Download Teacher`s name: William Jeffcoat (Mr. J) 105171674 Date

Teacher’s name: William Jeffcoat (Mr. J) 105171674
Date: November 18, 2007
Subject: World History I
Grade Level: 8 (heterogeneous)
Topic: Ancient Civilizations
Meant for 2 block periods of 90 minutes or 4 periods of 50 minutes.
Essential Questions/Big Ideas:
For the students become aware of where the first civilizations of the world were settled/started
and why.
General Objective[s]:
NCSS Standard:
III People, Places, & Environments
a. elaborate mental maps of locales, regions, and the world that demonstrate
understanding of relative location, direction, size, and shape
b. Create, interpret, use, and synthesize information from various representations of the
earth, such as maps, globes, and photographs
Virginia SOL:
WHI.1 The student will improve skills in historical research and geographical analysis by
a) using maps, globes, artifacts, and pictures to analyze the physical and cultural
landscapes of the world and interpret the past to 1500 A.D.;
b) identifying major geographic features important to the study of world history to
1500 A.D.;
Learning Outcomes:
understand...
people in early civilizations needed to be near important natural resources (water)
there are different ways to view the same thing
there are different perspective people look at
the past shapes the future and has an effect on your life
know. . .
the definition of a map
where important ancient civilizations were located
important terms in regard to a map
key aspects of ancient civilizations (their contributions)
be able to do (Bloom’s). . .
identify the location of important civilizations (knowledge)
define important map terms (knowledge)
compare different types of maps (evaluation)
distinguish different kinds of maps (comprehension)
identify important boundaries (knowledge)
summarize important features that relate to ancient civilizations (evaluation)
value…
To respect human life
Freedom of inquiry
To be tolerant
Objective:
Students find information and arrange that information in usable forms.
Assessment: Methods of Evaluating Student Progress/Performance:
Formal:
Individual projects on the four ancient civilizations located around the Fertile Crescent (see
rubrics attached).
Content Outline:
map
An image that represents a geographic area in a way that helps people find places or understand
the area’s features, shows country boundaries, cities, rivers, mountains, and other features.
Ex.- Show students what a map of the world looks like.
Non-Ex.- a globe
Lines of Latitude:
Latitude is distance north or south of the equator, and is measured in degrees, minutes, and
seconds of arc. Each degree equals 60 nautical miles, and each minute approximately 1 mile.
Latitude is shown on charts by lines running east and west. Scales at the left and right (west and
east) edges of the chart show degrees, minutes, and (depending on the chart’s scale) seconds.
Because 1 minute equals 1 nautical mile, you can measure a distance on the chart with a pair of
dividers, comparing it with the side scale shown at the same latitude.
Ex- The tropics of Cancer and Capricorn
Non-Ex.- The prime meridian
Equator:
The imaginary great circle around the earth's surface, equidistant from the poles and
perpendicular to the earth's axis of rotation. It divides the earth into the Northern Hemisphere
and the Southern Hemisphere. It is located at 0°.
Lines of Longitude:
Longitude is angular distance east or west of the prime meridian, an imaginary line running from
pole to pole through Greenwich, England.
Non-Ex.- Lines that run horizontally
Prime Meridian:
The prime meridian is numbered 0; from it, longitude is reckoned 180° eastward and 180°
westward.
Non-Ex.- the equator
Meridians:
Lines of equal longitude, are marked on charts as lines running north and south, and their scales
are given at the top (north) and bottom (south) of charts. Because lines of longitude converge at
the poles, the length of a degree of longitude varies according to latitude. At the equator, it is
approximately 60 miles; at the poles, it is zero.
Political Map:
Shows countries, boundaries, cities, counties, provinces, etc.
Physical Map:
Shows rivers, oceans, mountains, deserts, elevations, etc.
Sumer:
Country in southeastern Mesopotamia, and birthplace for the first civilization in world history.
The history of Sumer is counted as lasting from about 3500 BCE until 2000 BCE, where after
other cultures, based upon the Sumerian, continued the civilization. These cultures were mostly
Assyrian and the Babylonian. Sumer represented one half of Mesopotamia, where Akkad, to the
north, represented the other half. The heartland of Sumer corresponds much to the heartland of
Babylonia.
Babylonia:
An ancient kingdom in Mesopotamia, lasting from approximately the 18th century until the 6th
century. The Babylonian society was both an urban society and an agricultural one. The
economy rested upon agriculture, but governance, industries and fine arts were carried out in the
cities. In the entire kingdom there were no more than about 10-15 cities with 10,000 to 50,000
inhabitants. Apart from that, people lived in villages and hamlets. The Babylonian heartland was
between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, but at its largest the kingdom extended to the entire
populated Middle East.
Assyria:
Ancient country in the Middle East, with centre in modern Iraq along the Tigris River. At its
height in the 9th century BCE, Assyria also covered areas in modern eastern Turkey, Syria,
Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, western Iran, Kuwait and Egypt.
Phoenicia:
Ancient region of today's coastal Lebanon (for simplicity, this region is referred to as Lebanon in
the rest of this article as we do not know what it was named by the Phoenicians even if eastern
Lebanon was not part of Phoenicia) with cultural and economic identity if never any common
government. The southern border of Phoenicia is considered to be Mount Carmel in today's
northern Israel. The name Phoenicia comes probably from the Greek word phoinix, meaning
purple red. The reason for this name was the famous purple red dye of the Murex snail that was
produced in this region. Phoenicia was based upon independent city states, and eventually,
colonies as far away as in Spain. The Phoenicians were merchants and traders, and even if they
colonized certain strategic spots in today's Syria, Cyprus, Libya, Tunisia, Italy, Malta, Algeria,
Morocco and Spain, they were never warlords.
