the documents on the website, associated with that event/decision, to create their argument supported with the evidence they have chosen. This could be completed over the course of one to three class periods. What follows are the topics with guiding questions followed by the procedure.
Online Digital Resources: Students will conduct their own research using the Truman Library “Online Collections” page where they will find a dedicated tab that links to documents related to one of the specific topics. https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/online-collections
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https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/online-collections
Presidential Decision Making Procedure Instructions:
1. You may use or alter the guiding questions to help the students research and examine the documents on the topics during this activity.
2. Divide the students into evenly sized groups with a recommended 3-4 students per group
3. Each group should have a total of 9 index cards. (1 for thesis/argument, 1 for context, 7 for summary and analysis of their chosen documents)
4. Students should either be assigned a topic from the list or agree on a topic. It should be one topic per group. No duplicates.
5. Once a topic has been assigned or chosen, have students mark on one of their notecards the word “THESIS.” This will be where they construct their argument.
6. On another of their cards have students write the word “CONTEXT.” This will be where they provide background information related to their topic.
7. Student groups should then proceed to the website and begin looking through their set of documents. They will choose, as a group, seven documents to use as they construct their argument based on either the provided guided question or one that has been altered.
8. As they choose documents they should think about using historical thinking skills such as; continuity/change of the topic, cause/effect, they could compare/contrast viewpoints, they could evaluate claims made by the authors (if known).
9. Students will then use one side of the final seven notecards, using one index card for each of the chosen seven documents to summarize the content of the document. A summary should be in their own words and they are not to have any quotes. Complete sentences are preferred.
10. Students should then use the other side of the notecard to analyze the documents that they summarized on the front. Analysis could be explaining how or why the document’s point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience is relevant to an argument.
11. Once completed there should be seven documents that have been summarized and analyzed.
12. Students should be able to use the “Context” card to provide background information on their topic. This should be written in either complete sentences or bullet points and should not be information found in the documents.
13. Students have context, they have read the documents and now they should be able to create a final argument regarding their topic and President Truman’s handling of the situation. The group will use the “Thesis” card to create a one to two sentence thesis statement. A thesis should have both a historically defensible claim and include a line of reasoning.
14. Students will then arrange their notecards in a coherent manner on their desk. poster board, or butcher paper to provide them with an illustration on how to organize their thoughts and evidence.
15. Finally students can present their findings and conclusions to the class.
Assessment: This lesson is appropriate for both AP United States history and regular track United States History courses. As it follows a pattern established by AP United States history the AP US history DBQ rubric can be used as a guide in assessing the student’s work.