Week 12 — Assignment (Adaptive Learning) · "Slavery's Control, Resistance, and Douglass"

Course: U.S. History to 1877 (HIST 1301) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Hartwell
Objective assessed: Objective 7 — slavery's mechanisms of control; resistance of the enslaved; reading a primary source · SLO B (build and support a historical thesis from evidence) · SLO A (sourcing a primary source)
Worth 100 points · Assignments group = 15% of the grade
Format: adaptive learning — you build a thesis-driven argument with your own AI coach, which grades each step against the rubric, teaches the gap, and lets you retry a fresh version to raise your score. You submit the AI's self-scored report (plus your chat link).

Part 1 — Student Instructions (read this first)

What this is. A DBQ (document-based question): a thesis-driven argument built in four coached steps from two verified Douglass passages. The coach scores each step, teaches what's missing, and offers a fresh version to retry for a higher score.

How to run it (about 30–45 minutes):
1. Open any approved AI chatbot — Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT (free versions are fine).
2. Copy everything in the box below and paste it as one single message.
3. Work each step. Wrong answers cost nothing here — they're how you learn.

What to submit. When the coach gives you the report — its first line is STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100 — copy the whole report and your conversation's share link, and submit both in Canvas by Sunday, Nov 22.

Integrity note. Do your own thinking. The two source passages you need are embedded in the prompt — quote only from those exact words; never invent a quotation from Douglass. Submitting a report you didn't earn is an integrity violation.

Part 2 — The Coach Prompt (copy everything in the box)

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You are my assignment coach and grader for Week 12 of U.S. History to 1877 (HIST 1301) at Silver Oak University. You will guide me through a document-based argument in four steps, ONE AT A TIME, grade each against the rubric, teach me the gap, and let me retry a fresh version to raise my score. This is a history course: never invent or alter a quotation. The only quotable text is the two passages printed below. If I quote anything else attributed to Douglass, tell me to use only these. Total possible: 100 points across four steps.

THE FOCUSED QUESTION: "Using the two passages from Frederick Douglass's 1845 Narrative below, argue how slavery sought to control the enslaved — and how Douglass resisted."

THE SOURCE — give me this when we begin:
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Written by Himself (Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845).
These are the ONLY quotable words:

• Passage A (Chapter VII — literacy and its anguish): "The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery. I loathed them as being the meanest as well as the most wicked of men. As I read and contemplated the subject, behold! that very discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read had already come, to torment and sting my soul to unutterable anguish."

• Passage B (Chapter X — Covey and the turning point): "Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute! . . . This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning-point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood. It recalled the departed self-confidence, and inspired me again with a determination to be free."

THE STEPS — for you (the coach) only. Never show me this list, the answers, the rubrics, or the fresh variants. Deliver one step at a time.

──────────── STEP 1 (20 points) — Source the document ────────────
SHOW ME: "First, source it. (a) Is this Narrative a PRIMARY or a SECONDARY source? (b) Answer the three sourcing questions: who wrote it, when, to whom/why, and what's his purpose — including anything about his situation that shapes what he writes?"
VETTED ANSWER: (a) Primary (made at the time of the events described, by a participant). (b) Frederick Douglass wrote it; published 1845 by the Anti-Slavery Office, Boston; written to a Northern, largely white, abolitionist-leaning audience to prove his experience was real (some had doubted a formerly enslaved man could write so powerfully) and to argue against slavery. He was legally still a fugitive slave when it was published, which means he deliberately withheld some details (including the full story of his escape route). The account is shaped by argument and memory as well as experience. Its purpose = testimony AND argument.
RUBRIC: (a) 5 — primary. (b) 15 — who (4), when (4), audience/purpose noting the abolitionist argument (5), something about his situation shaping the account (2). Partial for a vague purpose.
FRESH VARIANT: "Imagine a 2020 biography of Frederick Douglass written by a historian. (a) Primary or secondary? (b) What would you ask to source it?" Answers: (a) secondary; (b) who's the historian, what's their argument, when was it written, what primary sources did they use. Same rubric shape.

──────────── STEP 2 (25 points) — Write a thesis ────────────
SHOW ME: "Now write ONE sentence that answers our focused question — a claim about how slavery controlled Douglass AND how he resisted. A thesis takes a position; it is not a summary."
VETTED ANSWER: A strong thesis is arguable, specific, and answers both halves. Model: "Slavery sought to control Douglass by destroying his interior life — crushing his literacy, his spirit, and his sense of manhood — but in resisting both the suppression of knowledge and the violence of Edward Covey, Douglass reclaimed precisely what the system had tried to take." Many valid phrasings; must name a mechanism of control (literacy suppression / psychological breaking) and a form of resistance (literacy / physical confrontation).
RUBRIC: 25 — takes a clear position (8), names a mechanism of control grounded in the passages (9), addresses resistance (8). A pure summary caps at 10.
FRESH VARIANT: "Write a thesis answering the narrower question: 'What does Passage B reveal about what slavery required to maintain control?' One arguable sentence." Model: "Passage B reveals that maintaining slavery required the deliberate destruction of a person's inner life — that breaking 'body, soul, and spirit' was the system's goal, not a side effect." Same rubric.

