EDUC
709
Unit
Plan
Post
Classical Civilizations (500-1500ce)
I.
The main thread that ties the Post Classical world has to be the way trade
helped bring different ideas and objects throughout the known regions at this
time. Without trade and the different cultures intermingling, these things
would have never taken place. The unit plan encompasses the Byzantine Empire,
Dar Al Islam (Islamic World), Feudal Europe and China during the Sui/Tang/Song
periods which all fall under the years of 500-1500ce. Prior to this was the
discussion of the Greek and Roman city states during the ‘Classical
Civilizations’ along with the Han Dynasty in China. After this unit, the rise
of African kingdoms, empires and city states will be taught, then the
Mesoamerican empires during the Post Classical time period. In high schools
across New York State, Global I classes are learning about different regions of
the world in all different ways some either thematically or chronologically
from Neolithic ear until the age of Enlightenment and Absolutism. In White Plain High School in White Plains,
NY, one particular Global I class has learned all about these four particular
regions in the unit, ‘Post Classical Civilizations 500-1500ce.’ Usually these
students are in their freshman year of high school, with a background in world
history from 6th grade and a combined 7th and 8th
grade in American history. Different
students learn different ways so the type of language used in lessons has to be
taken into consideration. In the honors section of Global I for instance, there
is more difficult language and wording in a lot of the quizzes, tests and
material, but the content still stays the same. During this unit we have given
the students rigorous assignment which reflect the New York State standards for
Social Studies but also the NCSS standards, being able to hit all ‘10’ points
during lessons. The skills students bring into this class will help them take
different sources and artifacts and analyze
and evaluate them. They need to know how to identify and interpret maps and different diagrams, as well as illustrate the content through a variety
of ways which are explained further in the unit plan. These
seven lessons I have chosen from the Post Classical civilization unit talk
about the Byzantine and Islamic world, about feudal Europe and the
Sui/Tang/Song dynasties of China and finally a review lesson. Every day the NYS
standards of Social Studies are covered. Standard One covers history of the
United States and New York. This is talked about during our ‘Question of the
Day’ which ties local history and examples with the topic of the day/lesson and
is expressed in the student response. Standard Two focuses on World History, so
obviously the topic in a Global studies class falls under this standard. Three
consists of Geography; where the region is located and how it affects the
people who live there. Four covers Economics, so when we discuss political, cultural and economic developments
of the particular regions this too is touched upon. Finally, Standard Five
talks about civics, citizenship, and government which like Standard four, are
covered daily when we incorporate the full scope of the individual regions,
empires and civilizations because we adhere to the local customs, laws and
societies within these regions and the people who inhabit them. I think the
overall effectiveness of this unit hit the standards on a daily basis, by
covering the material in different forms and fashions (lecture, graphic
organizers, thesis writing, and collaborative work)
II.
Some of the assessments including multiply choice questions, a quiz, thesis
statements along with the graphic organizers, a unit test, and a DQB essay
rubric. These are some of the assessments that the students in the class will
see during any particular topic and unit. Almost every day some form of assessment will
accompany the lesson along with the reading and note taking the student’s
experience (Thesis on bottom of graphic organizer). During any particular
lesson, as the instructor, I engage the students in both verbal and written
responses and questioning to gain feedback to retention of knowledge and to
assess myself to see how effective
the lesson was going. I have to always keep myself aware if my audience loses
interest in the lesson and go back to recapture them. Some of these assessments
are quizzes and unit tests based on the information out of the text book,
handouts, power points, projects and other assignments. The common theme of
trade, cultural diffusion helped guide the political, economic and cultural aspects
we touched upon on a daily basis.
When students come into the classroom the
objectives are states clearly on the board, sometimes in the handouts as well. The
format for these topics are as followed. First, students will be identifying the different geographies of
the regions, will be analyzing and evaluating different cultural, economic,
and political developments on the areas being talked about. When the
information is processed through Power Points, graphic organizers,
self-generated work from students, they will be able to illustrate and eventually be assessed
on the material learned. Along with content objectives which were just
discussed, some of the language objectives would be to Read and look at information for each
civilization needed to fill out a maps as well as a graphic organizer page for
notes (and the text book accompanies the lessons/handouts). The students would
have to be able to break up into small groups to go around the room to look at
artifacts that will accompany their readings and notes depending on the
specific assignments. Usually collected at the end of most classes, a good
reflection is when the class has an open forum to reinforce the content
objective and any questions about homework and future assignments take up the
last few minutes.
