Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

A Lesson Plan on Alexander the Great and Hellenism

Posted on July 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

If you’ve been following along from top to bottom, you’ll know that this is the eleventh (twenty-second if you count the interstitial quotes) and final post of an eleven-lesson global studies unit on the ancient world. Just to remind you, the first lesson in this run is “The First of Two Lessons on Sumer.”

So, now let’s move on to the last, which is this lesson on Alexander the Great and Hellenism. I think this is another two-day lesson, so I include two context clues worksheets, the first on the verb dominate (it’s used both intransitively and transitively), and the the second on the noun dominion.

Here is the reading on Alexander the Great and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that are the primary work of this lesson. If you have English language learners or emergent readers in your class, this differentiated version of the work for this lesson might be more appropriate for you use. The reading is a bit shorter and I’ve edited it to include more familiar words for students.

OK! That’s it. Eleven global studies lessons on the ancient world. I hope they serve you well.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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A Lesson Plan on Athens and Sparta’s Contest for Control of the Ancient World

Posted on July 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a lesson plan on the contest between Sparta and Athens for control of the ancient world, the penultimate lesson in the eleven-lesson unit I currently endeavor to get out for distribution on Mark’s Text Terminal. Because I anticipated this lesson enduring for two days, I included two Cultural Literacy worksheets in the folder, one on the Peloponnesian War and another on pantheism.

There are also two sets of readings and worksheets for this lesson, which means I needed at some point to differentiate of a student or even a whole class. In any case, here are the primary reading and its worksheet; and, finally, here are secondary reading (slightly shortened) and the second, differentiated worksheet.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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A Lesson Plan on Periclean Athens

Posted on July 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

Moving right along, here is a lesson plan on Periclean Athens. Because, like many of the lessons in this run of posts, I anticipated this going into a second day, I included two context clues worksheets with this lesson, the first on the noun architecture and the second on the noun legacy. Here is the worksheet with a reading and comprehension questions that stands as the work central to this lesson.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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A Lesson Plan on the Phoenicians

Posted on July 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

Another day, back at it. Here is a lesson plan on the Phoenicians those (vanished) traders and explorers par excellence.

I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the verb accumulate, and N.B. that it is used both intransitively and transitively. In the event the lesson spills into a second day, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Carthage, the city of the Phoenicians, for round 2.

As in many of these global studies lesson, I accumulated at least a secondary worksheet for the lesson. So, here is the primary version of the worksheet and here is the secondary version, edited for length and complexity.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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A Lesson Plan on Cyrus the Great and the Persian Empire

Posted on July 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

Next up: a lesson plan on Cyrus the Great and the Persian Empire. Like the previous lesson on Hammurabi’s Code, this one includes a trove of differentiated documents.

Let’s start with the do-now exercises, which for this lesson are two Cultural Literacy worksheets: the first is first is on xenophobia and the second is on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Now onto the documents that constitute the principal work of this lesson–there are two sets. Here the primary reading on Cyrus the Great along with its vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. There is only the slightest difference between the primary reading and this version of it, but this worksheet is shorter to attend it. I imagine (it has been a while) that I prepared the second versions of these documents for one student, but I cannot say that for sure.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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A Lesson Plan on Hammurabi’s Code

Posted on July 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

OK, here is a lesson plan on Hammurabi’s Code. It looks like every version of this lesson I wrote is in this folder, so here are all the documents I’ve used to teach this material over time.

First the do-now exercises: here is a context clues worksheet on the verb censure and another on the noun chaos.

Next, the primary documents. Here is first reading on Hammurabi’s Code along with its accompanying worksheet. This is same reading in a second, edited and simpler version of the same reading with its similarly simplified worksheet. Finally, here is a third and even shorter reading and worksheet.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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A Lesson Plan on Assyria and Babylon

Posted on July 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a lesson plan on Assyria and Babylon. To open this lesson, for some reason, I arranged three context clues worksheets. The first is on the adjective civil; the second is on the noun civilization, and here is one more on the noun coalition. Finally, here is the reading and comprehension questions that are at the center of this lesson.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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A Lesson Plan on the Characteristics of Empires

Posted on July 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

Moving right along, here is a lesson plan on identifying the characteristics of empires. I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet worksheet on the noun era. In the event the lesson goes into a second day, I use this this Cultural Literacy Worksheet on the Nile River. Finally, here is the worksheet that is the principal labor of this lesson.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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The Second of Two Lessons on Sumer

Posted on July 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is the second of two lessons on the ancient civilization of Sumer. I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the noun diaspora—a nice solid noun for whose meaning students have asked after repeatedly over the years. Finally, here is the worksheet at the center of this lesson.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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The First of Two Lessons on Sumer

Posted on July 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

Starting with this post, and going up from here for a total of eleven documents posts (twenty-two if you count the interstitial quotes), I will publish an entire global studies unit. As I mentioned previously, especially below, where I posted the bulk of another global studies unit, I have, over the years, written and rewritten a number of global studies units as the New York State Global History and Geography Regents Examination changed. For this unit, I can’t remember, to paraphrase Lillian Hellman, how I cut the curriculum to fit that year’s fashion, only that I know that I changed these almost every year for ten years.

And, I am sorry to say, some of this isn’t exactly my best work. Units and lessons grow and mature over time. But when one must change the basic content or them every year (and I sometimes needed to do this for the needs of students, which is another story, and which I am much happier to do), units and lessons never have a chance to deepen, to mature. That loss of time to develop is the thing that primarily afflicts this unit. As I rewrite them, I kept the do-now exercises intact, so as I post these, you may see some repetition.

I considered throwing this material into the digital dumpster, but I can’t bring myself to do that. And, because I probably can continue to blog at the rate I do and not use up the storage I purchase from WordPress for this site for about 100 years, I don’t need to scrimp on uploading documents. Also, I’ve learned the hard way about throwing things away: the minute I do, I want or need them.

So, without further ado, here is first of two lessons on Sumer. Like another version of this lesson, I opened this one with this context clues worksheet on the verb banish; in the event that this lesson goes into a second day, here is another context clues worksheet, this one on the noun age, in the sense of “a period of time dominated by a central figure or prominent feature.” Finally, here is the worksheet with a reading and comprehension questions that is at the center of this lesson.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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