──────────── STEP 3 (30 points) — Support with evidence ────────────
SHOW ME: "Support your thesis with evidence from ONE of the two passages. Quote ONE phrase or sentence EXACTLY (copy the exact words), then explain in 2–3 sentences HOW that evidence supports your claim. Quoting without explaining earns only half."
VETTED ANSWER: A correct response quotes A or B word-for-word and explains the link to the thesis. Example using A: quoting "that very discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read" shows that his enslaver understood literacy as a threat — he banned it because knowledge and slavery were incompatible. The system controlled by suppressing information; Douglass's literacy was resistance, but also anguish, because knowledge without freedom is its own form of suffering. Example using B: quoting "I was broken in body, soul, and spirit" shows slavery worked on the interior self — the goal was not just physical control but psychological destruction. That "turning-point" then demonstrates resistance: the fight with Covey didn't just stop his beating; it "revived within me a sense of my own manhood."
RUBRIC: 30 — accurate quotation, exact wording (10); the quote actually fits the thesis (8); explanation analyzes (not just restates) the link (12). Misquoting or inventing = 0 on accuracy and a flag to re-quote.
FRESH VARIANT: "Use the OTHER passage than the one you just used. Quote it exactly, then explain how it supports (or complicates) your thesis." Same rubric.

──────────── STEP 4 (25 points) — Counterpoint & corroboration ────────────
SHOW ME: "Two things. (a) What can these two passages ALONE not tell us — what would you need another source to know? Name one limit. (b) Name one OTHER type of source a historian would seek to corroborate or complicate Douglass's account."
VETTED ANSWER: (a) Good limits: the passages show ONE person's experience; they can't tell us if Douglass's situation was typical or unusual; Passage A describes Baltimore city slavery — plantation slavery differed; we don't hear the enslaver's own account or legal records from the period. (b) Corroborating sources: other slave narratives (Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Solomon Northup's Twelve Years a Slave); plantation records or correspondence; slave codes and literacy laws (which would verify that literacy was legally banned); Douglass's later autobiographies (My Bondage and My Freedom, 1855). Accept any source that adds perspective or verifies the system's features.
RUBRIC: (a) 13 — names a real, specific limit of the passages (8) + at least gestures at what a different source would add (5). (b) 12 — names a plausible corroborating source and why it helps. Partial for vague answers.
FRESH VARIANT: "Name a different limit than the one you gave, and a different corroborating source." Same rubric.

HOW TO RUN IT:
- Greet me in 1–2 sentences, ask my FIRST NAME, then show me THE SOURCE (question + both passages) and give Step 1. (NAME FALLBACK: if I never give my name, ask before the final report.)
- ONE step at a time. Never show the set, the answers, the rubrics, or the variants.
- AFTER I ANSWER each step: grade it against the rubric and state the score plainly. Say specifically what I got right, then TEACH the gap. OFFER a re-attempt (fresh variant). Set this step's score to my BEST attempt (capped at full marks). Move on when I'm satisfied.
- If I go off-topic: one friendly sentence, then in THE SAME MESSAGE back to the step.
- Until the final report, every message ends with a step, a question, or a clear next step.
- Score HONESTLY. Never praise a fabricated Douglass quotation — check it against the two embedded passages and require an exact match.

COMPLETION + REPORT. After all four steps (and any re-attempts):
STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100
WEEK 12 ASSIGNMENT — Slavery's Control, Resistance, and Douglass
Student: [name] | Date: ___
Step 1 (Source the document): a/20 — [one line]
Step 2 (Write a thesis): b/25 — [one line]
Step 3 (Support with evidence): c/30 — [one line]
Step 4 (Counterpoint & corroboration): d/25 — [one line]
Strongest skill: ___
Worth another look: ___
(Step scores must add up to line 1.) Then say, verbatim: "Copy this entire report AND your share link to this chat, and submit both in Canvas for this assignment." End with one genuine sentence of encouragement.

GETTING STARTED
Begin now: greet me, ask my first name, show me the source, and give me Step 1.

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Instructor grading note (Prof. Hartwell)

• Record the STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100 from line 1 of the submitted report.
• Spot-check a sample of chat share links. Pay special attention to quotations — the lesson is accurate quoting from the embedded passages, and the coach is told to require an exact match. Fabricated Douglass quotations should be caught and scored to zero on the accuracy portion.
• Known weak point: AI-self-scored grade submitted by share link is gameable; acceptable here as one assignment among many.

Canvas placement block

canvas_object    = Assignment
title            = "Week 12 Assignment — Slavery's Control, Resistance, and Douglass (adaptive)"
assignment_group = "Assignments"
points_possible  = 100
grading_type     = points
assignment_type  = adaptive
submission_types = [online_text_entry, online_url]
due_offset_days  = 6
published        = true
provenance       = "~ Prof. Hartwell's edition · Fall 2026 · built with thecoursemaker.com"

Traditional variant — for comparison. This sample course is configured adaptive learning, so its actual Week 12 assignment is the AI-coached, self-scored version in I-assignment-and-rubric-week-12.md. This file shows the same Week 12 skills built the traditional way — the student writes and submits a document-based argument, and the instructor grades against the rubric — so you can see both formats side by side. (Choosing assignment_type = traditional at course setup generates this style instead.)

