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St. Michael’s School
Unit 2 Plan
Unit Title: Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome
Grade Level: 9
Subject/Topic Area(s): Ancient History
Designed By: Kari Ellis
Time Frame/Date: Sept 11- Oct 20
Brief Summary of Unit:
The student will examine the antecedents, origins, development, and achievements of the
classical civilizations of Greece and Rome from 2000 B.C.E. to 500 C.E.
STAGE 1 – DESIRED RESULTS
Content Standard(s)/Benchmarks
Standard _3/11_:
Knowledge
3.1) Identify and explain the significance of achievements of Greeks in mathematics, science, philosophy, architecture, and the arts
and their impact on various peoples and places in subsequent periods of world history.
3.2) Analyze the major events of the wars between Persians and the Greeks, reasons why the Persians failed to conquer the Greeks,
and consequences of the wars for Greek civilization.
3.3) Compare and contrast the daily life, social hierarchy, culture, and institutions of Athens and Sparta; describe the rivalry between
Athens and Sparta; and explain the causes and consequences of the Peloponnesian War.
3.4) Describe the rise of Alexander the Great to power, the development and demise of his empire, and his legacy.
3.5) Describe Roman Republican government and society, and trace the changes that culminated in the end of the Republic and the
beginning of the Roman Empire.
3.6) Describe Roman achievement in law and technology and explain their impact on various peoples and places in subsequent periods
of world history.
3.7) Explain the origins of Christianity, including the lives and teachings of Jesus and Paul and the relationships of early Christians
with officials of the Roman Empire.
3.8) Analyze the causes, conditions, and consequences of the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire, including the
policies of Emperor Constantine the Great.
3.9) Explain the causes, conditions, and consequences of the decline and fall of the western part of the Roman Empire.
Skills
11.1) Distinguish valid arguments from fallacious arguments in historical interpretations.
11.3) Locate and analyze primary sources and secondary sources related to an event or issue of the past.
11.4) Formulate and present a position or course of action on an issue by examining the underlying factors contributing to that issue.
11.5) Investigate and interpret multiple causation in analyzing historical actions, and analyze cause-and-effect relationships.
11.7) Understand the meaning, implication, and impact of historical events and recognize that events could have taken other
directions.
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Essential Question(s)
What role did the Greeks play in shaping modern world history?
How did the major wars, fought by the Greeks, affect their civilization?
What influence did the Romans have on subsequent world civilizations?
What were the consequences of the rise and spread of Christianity?
STAGE 2 – ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
Performance Task
Key Criteria (for Performance Task)
Other Assessment Evidence
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Chart comparing early Greek Civilizations
Quiz on types of governments.
Poster comparing and contrasting daily life in the two city-states.
Discussion questions on Athens and Sparta.
Chart on Greek achievements
Opinion paper on Strength of the Persians
Timeline of the Persian Wars
News Broadcast
Manuscript for News Broadcast
Essay on Alexander the Great
DBQ on Ancient Greece Influencing America
Questions on Roman Republic
Saving the Roman Republic Activity
Poster on Roman Achievements
Quiz on Life and teaching of Jesus
Graphic Organizer on the fall of Rome
Unit Test
Student Self-Assessment and Reflection
STAGE 3 – LEARNING PLAN
-Ask students what they know about Ancient Greece.
-Have students look at the map on page 121 and discuss what characteristics about the geography of the area
might have made Greece become such a powerful and influential society? What characteristics might have
hindered its development?
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-Tell students Early Greece was broken up into a number of small City-States that were self governed cities
and their surrounding areas.
-Ask students why it might be that these City-States emerged in Greece? (Encourage them to think about the
geography of the area).
-Read pages 123-124 “Geography Shapes Greek Life”.
-Together read pages 128-131 “Athens Builds a Limited Democracy” and “Sparta Builds a Military State”
and discuss.
-Have students get into partners and begin to brainstorm the differences between life in early Athens and
Sparta.
*Tell students to bring in white poster board.
-Assign research chart which will be due in two weeks and write the following information on the board.
Each student must complete one research chart on identifying and explaining the significance of
achievements of Greeks in culture and arts, science and technology and government and philosophy, and
their impact on various peoples and places in subsequent periods of world history. Each student must choose
two important achievements under each category and should describe how it was used later in history.
Place a blank chart on the board and have students copy.
*Remind students about proper sourcing and bibliography.
-Handout worksheet on “Comparing Athens and Sparta” and read through the introductory paragraphs on
each city-state.
-Place class into groups of three or four and have them read over the two quotes on the worksheet. Have the
groups decide which paragraph most closely represents Athens and which represents Sparta and why.
-In groups create a poster, using symbols and pictures, comparing and contrasting daily life in each CityState. Each poster should use the following headings, daily life, social hierarchy, culture, and institutions.
-Have them answer the discussion questions at the bottom of the worksheet and hand in to be marked.
-Have students read the section on the Persian Empire in the text on pages 99-103 and begin to take down
notes for their opinion paper. Then write a 250 word (one page typed) opinion paper about why the Persians
were a formidable enemy of the Greeks and should have won the Persian Wars. Mention things like their
leaders and their armies and technologies, and their geographical position etc.
*Provide students with two sources from EBSCO that discuss the Persian Wars and provide them with
information to find the sources themselves.
-Ask students if they have ever heard of a marathon? Ask them what they think that is. Tell them that the
term came from the battle of Marathon during the Persian Wars.
-Ask students what they know about the Persian Wars?
-Together read pages 131-133 “The Persian Wars”
-Using the text have the students create a timeline of major events in the Persian Wars.
