Subject: Global studies
Grade Level: 9
Materials: Computers with internet access, PowerPoint, LCD projector, aligns with Prentice Hall _World History: Connections to Today_
About: Students find artifacts online that represent the different features of civilization for one of several ancient river civilizations (Egypt, Indus River and Yellow River). They upload an image of the artifact into a PowerPoint presentation, then type in their analysis of the artifact and how it reflects that aspect of civilization. Then groups share their presentations to other students who studied other civilizations. Students review the features of civilizations in general and information about the ancient river civilizations in detail.
Students create PowerPoint presentations highlighting features of different ancient river civilizations (Egypt, Indus River and Yellow River), then share these projects with classmates who studied other civilizations.
Because students are studying different civilizations, there is an aspect of choice, which is important for adolescents. Motivation is heightened because students know they will be teaching their classmates about their civilization. Student have the opportunity to study one civilization in depth, while the share ensure they have a passing familiarity with all the ancient river civilizations.
This could be used in middle school or even elementary school as well, since the starting point is images rather than text.
| Students will be able to list the features of a civilization. |
| Students will be able to analyze artifacts. |
| Students will be able to describe features of ancient river civilizations. |
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| Day 1: Overview of Ancient Civilizations/Artifact Analysis |
| Students will be able to use captions to determine an artifact's function. |
| Students will be able to classify artifacts according to the 8 Features of Civilization. |
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| Review the 8 Features of Civilization: Cities, Organized Governments, Complex Religions, Job Specialization, Social Classes, Art and Architecture, Public Works, Writing |
| Introduce 3-column notes for analyzing artifacts: What I see/What it is/Feature of Civilization. |
| Emphasize that in most non-fiction sources, captions can help students determine the object’s function. Model with ziggurat on p. 36 of textbook (or other artifact). |
| Have students scan pictures of artifacts from ancient river civilizations and captions, taking notes on artifacts' function and which feature of civilization it shows. |
| Have students vote which civilization they'd like to study further. |
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| Day 2: Introduction to PowerPoint |
| Day 4: Jigsaw: Learning about Ancient Civilizations from Classmates' Projects |
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Morgan Hall
mehall1027@gmail.com
Henry Street School for International Studies
220 Henry St. 4th Floor
New York, NY 10002
Morgan Hall began teaching as a NYC Teaching Fellow at P.S. 16 in Brooklyn, where she taught 6th grade and received her MS at St. John's University. She then became a founding teacher of the Henry Street School for International Studies, where she has taught 6th grade English/Language Arts and 9th and 10th grade global studies. She is an adjunct professor at the Steinhardt School of Education at NYU. Prior to moving to NYC, Morgan received her BA from Harvard, where she volunteered with the Mission Hill After-School Program. She was also an environmental educator with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Important documents for this lesson plan.
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