III.
During instructional learning, I try to find how students can understand the
knowledge by meaningful Questions of the Day. This line of questioning causes
them to think about themselves and how they would feel or act with relation to
the topic being learned. I also take notice to students who might struggle or
excel greatly with material I’m providing. When it comes to struggling
students, maybe it’s a physical ability to overcome a language barrier or
sometimes just lack of focus. A lot of my students who have language barriers
sometimes will get printed or guided notes to help them along with the power
points. Available to all my students is 5th period, lunch and after
school extra help. When we do group work, we arrange the desks and room in a
way fitting for the lesson. During a review game this year, (Lesson 2/21) we
had the room split in two for the gender feud review game. When using artifacts
and comparing and contrasting different groups or regions we sometimes break
the class up into groups more than four to help regionalize the different
groups and have students concentrate on specific themes. Then we come together
and they generate the work in presentation form, on the board, on posters, etc.
For extra challenge in this class we
would offer during a quiz or unit test, more than the required number of thesis
statements, or on a DBQ to include all the documents instead of the
required ‘half plus one.’ During
lessons, I try to hit upon all different learning styles. Not only do I have
graphic organizers for writing and reading but hands on artifacts,
self-generated projects and work, and also skits, plays, raps/songs, and prayers
are different ways students can display the information depending on the
lessons. Students, who excel in the Regents Global class, might receive reading
and writing assignments that would be on the honors level. Their level of
acceleration will also be taken into consideration when it comes time for
assessments. They might find their rubric for DBQs will be more detailed such
as the ones for an honors or AP class. The content would stay the same but the
scrutiny of the grading and work given to them will be able to maintain a
higher degree of difficulty.
IV. The
effectiveness of this unit is clearly illustrated in the student produced work
in the appendices. These students would have to clearly state thesis depending
what was being evaluated or analyzed. One of the students has a PERSIAN chart
which is the first assignment for new topics because it accompanies a handout
as well as text book pages and outlines the entire topic/theme. The acrostic
PERSIAN, outlines political, economic, religion, social, intellectual arts,
near geography aspects of the topic. This is the foundation of the lessons and
is the starting point for student generated work. The standards were covered
because we use the PERSIAN chart and reference back to that continually during
future lessons under the same topic. When we assigned the DBQ essays, they
contain rubrics so students are able to have guidelines for their assignments.
(see Appendices) They can assess
themselves before they even had the assignment and that causes them to
self-reflect and gives them skills to be able to own the assignment and raise
the accountability level of the lesson. When it came to collection of
assignments, students as well as parents are privy to grades via an online
service provided by the district. Teachers enter assignments and people at home
can keep an eye on progression which allows teachers to clearly show their
grade book as well as a digital record of every
assignment that is handed in. When meeting with the individual students who
donated their work to my assignment, I asked them different questions about the
topics, about the work, how effective it was when it came time for the test,
and the majority of them said it wasn’t too difficult. One particular student
said sometimes the language affected him so it took him a little longer on
words he did not know. Another student who is currently in the process of
getting educational support through a CSE mentioned to me that she feels rushed
at times and gets anxiety from some of the material, but that is not limited to
just my class-it’s across all her subjects. I also met with Mr. Davis about
this student’s needs in class and we have made arrangements to have her sit in
certain locations which are better for her to concentrate, she attends lunch
and after school help with me or Mr. Davis and she also comes to us when we
have long term assignments for any one on one help that she might need. (This
is obviously open to any and ALL students). Even later on in the week I talked
to one of the students about how all of his classes are doing just to get a
grasp on the amount of work he is taking home and it turned out that just
Global and Math were giving him the most amount of outside work to do, so he
didn’t feel overwhelmed but knew that the closer to June it got the more work
he thought he was going to receive.