*Tell students to bring in information on the Persian Wars.
-Put class into groups of 4 and have them film an 8-10 minute news broadcast (including a written script)
explaining why the Persian were unable to defeat the Greeks and what positive outcomes this war had for
the Greece. (Students will use the internet and their computers to create and record a movie that we will
show in class using the projectors).
-Work on News broadcast.
-Present News Broadcasts using Media Player.
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-Have students read pages 134-136 and thoroughly describe, in their notes, five reasons why this time period
was know as the “Golden Age of Athens”.
-In order to share reasons the class chose have class put their reasons into a point form list and then stand up
and have one person read out their list. Then ask another student, etc. Tell the students that once the five
reasons they wrote about were mentioned they need to sit down.
-Have students read “The Peloponnesian Wars” pages137-138 and “Philosophers Search for Truth” Pages
138-139 and answer the following questions 3, 4, 5, and 8.
-Complete a homework check
-Together read and discuss pages 142-145 “Alexander’s Empire” focusing on the map on page 144. Have
students answer questions 3-5 and 7.
-Complete homework check
-Have students write an essay in class on whether or not they feel Alexander deserves the title “Great”.
-Have them choose three reasons why and have them use quotes from the text to back up their opinion.
-Have students read “The Spread of Hellenistic Culture” pages 146-149 and make notes under each of the
headings examining the far reaching influences of Alexander the Greats Empire.
-DBQ’s- Have students complete the DBQ on how Ancient Greece has influenced America.
-Handout fill in the blanks worksheet for Ancient Rome and have the students work on their own for 10
minutes filling in as many of the blanks as they can.
-Then have students get with a partner and share what they have and attempt to fill in more blanks. Allow
approximately 10 minutes.
-In partners have students flip through the text to see how many other answers they can find, correcting the
ones that are wrong.
-Have students complete for homework.
-Review the fill in the blanks introductory activity.
-Tell the students that the entire “Holy Roman Empire”, one of the largest and most influential empires the
world has ever seen, really started with the creation of one small city called Rome.
-Have students turn to page 152 and review the map of the “Roman World” with them.
-Ask students what benefits there was to establishing Rome where they did?
-Ask students what benefits the Roman Republic had?
-Tell students that Ancient Roman history is really broken up into three sections, The Roman Kingdom
(753-509 BCE), The Roman Republic (509-27 BCE), and The Roman Empire (27 BCE-476 CE).
-Together with students read pages 155-156 “The Origins of Rome”.
-Together read “The Early Republic” pages 156-157 and discuss.
-Have the students make notes on the “Comparing Republican Governments” chart on page 157 (only the
Rome side of the chart).
-In partners have them answer questions 3 and 4 on page 159.
-Handout “Government Under the Roman Republic” handout and read over together.
-Have the students answer the 5 questions and hand in.
-Collect questions and review answers.
-Turn to page 158 “Rome Spreads its Power” and read together as a class.
-Have students answer the chapter review questions 5-8.
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-Complete a homework check.
-Tell students that there were many reasons for the collapse of the Roman Republic due to its increasing
wealth and expanding territory.
-Handout “Saving the Roman Republic” worksheet and have students get into groups of three or four and
complete.
-Review and discuss student solutions to problems.
-Have students read pages 160-162 “The Republic Collapses” and make notes under each of the headings.
-Tell students that the collapse of the Roman Republic lead to the rise of the Roman Empire.
-Ask students if they know any ways that the Empire was different from the Republic?
-Emperors rule (Dictatorships).
-Empire greatly expanded (new customs and cultures incorporated)
-Together read “A Vast Roman Empire” and “The Roman World” pages 162-165 and discuss.
-Answer questions 3-8.
-Complete homework check.
-Handout “What Have the Romans Done for Us?” and review Roman achievements.
-Tell students that they need to choose one of the technological achievements mentioned on the handout and
create a poster showing the 5 W”s (what it is, who created it, when it was created, where it was created, why
it was created, and finally how it has affected subsequent periods of world history).
-Give students a timed writing activity by giving them 10 minutes to write down everything they know
about the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.
-Have students line up at the front of the room to share some of what they know with the class. Each
student will say one thing and then it will move onto the next student. Once a student can no longer add to
the information they will sit down until everyone is eventually seated again.
-Together read “Life and teachings of Jesus” page 168-169 and have them add any bits of relevant
information to their writings.
-Give brief quiz on the Life and teachings of Jesus”
-Together read “Christianity Spreads through the Empire” and “A World Religion” pages 169-172 and
answer questions 3-8.
-Collect posters.
-Tell students that not all historians agree on the extent to which the Christians were persecuted and that
some accounts vary greatly.
-Handout “Christianity and the Roman Empire”.
-Have students read the handout and highlight the passages in the text that seem to disagree with the widely
held belief that Christians were terribly persecuted throughout the Roman Empire until the time of
Constantine.
-Share some of the student’s highlighted sections and discuss.
-Read pages 173-176 “”The Fall of the Roman Empire” and discuss.
-Have students answer questions 3-8.
-Have the students write a paragraph explaining what they think life would be like today if Jesus never
existed.
-Have students create a graphic organizer, such as a mind, map using the “Multiple Causes of the fall of the
Roman Empire” showing the connections between causes.
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-Have students choose 5 of the causes of the downfall of the Western Roman Empire and, using 5
paragraphs, explain why Rome was unable to rectify, or fix each of these problems. Also add one way that
they feel each problem could have been solved.
-DBQ’s- Read “Different Perspective: The Fall of the Roman Empire” on page 177 and orally answer the
questions.
-Review for Test
-Unit Test on Ancient Greece
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