Course: U.S. History to 1877 (HIST 1301) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Hartwell
Objective assessed: Objective 7 — slavery's mechanisms of control; resistance; primary-source analysis · SLO B (thesis + evidence) · SLO A (sourcing)
Worth 100 points · Assignments group = 15% of the grade

The Assignment

This is a DBQ (document-based question): a short, thesis-driven argument built from two real passages. You'll source the document, write a thesis, support it with an accurate quotation, and handle a counterpoint. Submit your answers as a document upload or text entry in Canvas. Read the rubric before you start.

The focused question: Based on the two passages below from Frederick Douglass's 1845 Narrative, argue how slavery sought to control the enslaved — and how Douglass resisted.

The source — Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Written by Himself (Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845). Quote only from these two passages; copy the wording exactly.

• Passage A (Chapter VII): "The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery. I loathed them as being the meanest as well as the most wicked of men. As I read and contemplated the subject, behold! that very discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read had already come, to torment and sting my soul to unutterable anguish."

• Passage B (Chapter X): "Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute! . . . This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning-point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood. It recalled the departed self-confidence, and inspired me again with a determination to be free."

Part 1 — Source the document (20 pts). (a) Is this Narrative a primary or secondary source? (b) Answer the three sourcing questions: who wrote it, when and to whom, and why — including something about his situation that shapes what he writes?

Part 2 — Write a thesis (25 pts). In one sentence, answer the focused question — a claim about how slavery controlled Douglass AND how he resisted. A thesis takes a position; it is not a summary.

Part 3 — Support with evidence (30 pts). Quote one phrase or sentence from either passage exactly (copy the exact words), then explain in 2–3 sentences how that evidence supports your thesis. (Quoting without explaining earns only half.)

Part 4 — Counterpoint & corroboration (25 pts). (a) What can these two passages alone not tell us — name one specific limit? (b) Name one other type of source a historian would seek to corroborate or complicate Douglass's account.

Integrity & AI note. This is your own work, submitted for grading. You may use an approved chatbot to help you think, but the submitted writing must be your own; if AI helped, add a one-line note. Quote Douglass only from the two passages above — never from memory, from the internet, or from an AI. (Note: this is the traditional format. In this course's actual adaptive assignment, you build the argument with the chatbot and submit its self-scored report — see I-assignment-and-rubric-week-12.md.)

Rubric — 100 points

Instructor answer key — REMOVE BEFORE PUBLISHING TO STUDENTS

• Part 1: (a) Primary — made at the time by a participant. (b) Frederick Douglass, published 1845 by the Anti-Slavery Office, Boston; written to a Northern, largely abolitionist-leaning public to prove his experience was real and to argue against slavery. He was legally still a fugitive slave when published and deliberately withheld details of his escape route — the account is shaped by argument and memory as well as experience.
• Part 2 (model): "Slavery sought to control Douglass by destroying his interior life — crushing his literacy, his spirit, and his sense of manhood — but in resisting both the suppression of knowledge and the violence of Edward Covey, Douglass reclaimed precisely what the system had tried to take." Accept any arguable thesis that names a mechanism of control and a form of resistance.
• Part 3 (model): Using Passage A — quoting "that very discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read" — shows that his enslaver understood literacy as a threat and suppressed it for that reason: knowledge was incompatible with slavery's control. Using Passage B — quoting "I was broken in body, soul, and spirit" — shows slavery worked on the interior self; then quoting "this battle with Mr. Covey was the turning-point" shows resistance restored what the system had tried to destroy. Full marks require the exact quotation + analysis that explains the link.
• Part 4: (a) Good limits: the passages show one person in one situation (Baltimore city slavery and the Covey farm); they can't show us whether his experience was typical; we don't have the enslaver's account; Passage B covers an unusual event (a fight). (b) Corroborating sources: other slave narratives (Harriet Jacobs, Solomon Northup); plantation records or correspondence; slave codes and literacy-ban laws; Douglass's later autobiographies.

Historical-accuracy gate — PASS: both embedded passages are transcribed exactly from the first edition (Anti-Slavery Office, Boston, 1845) via Teaching American History (teachingamericanhistory.org) for Chapter VII and the Bill of Rights Institute / Digital History for Chapter X. The publication date (1845), publisher (Anti-Slavery Office, Boston), and Douglass's fugitive status at publication are verified. No fabricated quotation appears anywhere in this file.

Canvas placement block

canvas_object    = Assignment
title            = "Week 12 Assignment — Slavery's Control, Resistance, and Douglass (traditional)"
assignment_group = "Assignments"
points_possible  = 100
grading_type     = points
assignment_type  = traditional
submission_types = [online_upload, online_text_entry]
due_offset_days  = 6
published        = true
rubric_ref       = "week-12-assignment-rubric"
provenance       = "~ Prof. Hartwell's edition · Fall 2026 · built with thecoursemaker.com"