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How do you choose which ancient civilizations to teach and what key points to focus on for each?

Drew Fortune

It's time for Era 3 in my classroom, and I have about 14 class days (including an assessment day) to teach this Era (I am using the older Era pacing this year). I always run into the issue of whether to spend about a day on a major ancient civilization or have a PBL where the students explore ONE ancient civilization in huge detail. I have experimented with both and still feel the whole picture is left out no matter where I go. 

Parents

  • Hi  ! I teach BHP, but also cover ancient civilizations in the Spring. My students do have WHP in the 9th grade before having BHP in the 10th grade, so there is some prior knowledge there. But- I let my students choose which civilization they would like to work on for a civilization project we work on as a class. I have 8 small groups in each of my classes, so we get to learn about 8 different civilizations through student presentations. I let students choose from the OER civilization options in BHP. 

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  • Hi  ! I teach BHP, but also cover ancient civilizations in the Spring. My students do have WHP in the 9th grade before having BHP in the 10th grade, so there is some prior knowledge there. But- I let my students choose which civilization they would like to work on for a civilization project we work on as a class. I have 8 small groups in each of my classes, so we get to learn about 8 different civilizations through student presentations. I let students choose from the OER civilization options in BHP. 

Children
  • in reply to Adriane Musacchio

    Thanks for sharing—that’s so close to what I’m doing this semester, too! I have my students choose a civilization and work in small groups to dive into their research and presentations so we get this wonderful spread of ancient societies, just like you. After that, we loop back, and they pair up to do an “Autopsy of an Empire” based on one of their classmates' chosen civilizations. It’s been an amazing way for them to build on each other’s work and see how these societies connect and compare. Thanks again for the inspiration—your approach sounds fantastic!