Bibliography:
The Fertile Crescent, (1999) Retrieved November 10, 2007 from
http://www.gmpdc.org/webquests/smithj/index.htm
Assyria, (2007) Encyclopedia of the Orient.com, Retrieved November 16, 2007
http://i-cias.com/e.o/assyria.htm
Brodsky, Herbert, Brun, Henry, Forman, Lillian. (2004). Global history and Geography: The
Growth of Civilizations. New York, New York: Amsco School Publications, INC.
Student and Teacher Activities with Estimated Time Blocks:
HOOK: Do you ever think about where you came from? Where civilization started? Think about
that for thirty seconds and then I will call on some volunteers to share what they think.
(10 minutes)
Go over the power point introducing the students to basic geographical terms (see attached).
Have the students follow along with guided notes you provide for them. Once you reach the slide
with Political Map on it stop the power point and move on.
(15 minutes)
Hand out the students a copy of a blank world map. Ask them to locate the seven continents, and
five oceans that are located on the planet. You can also go over this with them by placing a map
on the overhead projector. Next, call on students to locate the equator and prime meridian.
Finally ask the students if anyone knows where the Fertile Crescent was. If no one knows move
onto the next step; if someone does know, or thinks they know, have them show you and the rest
of the class on a map. This is when you would go over how to find places using coordinates.
(15 minutes)
Now is the time that you introduce your students to what they will be studying, the Fertile
Crescent (show them where on a map by turning the power point back on---see attached).
Have them mark the Fertile Crescent on their maps. Then continue with the power point. Have
student volunteers read the slides on the Fertile Crescent.
(20 minutes)
After you have gone over the power point during the first part of class tell the students they are
going to go to the library (or a computer lab) to do a Web quest on the Fertile Crescent (this is
when you would place them in groups of four). Tell the students to follow the directions stated in
the web quest but they will be graded differently than is stated in the web quest (this is when you
would hand out your “Role Sheet” (see attached)).
(10 minutes)
Give the students the appropriate amount of time to work on the web quest in class (at least
half the period). Collect the “Role Sheet” and give the students the appropriate rubric. This
means that you need to make sure that they know that they will only be getting one day in the
computer lab. Tomorrow is dedicated to producing the final products mentioned in the web
quest. However, if the students have a computer and internet access at home tell them that they
may feel free to continue to work on this assignment at home. If students do not have a computer
or internet access at home and they need more time tell them that you will give them a pass to go
to the library to continue working during study hall. (Web quest attached)
Day 2
Today should be dedicated to completing the final projects that were spoken about in the web
quest. During the next day, while students are working on another assignment have each
individual group come to you and show you what they had done/found out. Once you check what
each group has done allow them to present their findings to the rest of the class.
Materials Needed for the Lesson:
Computer lab, overhead, power point projector, marker, colored pencils, poster board, long roll
of paper (for time line)
Differentiation:
How Lesson Addresses the Unique Needs of…
ELL
Students will be working in groups and with computers for the majority of the lesson so any ELL
student who is having difficulty will have some kind of resource at their disposal to aid in their
understanding. Since the students will be working in groups, and ELL person could get (or be
placed) in a group with other students who may find it easier to communicate with. I have also
placed the same pictures on the guided notes that I did in the power point so hopefully that will
aid the student in taking notes from the power point.
Advanced Students
These students have the ability to take the project mentioned as far as they want to, showcasing
their abilities. By this I mean they can show off their artistic, writing, and communication skills.
The rubrics are there only to set the floor, there really is no ceiling. Students who are interested
in art, math, literature, war, all of these things that are not mentioned in the rubrics, or on the web
quest, the students can research and find out as much information as they want.
Subject Matter Integration/Extension:
This lesson would really work well with a Language Arts and Art classes. The students who
were chosen to do the writing part could be taken out of the regular Language Arts class and,
while the other students are working on a different writing assignment, they could write up their
part of the project. The Language Arts teacher could then grade the written parts of the
assignment. Both of us would have to come together to devise a rubric that would work for both
of us.
Students could draw their pictures that would go on the timeline, in Art class and have the Art
teacher grade them based on the aesthetic parts, I would grade on effort. That way no students
would lose points for not including a visual of some sort.
Reflections on Lesson Plan:
I found this web quest online and thought it would be perfect for teaching students about
similarities and differences between ancient civilizations. I like the role aspects of the web quest,
but did not like how the scoring was done so I came up with my own rubrics for each role. Each
role has the opportunity to receive twenty points, no one more important than the other. This way
a student can work to their strengths. This accounts for a group total of eighty points. The other
twenty points will come from a class reaction to the student’s presentation for a total of onehundred points. The group can earn up to one-hundred points, but each individual student earns
points based on how they followed the rubric for their role. This means a student can earn up to
one-hundred and twenty points total.
I really like this lesson because it gets the students using a resource other than their book in terms
of finding information on ancient civilizations. It also allows the students to choose which role
they feel best suited for in terms of the group project. It really is not fair to a student who may be
in a regular Language Arts class who struggles writing essays to have to write about the ancient
civilizations, but excels at art. My philosophy is if you are stronger in one area than another,
focus mainly on what you are good at, but, work hard in trying to make an area of weakness a
strength. A student knows whether or not he or she is a good writer. If, as a student I knew I was
a bad writer, and I found out I had to write a comparison paper on ancient civilizations, I would
not even try. That is why I made each role worth the same amount of points.
I also came up with a power point to review the basics about what a map is and how it should
look. This way, student’s have a guide to go by and can easily figure out where to place things
on their map that they will be creating. I hope that, not only, the students making the maps, but
all students will take the exceptional route.