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Teaching the Empires

Jason Manning

Each year I pull material from the origins course to cover more of the Empires in my Big History course, however each year am I frustrated with the method I use to cover that much material.  I never really feel that the students know the material well.  Does anyone have any suggestions for how to cover so much ground other than the classic jigsaw lesson?  Looking for help...

Parents

  •  this year I used the new articles on agrarian societies because they are all written following the same structure: Geography & Environment, Political Structure, Culture, Society, and Decline & Transformation. Each section includes a big question, which I asked my students to respond at home in preparation for a class discussion. In class I explained and deepened some of their characteristics. Then I paired civilizations for each of the sections I teach for my students to complete the Comparing Civilizations activity. 

    For a summative assessment I gave them a test and finally I concluded the unit with the Museum Project. This was the best part where creativity and fun came hand in hand.

           

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  •  this year I used the new articles on agrarian societies because they are all written following the same structure: Geography & Environment, Political Structure, Culture, Society, and Decline & Transformation. Each section includes a big question, which I asked my students to respond at home in preparation for a class discussion. In class I explained and deepened some of their characteristics. Then I paired civilizations for each of the sections I teach for my students to complete the Comparing Civilizations activity. 

    For a summative assessment I gave them a test and finally I concluded the unit with the Museum Project. This was the best part where creativity and fun came hand in hand.

           

Children
  • in reply to Laura Massa

     , these photos are outstanding! I bet just a fraction of the amazing nature of the real event!

    I am curious about your assessment structure. What sort of "test" did you give as your "summative" assessment? Do you always give a traditional test when you already have a performance opportunity, shared construction of the comparison activity, and a class discussion?

  • in reply to Donnetta Elsasser

     yes, I always include a unit test for each threshold, regardless of the activities we do during the unit. Tests contain multiple choice exercises and several short essay questions using stimuli such as tables, a short article, charts, images, etc. where students elaborate a response using evidence to respond to the prompt.