I Came, I Saw, I Glogged

Dan Priest Monroe, Michigan Subject: World History Grade: 9 CCSS: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.1, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.2 Duration: Four 60-minute sessions Overview History classes often fall into the trap of overloading students with a constant stream of people, places, and things. These nouns can often run togetherespecially in World History, where an artificial language barrier makes many names seem interchangeable. On top of that pretty straightforward hurdle, the content of most eras is glossed over, losing the depth and complexity that could make history, you know, fun (or at least interesting). This lesson is designed to look at historical subjects with more curiosity. While students go through the steps of researching for this project, they will learn about their subject at a level that could never be superficial. Taking the time to discern over information, evaluate images, and carefully choose videos will reinforce their factual knowledge of the subject. Presenting and sharing their findings in an interactive way will also allow other students to enhance their own learning by reading, watching, and playing with the final products. From Theory to Practice The rise and fall of the Roman Empire is an essential part of understanding the geopolitical conflicts of today. It has been so romanticized over the yearsmany historical figures, great and small, have had their fair share of Hollywood filmsthat when it comes to teaching aspects of Roman society, its hard not to fall into the falsified narratives already out there. Students will come into this unit with misconceptions about Roman history, and it is the goal of this project to solidify the real stories. This project will also focus on students becoming experts on one aspect of the Roman Empire. Just like real historians, students cannot be expected to explore in-depth every single historical subjectthey are going to specialize in one field of study. Thats where Glogster comes in: Every student will be creating an interactive glog on one unique aspect of Roman history, exploring it from many perspectives. And as students are gaining expertise in different subjects, that means that knowledge can be shared through the class from one experts glog to another. Objectives: - Students will be able to o Construct a visual representation of main points and key words o Gather and analyze resources that deepen understanding of a topic o Interpret online resources for bias or validity o Understand the connections between past actions and current events Resources - Glogster.com - Exploring Ancient World Cultures (http://eawc.evansville.edu/ropage.htm) - Ancient History Sourcebook (http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/asbook09.asp)

Opening Question(s) (15 min.) - Three questions to respond to today: o How do you use Wikipedia? o What have you been told about Wikipedia by other teachers? o When is it okay to use Wikipedia? - Students will log into Stormboard and add at least two (2) stickies to predetermined spots in the field. They are encouraged to quietly read through other responses. - Afterwards, some thoughts are shared and commonalities are identified. If not naturally brought up in conversation, explain to students the value of Wikipedias cited sources. Guided Practice (20 min.) - Emphasize the enormity of the internet, and elaborate on where facts come from in history: archaeological, anthropological, and historical research. - Distribute URLs throughout the students so that the class has been split into thirds. Instruct students to follow the links and explore the websites at the other end. o A Concise Grammar of Feorran (http://www.lingweenie.net/feorran/feorran.html) o All About Explorers (http://allaboutexplorers.com/) o Save the Tree Octopus! (http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/) - Pose guiding questions as students individually interact with the websites. They should be looking for authors and references, as well as professionalism. - Bring the class back together and discuss the individual merits and detriments of each site. Gently explore what made the websites convincing fakes. - Ask students to apply this to previous projects or papers they have produced. Have they really thought about a websites value in this way? Discuss. Project Assignment (25 min.) - Recount to students how you prepared to teach them about Roman history. What resources did you turn to? How did you find them? Did you use Wikipedia? - Go into the list of nouns students are expected to recall for the upcoming test. Overwhelm them and purposefully acknowledge how hard doing history can be. - Explain that this final project is meant to help the review process. Show example of project (http://drpriest.edu.glogster.com/constantine/) and walk through the process of creating itincluding how pictures/videos were found and finding info sources. - Assign students to the historical subject that they will be creating a glog for, and have students log into Glogster. - In the remaining minutes of class, students should get accustomed to Glogsters interface by making a glog about what they already know about their piece of Roman history. This is a time to play and a time to quickly review their own understanding. - For homework, students should begin researching at home; they should fill their already know glog with potential resources to be reviewed the next day. Assessment This lesson begins the conversation on exploring resources. The project itself is presented in full in the next lesson, where expectations and a rubric are outlined for the final glog. The days spent working in class on the project will also reflect on the researching process; daily words of wisdom will be shared to make sure students are on the right track. After spending four days working in and outside of class on the glog, students will turn it in for a final grade. Glogs will then be shared briefly in front of the class, and then will live on in a devoted space on Edmodo, where all students can learn from each project at their own pace.