V.
When I look back at the assignments, the topics, the lessons, I think I am
happy with the way I presented the material and the way the students engaged
the topic. Yes, I did come into this unit after it started but I took the
examples and material from when I started until the unit test which I generated
with Mr. Davis. I found that the type of lessons we did not only nurtured a
foundation for the unit and regions being covered but it will help them when
they move on to Global II next year as sophomores, some even moving up to
Global II Advanced Placement, also taught by Mr. Davis. During the application
of lessons, certain days you need to make adjustments. Weather, snow days,
super storms, all come into play. For instance, every few Wednesdays at WPHS
there are Early Dismissal days. The periods are shorted by a few minutes and
the material is expedited. To alleviate any pressure and stress that this would
cause an instructor as well as a student, I don’t water down the material but
possibly split it up between two periods and make the lesson longer. This way
students who feel rushed have ample time to catch up and those who are on the
other end of the spectrum and finish rather quickly will have the opportunity
to start the following lesson’s work. The use of technology in the classroom
with smart board, power points and graphic organizers actually make the work
come alive. The students are able to see films, pictures, and other artifacts
to help understand the topics. When
students were given different assignment, sometimes the language that is used
for the honors class can hinder the production of a student with a lower
vocabulary bank. So some modifications I have made were providing extra work
banks, going over certain terms and words they might see on finals and other
assessments. If I were to revise the unit I might incorporate more visuals and
possible film about the spread of these cultures along trade routes that were
common to these Afro-Eurasian regions. I think the thing I took away from this
experience the most is the fact that I created the lesson with my master
teacher, we discussed different modifications for different groups and students
as well as tweaked any lessons that we felt went not so good, but kept things
in that we felt were extremely important when talking about the objectives and
lessons. The DBQ essays, the thesis and
other writing assessments cause students to bring a part of them into the
lesson besides just giving us back the information. We continue to use these
writing assessments to visually see where they are excelling and falling behind
but to also assesses ourselves on how we are presenting the material. As the
lessons continue, we will bring more and more essay writing into them. Besides
the daily thesis questions that we pose, the next few units we will also have
comparison, change over time, and thematic essays to complete.
VI.
Enclosed are examples of different student submitted assignments and I tried to
align them with the lessons I used as examples. During the unit, I was able to
keep track of student’s progression through different thesis assignments at the
end of the graphic organizers, with the daily multiple choice questions as well
as DBQ essay and unit test. I am able to visually see the progression of the
students. One of the students which
allowed me to use their work has driven their grades up in this class
tremendously. He has not only attended extra help sessions during his lunch
period but also has stayed after school for review sessions. I used three
different students who have all different abilities in their academic subjects.
As a whole I think the class, as well as the student did well on their
assessments even with adversity that some of them have with a language barrier.
As individuals, the three I chose presented the material in manners enclosed in
the appendix ranging from written assignments to quizzes and unit plan. Gender,
ethnicity and socioeconomic status will come into play when dealing with the
abilities of different students-any good educator knows this, but it’s our job
to facilitate a learning environment where all those biases are left at the
door. Another one of the students who I used work for has undergone different
testing and in the process of a CSE to acquire proper educational support for
the rest of her educational career. This
student has shown a digression between the third and fourth marking periods
this year but she continues to make strides to show improvement. The goals of
the unit are laid out previously when we talked about the continuities of trade
throughout the Post Classical world. As previously stated, the daily objectives
of this unit continue the theme of trade and development of political, cultural
and economic aspects of the post classical civilizations. The unit test, the
DBQ essay are summations of the different assignments and topics. Upon
completion of this unit, the students definitely showed progression in their
ability to retain the knowledge of the Post Classical world. When it comes time
for review for the final on June 7th, these students will have this
material at their disposal as well as the knowledge that me and Mr. Davis can
give to them. Since there is no Regents exam in the 9th grade we can
primarily focus on the in house final which was generated by the Global Studies
teachers as well as History Department chairperson.
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