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Theresa L.

Abernathy

FRIT 7430: Instructional Design

Stage 3, Understanding by Design

Fall 2011

Title of Unit

Ancient Rome and Early Christianity

Grade Level

10

Standard: SSWH3 The student will examine the political, philosophical, and cultural interaction of Classical Mediterranean societies from 700 BCE to 400 CE. c. Analyze the contributions of Hellenistic and Roman culture; include law, gender, and science. d. Describe polytheism in the Greek and Roman world and the origins and diffusion of Christianity in the Roman world. e. Analyze the factors that led to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Understandings: Students will understand that: specific events led to the creation of the Roman Empire. the creation of the Roman Empire transformed Roman government, society, economy, and culture. Christianity arose in Roman-occupied Judea and spread throughout the Roman Empire. Romans developed many ideas and institutions that became fundamental to Western civilization.

Essential Questions: Overarching Questions: In what ways do you see Roman influence in todays society? Why was religion so important to the Romans then and is it just as important today? Why is this time period such an important period in history? Why did the Roman Empire Topical Questions: What were the teachings of Jesus to his Apostles? How were Jesus teachings at odds with Roman values and religious ideas? How does the Roman form of government compare to that of the U.S.? Why were the invasions of

decline? What lessons could we learn about their decline today?

the Germanic tribes so devastating to the Roman Empire? What were the main internal causes of the empires decline?

Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences


Week 1 Type week 1 activities here (use page 26 of the UbD text as an example) Monday: 1. (H) Student created music video of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar from past semesters. The use of music with content will grab a students attention and also foreshadow what they will be doing in the coming weeks. 2. (W) Students will create a pre-content quiz to examine what they think they know about a subject prior to unit discussions. This quiz is passed along to their peers throughout the unit and then re-evaluated at the end to see how many concepts or ideas were correct. 3. (W) Study guides for the unit will be given out that outlines key terms and concepts. Tuesday: 4. (E) Discussion/lecture on Roman culture and contributions to todays societies. Students will engage in active learning and participate in the class discussion. 5. (W, E) A & E Biography: Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. Students will view the video and discuss their lives at the conclusion. Wednesday: 6. (O) Students will create posters outline similarities between Roman democracy and the U.S. government using either a Venn diagram or a compare/contrast chart. 7. (E) Primary reading of The Gallic War by Julius Caesar, followed by a writing prompt to discuss strengths and weaknesses of the Romans and the power of Caesar.

Thursday: 8. (T, O) In small groups, students will be assigned an ancient Roman structure to design and build in one class period on Friday. They will be given class time on Thursday to research the structure in class using computers and to brainstorm with their group the best method to build this structure in the time frame. Guidelines on allowed materials will be given and every group has to use the same materials. This activity takes careful planning, teamwork, and problem-solving.

Friday: 9. (E2, R) Students will build the structure in class using the required materials. At the conclusion of the elapsed time, they will present their structure to the class and explain details about their structure. The class will vote on the best and give feedback.

Week 2 Type week 2 activities here (use page 26 of the UbD text as an example) Monday: 10. (E) Discussion/lecture on important Roman leaders and the origins of Christianity. This will be followed up with a Q & A session on why these people are important. 11. (E) Students will complete a world religions chart which outlines the big 5 religions (Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Judaism) including their origins and key beliefs. Tuesday: 12. (E) Students will develop a list of research topics after reading the chapters in the unit and narrow down a choice of one in which they will be researching and creating an informational website. 13. (T, E) Students will be using Weebly to create an informational website. This assignment has specific guidelines that students must meet and must be published live on the

Internet. These will be peer-reviewed and evaluated for comprehension of subject matter. Wednesday: 14. (T,E) Computer lab time to research and design the websites (to be presented next week). Thursday: 15. (E) Role-play the part of Christian missionaries to discuss how they used this new religion to appeal to so many. Create a dialogue or short skit to predict what words they may have used. 16. (E) Piggy-backing on the previous activity, have students choose sides to debate polytheism versus monotheism in the Roman empire 2000 years ago. Friday: 17. (T,E) Creative writing assignment: Roman newspaper. Now that Caesar has been assassinated, students will write either an article detailing the events or his obituary. The writing may be biased towards either Caesar or his assailants as many journalists usually were then.

Week 3

Type week 3 activities here (use page 26 of the UbD text as an example) Monday: 18. (E) Students will hold a round-table discussion in which two scenarios will be discussed: the senators debating whether to kill Julius Caesar or the disciples trying to decide how to best defend Jesus against the Romans. This activity will require the students to place themselves in the shoes of those who had to really face those choices. 19. (E) Students will go to Google Maps and find the interactive map of the expanding Roman Empire and trace this expansion on their own maps using color-coded legends. This will show how the empire expanded rapidly and then declined over several hundred years.

Tuesday: 20. (T,O) Students will create a music video as an electronic travel brochure using Windows Movie Maker or iMovie. They must find pictures and information to show the culture and contributions of the Roman Empire. This activity is meant to bring this unit together.

Wednesday: 21. (T) Website and videos are due to finalize this unit. Students will view others and give feedback to their peers. Projects will be graded per the administered rubrics to check for subject comprehension. Thursday: 22. (R) As a review, students will be divided into small groups and given a list of key terms and concepts to create a version of a review game similar to Taboo. They will list several key characteristics to use to describe their terms and the top 3 will go on the taboo list. 23. (R) As a class, we will play this game as the groups exchange their words and clues. This is played in the way that Taboo is played and meant for the students to review key terminology from the unit in preparation for the final assessment of the unit.

Friday: 24. (E2) Students will take a test which will be comprised of multiple-choice, short-answer, map, and essay questions covering the Roman Empire and content of this unit. (See attached document for post-test).

Notes to the Instructor Use this area, if needed, to explain to the instructor how your planned activities above satisfy specific elements of the scoring rubric. The above lesson plans are designed for 55 minute classes like we have at my high school. The activities were created to allow for alternative assessments to account for the multiple learning styles and in attempt to differentiate for multiple intelligences. In parentheses, the WHERETO elements in the activities are designated by their corresponding letter. Gardners Entry Points are designated below and correspond with the number of their respective activity. Narrational Entry Point: 5, 7, 15, and 17 Logical-Quantitative Entry Point: 8 Foundational Entry Point: 6, 11, & 13 Aesthetic Entry Point: 20 Experiential Entry Point: 15, 16, & 18

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