"Colonial Foundations No. 2", Regents US History Short Essays

Regents US History Short Essays, "Colonial Foundations No. 2" Help students develop historical document analysis skills for the updated New York State Regents US History exam with this set of short essay materials. Students will place documents in historical context, analyze factors affecting reliability, and explain relationships between events and ideas. This teaching resource contains two sets of primary source documents with accompanying essay prompts modeled on the NYSED prototype. One set focuses on cause/effect, similarities/differences, or turning points. The other analyzes how audience, purpose, bias, or point of view affects a document's usefulness as historical evidence. Assign these short essays regularly throughout the year and conduct debriefings where students can study examples anonymously. This will develop the mature historical thinking skills required for success on the essay component of the new Regents exam.