Download Name T.J. Slansky Lesson Title The Mongol Impact, 1206 – 1360

Name
T.J. Slansky
Lesson Title
The Mongol Impact, 1206 – 1360
Class and Grade level(s)
AP World History – 11th & 12th Grade
Goals and Objectives
Students will review primary documents and determine the following:
1. Consider the relationship between the author/creator of the source and the
Mongols;
2. Determine how this relationship shaped the author’s perspective; and
3. Would this relationship enhance or limit the author’s/creator’s knowledge
of the Mongols
 Overall, students will be able to identify points of continuity and discontinuity
within China under Mongol rule.
Themes addressed:
AP World History highlights six overarching themes. The themes address in
this lesson include:
Theme 1: The dynamics of change and continuity across the world history
periods covered in this course, and the causes and processes involved in major
changes of these dynamics
Theme 4: Systems of social structure and gender structure (comparing major
features within and among societies and assessing change).
Time required/class periods needed
One block class (1 ½ hours).
Primary source bibliography
Wiesner, Merry, William Wheeler, Franklin Doeringer, and Kenneth Curtis.
Discovering the Global Past: A Look At The Evidence. 3rd ed. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007. pp. 236 – 262.
Other resources used
The Secret History of the Mongols: http://faculty.washington.edu/qing/kahn_the_secret_history_of_the_mongols%
Inscribed Landscapes: http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft2m3nb15s&chunk.id=d0e5780&toc
Mission to Asia: Narratives and Letters of the Franciscan Missionaries in Mongolia and China in the Thirteenth and Fourteen
Chinese-style portrait of Chinggis Khan:
https://www.google.com/search?q=chinese+style+portrait+of+Chinggis+Khan&tbm=isch&imgil=ie0y1hbofj7S7M%2
92&usg=__lpIIAmRKEPMKAbtn-Ogdez3mYe8%3D&ved=0CCwQyjdqFQoTCLWGt7bjycYCFQYFrAodpq4Npw&
Isfandiyar fights with the dragon: http://kilyos.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~history/jalair.html
Required materials/supplies
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Separate copies of each primary source (approximately 4-6 copies of each source)
Primary source questions for students to provide an analytical written response
answer to (make enough copies so every student will receive each page of questions)
Vocabulary
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Ögödei
Genghis (Chinggis) Khan
Mongols
Yuan Empire
Golden Horde
Il-Khan
Khubilai Khan
Yams
Soldaia
Procedure
1. Students will come to class having read Chapter 9 (pp. 236 – 262) Discovering the
Global Past: A Look At The Evidence (Wiesner).
2. Have desks arranged into five (5) separate groups (Groups can be assigned or allowed
to form organically).
3. Distribute copies of one primary document to each group (enough copies for every
student in the group): Each group should have a different primary document.
4. Distribute the questions that are aligned with the primary document. The students in a
group will work on the same set of questions with the same primary document. (Note:
Each group will be working on different questions/primary sources)
5. Allow the students 10 minutes to discuss and write responses to the analytical
questions (this can be adjusted by a couple of minutes, depending on how the students
are discussing and/or responding to the questions).
6. When students are finished with the question, have them rotate numerically to the next
source. (Example: If a group is working on Source 4, they will then rotate to Source 5).
7. The students will leave the primary document (not take it with them), but will take
responses to the questions with them and not share with another group.
8. Repeat this process of rotating at approximately 10 minute intervals until each group of
students has analyzed and responded to each primary source and its corresponding
questions.
9. When students are finished reviewing the documents as a group, have a class
discussion of each primary source, using the questions as a guide. Evaluate
similarities and differences in the responses of each group. Provide further questions
and instruction to stimulate student understanding and analysis.
10. After discussing each primary source, have students turn in their written responses.
Assessment/evaluation
 Evaluate the dialogue of the students during group and whole class
discussion
 Assess the students’ written responses for each source.
Primary Source 1: From The Secret History of the Mongols
Originally from: The Secret History of the Mongols, trans. Francis Woodman Cleaves (Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982), pp. 141, 143-144, 186-187, 208-210.
Question 1: Who do you think wrote Source 1?
Question 2: Does it seem to offer the viewpoint of an “insider”?
Question 3: How does it portray Chingis Khan and his son Ögödei?
Primary Source 2: Selection from “A Journey to the West”
by Yelǖ Chucai
Originally from: Inscribed Landscapes: Travel Writings from Imperial China, trans. Richard E.
Strassberg (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), pp. 229-232.
Question 1: As a Khitan, he comes from another branch of Mongols. Does he seem a
warrior who glorifies in victory as a form of revenge?
Question 2: What does he imply by calling himself a “Lay Scholar of Profound Clarity”?
Question 3: What may have prompted his observation that “Samarkand is extremely
rich”?
Primary Source 3: Chinese-Style Portrait of Chinggis Khan
Question 1: Why was Chingis Khan’s image made to appear Chinese?
Question 2: What purpose would this serve?
Question 3: What could be the positive/negative effects of portraying him this way?
Primary Source 4: Güyük Khan’s Letter to Pope Innocent IV
Originally from: Mission to Asia: Narratives and Letters of the Franciscan Missionaries in Mongolia
and China in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, ed. Christopher Dawson (New York: Harper
and Row, 1966), pp. 85-86.
Question 1: This source shows one result of the improved contact made possible by the
Mongol rule. What does it tell about previous communication between Europe and East
Asia?
Question 2: How did Güyük react to the Pope’s effort in spreading religious ideas to the
Mongols?
Question 3: How does it portray Chingis Khan and his son Ögödei?
Primary Source 5: Isfandiyar Fights with the Dragon, Shahnama
Originally from: Sarai Albums, Tabriz, second half of 14th century, Hazine 2153, folio 157a.
Question 1: What does this depiction of Persians, dressed as Mongols, in a Chinese
landscape suggest was happening to elite tastes across the continent?
Question 2: Did this trend foreshadow the later rise of a common culture?