SAIPAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

AP History: One of the important skills that SIS students learn in Advanced Placement (AP) history courses is how to analyze and synthesize historical documents in order to create an effective essay for a document-based question (DBQ). DBQ essays require the sort of higher-level thinking skills that SIS students will need in college. Each one of the AP courses I teach (AP United States History, AP European History, and AP World History) requires students to write a DBQ essay on the national exam, which is administered each May. In each of those courses, therefore, we spend a great deal of time discussing and writing DBQ essays, along with traditional essays, which also appear on the May exams. A document-based question is what it sounds like: it is an essay item that is partly based on a set of historical documents that are provided to the students along with an essay prompt. The documents may include photographs, diagrams, maps, charts, tables, editorial cartoons, personal letters, or excerpts from historical documents such as treaties or Supreme Court rulings. The number of documents can range from half a dozen to a dozen, depending upon the AP course. Some of the documents may be rather simple and straightforward, while others may be more complex or require high-level historical interpretation skills. In all cases the student is asked to correctly interpret, analyze, and synthesize the documents, along with other relevant historical information not provided to them in the essay but learned in the course. If done well, the result is a comprehensive analytical essay that incorporates the documents and other information to address the essay topic. Historical analysis and synthesis require higher-level reasoning skills, and high school students who are adept at those skills are usually well prepared for the rigorous coursework offered at American colleges and universities. Although many SIS students find DBQ essays stressful, after writing a few of them they typically feel much more comfortable, and they begin to view

them not as forms of intellectual torture, but as intellectually challenging tasks that allow students considerable latitude to create an essay that reflects not only their knowledge of the topic, but also their own interpretations and opinions.

Keith Tessen History

Putting the “T” in History, By Natalie Hardt(G11) A good teacher is one who instills a desire to succeed and learn; they care about their students and

make each person feel unique. They don’t need to resort to theatrics in order to get the students interested in the subject matter; yet they motivate them to want to learn more and flourish. Mr. Tessen fits all these criteria and much more. Mr. Tessen has been teaching AP History courses at SIS for 11 years and has become an integral part of our school. These courses include American History, European History, and World History being taught to sophomores, juniors, and seniors, respectively. The classes are, obviously, very difficult, but Mr. Tessen manages to make even the most boring sections somewhat interesting. In discussing how he tries to achieve this, Mr. Tessen said, “I look for seemingly insignificant facts or events concerning the topic at hand and try to show how what might seem insignificant can teach us a whole lot about an event or a person or a place.” He has expressed clearly how positively he feels about his students, calling them the “kindest, most thoughtful group of teenagers in the history of the universe.”

These AP courses, along with those taught by Mr. Lee, are also relevant to the students’ futures. Those who put in the effort and succeed in these advanced courses have a greater chance of getting accepted into top colleges and receiving better financial aid offers. Receiving qualifying scores on the cumulative May exams can allow students to test out of the equivalent classes in college, saving them and their families tens of thousands of dollars. Mr. Tessen also pointed out that “these courses can also instill a love of history, politics, and comparative societies.” When people reflect on their high school days, the memories that are often mentioned are the school dances and the ball games that were won. It is a true accomplishment on the part of a teacher if twenty years down the line, their history class is remembered fondly for the good memories it elicits. Mr. Tessen is one such amazing teacher who will join those ranks.

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