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Ask a Historian: Bridgette Byrd O'Connor

Becca Horowitz

Meet  one of the brilliant historians behind OER Project’s Big History and World History AP® courses!

Bridgette earned her DPhil in history from the University of Oxford, and before joining the OER Project team, she spent a decade teaching Big History, World History, and AP® U.S. Government and Politics at the high school level in Louisiana. So, she knows firsthand what it takes to make complex ideas click for students—and how to keep them curious about the past.

Want to know how the OER Project team develops content? Curious about her favorite historical mysteries or classroom strategies that actually work? Bridgette's ready for your questions—ask away!

Parents

  •  , thanks for taking questions! 

    My AP World History students are currently writing their first LEQ in response to the prompt: 

    Evaluate the extent to which new transportation technologies changed economic activity in the period circa 1200 to 1450.

    We've practiced contexualization using the Thesis and Contextualization actiivity, contextualizing Mansa Musa, creating an argument tower for an LEQ prompt about the Mongols, and sorting a list of topics into evidence or context. However, a few students are still struggling to contextualize this prompt. Any words of wisdom for them?

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  •  , thanks for taking questions! 

    My AP World History students are currently writing their first LEQ in response to the prompt: 

    Evaluate the extent to which new transportation technologies changed economic activity in the period circa 1200 to 1450.

    We've practiced contexualization using the Thesis and Contextualization actiivity, contextualizing Mansa Musa, creating an argument tower for an LEQ prompt about the Mongols, and sorting a list of topics into evidence or context. However, a few students are still struggling to contextualize this prompt. Any words of wisdom for them?

Children
  • in reply to Anne Koschmider

    Hey  and that's a great question! As you know, it's often difficult for students to contextualize this early in the course because they may not remember the details from their past history courses, and so, they lack the required content knowledge. I'm sure you probably do some sort of Unit 0 with your students and I think that's where I would set the stage a bit for this prompt. For example, having them read "The Silk Road" article from Origins that's also located in Lesson 0.3 of the AP course might help them understand the transportation technologies that existed prior to c. 1200 CE that they can then use in their contextualization paragraph for the LEQ. You could also use the activity What Caused the Expansion of Trade? and add a category of analysis: technology. So, students would find two pieces of evidence that helps explain why trade expanded in this period from a technological (innovation) perspective. Hope this helps and if you happen to use one of these methods or think of another method that would be helpful, please share it with us because I'm sure there are other teachers out there who would be happy to know how it all went. Thanks!

  • in reply to Bridgette OConnor

    Those are excellent suggestions, thank you very much!