Opener: Review the Test

• I. Review: last week's test - students are welcome to ask questions

Lesson: The Origins of Islam

• I. Geography: Great Race | The Middle East

• II. Notes: The Origins of Islam

Closing: Tier List | The Rise of a Desert Empire

• According to National Geographic, there are five major biomes of the world: aquatic, grassland, forest, desert, and tundra.  Create a tier list featuring the letters S (high), A, B, C, D, E, and F (low) to highlight the likelihood of a global empire originating from a particular biome.  

  • What do you think accounts for the success of the Islamic empires from the period 600 to 1450 C.E.?

• Further Reading: If you are most interested in the historical relationship between humans and nature consider reading Felipe Fernandez-Armesto's Civilizations: Culture, Ambition, and the Transformation of Nature (2001) 📚

Opener: Essay Practice | 2002 CCoT

• Describe and analyze the cultural, economic, and political impact of Islam on ONE of the following regions between 1000 CE and 1750 CE.  Be sure to discuss continuities as well as changes.

  • • West Africa   |   South Asia   |   Europe

Lesson: The Islamic World 

• I. Notes: Islam and Africa

• II. (Extension) Discussion | Money, Happiness, and Mansa Musa

  • A 2022 Stanford study found that money can buy happiness, at least in the sense that wealthier people tend to be happier people.  It also notes, however, that people with less money view happiness as tied to a sense of meaning - that their life has purpose, value, and direction.  🔗

  • According to the BBC, Mansa Musa was the richest man who ever lived.  Although the article suggests his wealth was "indescribable," some sources claim is worth about 400 billion dollars in 2019.  Equally notable was how charitable Mansa Musa was with his wealth, even to the point of causing severe inflation in Cairo as he passed through it on a hajj.   🔗

  • Imagine you are a descendant of Mansa Musa and you have inherited 100 billion dollars with one condition: you must increase the happiness of as many other people as possible.  

    • What is the first thing you would do with the money?

Closing: Pictocabulary Great Race | The Worlds of Islam

•  Identify the vocabulary term associated with the provided images.  No vocabulary term will be used twice.  Although some terms will not be used at all.  

Opener: Maps | Ibn Battuta vs. Marco Polo and Zheng He

•  Using the "One Man's Odyssey" map by Andrea Dorfman, compare the travels of Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo, and Zheng He.  It is recommended that you create a compare and contrast chart with three columns for this activity labeled (the years they traveled are in parentheses):

  • Marco Polo (1271-1295)   |   Ibn Battuta (1325-1354)   |   Zheng He (1305-1433)

• Note: While Dorfman's map is accurate, remember that Ross Dunn raises some legitimate questions about Battuta's travels to Bulgaria and Yemen.  Also, there is debate about whether Marco Polo ever traveled to China.  🔗

Lesson: The Travels of Ibn Battuta - Reading Like a Historian

• I. Worksheet: The Travels of Ibn Battuta (RLH)

Closing: MixTapes | Ibn Battuta's Totally Awesome Travels

• Mixtapes.  The soundtracks of our lives.  Originating in the 1980s, they were popular in hip hop and R&B culture as a means to spread the music of local performers.  Then James Gunn came along and perfected the mixtape for his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, 2014-2023.  

• Now imagine a world where mixtapes existed hundreds of years ago.  You are traveling with one of the greatest travelers in world history, Ibn Battuta.  He has tasked you with providing music for his Totally Awesome Travels mixtape.  Identify five songs on it and create cover art via the provided handout.  

• If time permits we will review the mixtapes as a class in the near future (Friday)

Opener: Vocabulary Quiz | Commerce and Culture

Lesson: Continuities and Innovations of the Ottoman Empire

• Worksheet: Complete the Early Ottoman Empire - Claims and Evidence worksheet

Closing: Review | The Early Ottoman Empire

•  Discussion: What are three ways in which the Ottoman Empire changed the region that encompassed the Balkans, Middle East, and northern Africa?

Opener: Introduction | Student Choice Days

• Purpose: student choice days are meant to allow students the opportunity to work on relevant class assignments, complete recovery beyond one-hour lunch, and meet with the teacher for a variety of purposes.  

Lesson: Options | Useful Uses of Your Time

• I. Finish work: complete a classwork assignment from this week

• II. Begin homework: get an early start on the homework for next week

• III. Test Recovery - Review: get the answers to your missed questions and complete the "Test Recovery - Review" handout

• IV. Test Recovery - Retake: retake the test you wish to recover

  • The test will not be the same test so do not memorize any keys and think you are prepared

• V. Other: you are welcome to work on other meaningful assignments but are not to use this time ineffectively, such as using your electronic devices to play games

Closing: Foreshadowing | The Worlds of Christendom

•  Next week we will be studying the Worlds of Christendom, c. 600 to 1300 C.E.  Tell me why you think it was called the "Dark Ages" and whether or not you think it is a fair assessment of the age.