Strategies
K-W-L Chart
This is a graphic organizer for students to access what students already know. Traditionally the 'K' stands for 'know' as in: What do you know about the Roman Empire? However, in my classroom we call 'K': What do you think you know about the Roman Empire? By adding the word, think, this lowers the stakes for students to share information they already know about a given topic. The 'W' stands for "Want to know" as in: What do you want to know about the Roman Empire? Lastly, the 'L' stands for "Learned" as in: Now that we have completed this unit, what have you learned about the Roman Empire? This is a particularly useful question to ask at the end of a unit to informally assess what students are taking with them about the subject.
Political Cartoons
Students will analyze several American political cartoons on such issues as political corruption, unemployment, military spending, and urban decay to determine how they relate to similar issues that led to the collapse of the Roman Empire. The goal is for students to notice the entire cartoon, the picture, the captions, and to even notice what is missing so that upon closer examination they can find deeper meaning and especially uncover the hidden implications beyond surface value.
Think-Pair-Share
This is an effective strategy in enabling students to process their thoughts first on their own, then by sharing with a partner, and finally aloud with the class. This activity is particularly useful with helping students build confidence to share aloud their ideas in class. We will use Think-Pair-Share several times throughout this unit, especially in the beginning when students are analyzing political cartoons.
Similarities vs. Differences Graphic Organizer
As students analyze the political cartoons and read about the popular theories for the fall of Rome, it is important that students utilize a graphic organizer to record all of their observations, realizations, and opinions. By keeping all of their information in one organized location, not only does this help with their overall organizational skills, but it serves as an easy visual reference guide for everything they are learning. Eventually when students are asked to make a recommendation or formulate an opinion about the fate of the United States, this 'Similarities vs. Differences' graphic organizer becomes a quick reminder for them to easily use.
State of the Union/Community Address
After students have thoughtfully analyzed the political cartoons, have thoroughly been exposed to the ten popular theories on Rome's fall, and have carefully completed their 'Similarities vs. Differences' graphic organizer, they are now ready to make insightful recommendations for either their community or the entire United States in a State of the Union address. State of the Union speeches are an opportunity for a leader to give the lay of the land on the current state of affairs as well as to set goals for an upcoming period and make projections on future projects that can help achieve those goals.
In groups of four, students will work together to write a State of the Union/ Community speech and deliver the speech to the class. To ensure cooperative group work, assign each group member a role. The roles include: 1) Facilitator: He/she will make sure all students in the group participate equally and contribute ideas for the main points of the speech. He/she will also be responsible for delivering the speech in an audible manner. 2) Speech Writer: He/she will listen carefully to all shared ideas and will take notes on the most agreed upon and thoughtful ideas. These notes will later be transformed into their speech. 3) Speech Writer Assistant & Editor: He/she will work closely with the Speech Writer to produce a brief speech that reflects the groups' shared recommendations. He/she is mainly responsible for making final edits to the speech before delivery. 4) Visual Artist: He/she will create and draw a slogan that captures visually and written the main idea(s) in the speech
Classroom Debate
In their same groups of four, students will participate in a debate about the fate of the Unites States with the resolve being: The U.S. is doomed to fall into the trappings of Rome. Two students will be randomly chosen to argue the affirmative and two will argue the negative. Using their 'Similarities vs. Differences' graphic organizer, students will work with their partner (person at their table assigned to the same position) to list their key opening arguments in this debate. These partners will then predict what their opponents might raise as arguments and brainstorm a list of rebuttals to refute those statements. Once all pairs have their arguments and rebuttals prepared, the debate will begin. Randomly choose which position will begin and have one student from that position begin with their opening argument. The debate will go back and forth between both positions, with the debaters on each side taking turns responding. After the debate, debrief as a class to hear some strong arguments on both positions. Then, conduct a class vote to find out what the majority of students on their own now think about the fate of the U.S. in relation to Rome.
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