Context
I intend for this unit to be taught in my 9th grade Honors World Civilizations course at a magnet high school in New Haven, Connecticut. The class periods are 82 minutes long and meet every other day. The course is designed to serve as an overview of world history, with a specific focus on ancient world cultures. That focus is geared to align with the school's English curriculum for 9th graders.
The course centers on improving social studies skills, especially that of essay writing, in addition to teaching history. Throughout the year my students are expected to write a number of formal essays, usually two to three per quarter, in the interest of preparing them for the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT), which they take in their sophomore year. The CAPT requires a great deal of writing and so I focus on this important skill.
My students are also exposed to a number of philosophers, and two comparisons of philosophers throughout the course. In our unit on China we will compare the works of Lao Tzu to that of Confucius, and in our unit on Greece we will compare the works of Aristotle and Plato. Though my students will have a limited background in philosophy and the comparison of philosophers, I do not think this kind of background is required to make use of this unit.
In the New Haven curriculum this subject matter has particular relevance in that this unit will be taught as the capstone of our course. The schedule of courses in New Haven requires that students take World Civilizations in their freshman year, and U.S History 1 and 2 in their sophomore and junior years respectively. I therefore seek to leave my World Civilizations students with an overview of history through the Renaissance and into the Enlightenment so that they are poised to begin U.S. History 1.
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