21st Century Lessons

The Geography of Ancient Rome

Primary Lesson Designer(s):

Rebecca Bourke

1

2

This project is funded by the American Federation of Teachers.

3

*1st Time Users of 21st Century Lesson:Click HERE for a detailed description of our project.

21st Century Lessons – Teacher Preparation

• Spend AT LEAST 30 minutes studying the Lesson Overview, Teacher Notes on each slide, and accompanying worksheets.

• Set up your projector and test this PowerPoint file to make sure all animations, media, etc. work properly.

Please do the following as you prepare to deliver this lesson:

• Feel free to customize this file to match the language and routines in your classroom.

4

Lesson Objective By the end of the lesson, students should be able to name some specific positive and negative effects that Italy’s geography had on ancient Roman civilization, and should especially make connections to Rome’s military power and expansion.

Student-Friendly Objective: Students will be able to explain how the geography of Italy affected ancient civilization there.

Lesson Description Students will start by reviewing the geography of Greece, which is frequently studied before Rome (another civilization can be substituted). Then students view a slideshow of the Italian peninsula and infer pros and cons of living there. Finally, students mingle around the room with additional readings about important geographical features of the area and sum up why Italy is conducive to expansion and empire building.

Lesson Overview (1 of 4)

5

Lesson Vocabulary •Geography – the study of the Earth (land, water and climate)•Geographical features – components of the Earth, things that make up the Earth (ex: bay, mountain, river)•Peninsula – a piece of land with water on three sides•Plain – a broad, flat, fertile area of land•Quarry – an open air mine from which humans can dig rocks

Materials •A class set of handouts•A class set of the Give one / Get one cards (see handouts), precut and shuffled

Common Core State Standard

MA 6.36 Explain how the geographical location of ancient Rome contributed to the shaping of Roman society and the expansion of its political power in the Mediterranean region and beyond.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7 Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

Lesson Overview (2 of 4)

6

Scaffolding Supports for struggling students include:•Pairing visual images with written and spoken information•Flexible group work•Teacher check-ins

Enrichment Enrichment objectives: •Students will be able to infer author bias and provide textual evidence to support their ideas.•Students will be able to infer the author’s purpose in a text.

Students who are ready for an additional challenge can reach towards these objectives by completing the challenge reading included in the handouts.

Online Resources for Absent Students

•Google Earth – If the teacher provides a list of places covered in this lesson, the student at home can search for them in Google Earth to see what they look like and make inferences from them.

Lesson Overview (3 of 4)

7

Lesson Overview (4 of 4)

Before and After This lesson makes sense after a lesson on mapping the important places related to ancient Rome to ensure students are familiar with some of the names that will appear in this lesson.

This lesson helps to set up the study of how Rome expanded into an empire over time.

Topic Background Google Earth is not only great for showing the natural geography of Rome, but some of the man-made features of the ancient city as well. More information is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqMXIRwQniA

Warm Up

OBJECTIVE: Students will be able to explain how the geography of Italy affected ancient civilization there.

Agenda

8

Review: What are some geographical features that made settlement in ancient Greece difficult? Write as many geographical features as you can. Be able to explain why you picked them.

Warm Up

OBJECTIVE: Students will be able to explain how the geography of Italy affected ancient civilization there.

Agenda

9

How does Italy’s geography compare to

Greece’s geography?

Agenda:

1) Warm Up – Remember Greece? 2) Launch – Sightseeing tour of Italy’s landscape

3) Explore – Rome’s Geography Give One / Get One

4) Summary – Big ideas

5) Practice – Think like a conqueror

6) Assessment – Ticket to Leave

10

OBJECTIVE: Students will be able to explain how the geography of Italy affected ancient civilization there.

Launch – Italy in the Mediterranean

Agenda

11

As you see the pictures of the slideshow, think:

What effect(s) would these geographical features have on the ancient Romans?

Launch – The Alps Mountains

Agenda

12

Elevation (height) of the Alps in meters.Too hard to cross?

Launch – The Apennine Mountains

Agenda

13

What do you notice about the mountain tops?

What do you notice about

Rome’s elevation?

Launch – Italy’s Rivers, the Tiber River

Agenda

14

What do you notice about the land in river valleys?

Explore – Rome Geography Give One / Get One

15

Agenda

Directions:

• You will receive 1 card with important information about Rome’s or Italy’s geography. Read and understand your card.

• Record what you learned as a pro or a con on your T chart.

• With your card and your T chart, stand up and move around to other students.

• Trade information with other students. Explain your card to them (“Give One”), and then hear what they have to say (“Get One.”) Record their new information to your T chart.

• Repeat!

Explore

16

Agenda

Geography of Italy

Pros Cons

Marble quarriesMarble is a stone that can be carved without shattering. There are a few places to get marble in Italy, though carving large enough pieces out is difficult work.

If they control the quarries, the Romans can use the marble for sculptures and buildings.

The Romans will have to work very hard to get the marble, or use some expense to get people to mine the marble for them.

Explore – Rome Geography Give One / Get One

17

Agenda

Directions:

• You will receive 1 card with important information about Rome’s or Italy’s geography. Read and understand your card.

• Record what you learned as a pro or a con on your T chart.

• With your card and your T chart, stand up and move around to other students.

• Trade information with other students. Explain your card to them (“Give One”), and then hear what they have to say (“Get One.”) Record their new information to your T chart.

• Repeat!

Explore

18

Agenda

Geography of ItalyPros Cons

Summary – Big ideas

19

Agenda

The geography of the land a group of people settles in greatly influences how successful that group can become.

Italy’s land and water gave the ancient Romans some significant benefits in building their civilization.

Practice – Think like a conqueror

20

Agenda

Now that you know more about the geography of Italy…

1) How did the land and water of Italy help the ancient Romans to expand their territory?

2) What about the land and water did they have to overcome to expand?

Assessment

21

Agenda

Ticket to Leave(Put your name on it!)

What 3 geographic features do you think helped the ancient Romans the most?

List them AND explain why you picked them.

The goal of 21st Century Lessons is simple: We want to assist teachers, particularly in urban and turnaround schools, by bringing together teams of exemplary educators to develop units of high-quality, model lessons. These lessons are intended to:

• Support an increase in student achievement; • Engage teachers and students; • Align to the National Common Core Standards and the Massachusetts curriculum

frameworks;• Embed best teaching practices, such as differentiated instruction; • Incorporate high-quality multi-media and design (e.g., PowerPoint); • Be delivered by exemplary teachers for videotaping to be used for professional

development and other teacher training activities; • Be available, along with videos and supporting materials, to teachers free of charge via the

Internet. • Serve as the basis of high-quality, teacher-led professional development, including mentoring

between experienced and novice teachers.

21st Century LessonsThe goal…

29

Directors:Kathy Aldred - Co-Chair of the Boston Teachers Union Professional Issues CommitteeTed Chambers - Co-director of 21st Century LessonsTracy Young - Staffing Director of 21st Century LessonsLeslie Ryan Miller - Director of the Boston Public Schools Office of

Teacher Development and AdvancementEmily Berman- Curriculum Director (Social Studies) of 21st Century LessonsCarla Zils – Curriculum Director (Math) of 21st Century LessonsBrian Connor – Technology Coordinator

21st Century Lessons

The people…

30