Expanding & Intensified Hemispheric Interactions

Compelling Question: What makes a society civilized?

1. Baseline Assessment: Thinking Like a Historian

HSCE-4F1 World Historical and Geographical Inquiry and Literacy Practices Explain and use disciplinary processes and tools from world history.

CCSS

• RH.11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
• RH.11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
• RH.11-12.6 Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors' claims, reasoning, and evidence.

Supporting Questions: What does it mean to think and read like a historian?

2. What Makes a Civilization?

HSCE-4F1 World Historical and Geographical Inquiry and Literacy Practices Explain and use disciplinary processes and tools from world history.

CCSS

• RH.11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
• RH.11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
• RH.11-12.6 Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors' claims, reasoning, and evidence.

Supporting Questions: What does it take to be a “civilization? What did early civilizations say about themselves?

3. Are there peoples without history? Drawing Conclusions about Africa from multiple sources of evidence

HSCE-4.1.2 Intensifying Trade Networks and Contacts – compare and contrast the development, interdependence, specialization, and importance of interregional land-based and sea-based trading systems both within and between societies.

CCSS

• RH.11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
• RH.11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
• RH.11-12.8 Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.

Supporting Questions: What role did geography play in the development of early civilizations? What types of evidence can we examine to learn about Africa? What were the geographic factors that influenced where African civilizations developed? How did natural resources influence the economic systems of African civilizations?

4. Collapse of Empires

HSCE-4.2 Analyze and compare important hemispheric interactions and cross-regional developments, including the growth and consequences of an interregional system of communication, trade, and culture exchange during an era of increasing regional power and religious expansion.

CCSS

• RH.11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
• RH.11-12.3 Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Supporting Questions: What caused the fall of the Han empire? What caused the fall of the Roman empire? What caused the fall of the Gupta empire? What are some reasons for the demise of long-running empires?

5. AfroEurasia and the Rise of Islam

HSCE-4.2.1 Growth of Islam and Dar al-Islam (a country, territory, land, or abode where Muslim sovereignty prevails) – explain the significance of Islam in an interconnected Afro-Eurasia.

CCSS

• RH.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.

Supporting Questions: What are the key beliefs and practices of Islam? How did Islam spread? What was the impact of Islam in Afroeurasia? How did major transformations affect societal structures in early history and set the foundation for expanding networks of exchange? What factors eased trade in the Muslim world?

6. The First Crusade

HSCE-4.1.1 Growth and Interactions of World Religions – analyze the significance of the growth of and interactions between world religions.

CCSS

• RH.11-12.3 Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.
• RH.11-12.6 Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors' claims, reasoning, and evidence.

Supporting Questions: What happened when Crusaders entered Jerusalem during the First Crusade? How does this account differ when told from different perspectives?

7. The Dark Ages

HSCE HSCE-4.2.2 Unification of Eurasia under the Mongols – analyze the significance of Mongol rule in Afro-Eurasia and the impact of the Mongol Empire’s disintegration.

CCSS

• RH. 11-12.6 Evaluate authors' differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors' claims, reasoning, and evidence.
• Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.
• WHST.11-12.1 Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences the claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

Supporting Questions: What was the “barbarian supremacy”? Were the Dark Ages really dark?

8. The Mongols: Friends from Hell or Culture Brokers?

HSCE-4.2.2 Unification of Eurasia under the Mongols – analyze the significance of Mongol rule in Afro-Eurasia and the impact of the Mongol Empire’s disintegration.

CCSS

• RH.11-12.3 Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.
• RH.11-12.9 Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.
• WHST.11-12.1B Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant data and evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both claim(s) and counterclaims in a discipline-appropriate form that anticipates the audience's knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases.

Supporting Questions: What Were the Mongol People Like In the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries? Which of their characteristics would be helpful to them during their career of conquest? What was the Mongol Leader, Chinggis Great Khan, Really Like? In what ways could Mongol ideas about women’s position in society help the Mongols’ career of conquest? How Did Chinggis turn a pastoral nomadic society into an efficient war machine? What Was it Like to Live in the Mongol Homeland? Based on the evidence you have, would you agree with the idea that the Mongols’ success was due to their enemies’ weaknesses rather than to their own strengths? What contributed most to their success?

Summative Writing Assessment

Write an essay of at least five paragraphs in response to the unit compelling question:

What makes a society civilized?

Using the Mongols as an example along with other information in the module, explain what makes a society civilized. Were the Mongols civilized? Were they barbarians or masterful leaders? Were they fiends from hell or culture brokers? Your essay should cite at least four documents from the module and your knowledge of the development of the world through the end of this era. Be sure to source and contextualize your documents. Also, in your essay be sure to do the following:

1. Describe the criteria for being called a “civilization.”
2. Describe the technologies, beliefs, and practices that have developed over time in civilized societies.
3. Why might historians disagree on the how the Mongols should be remembered?

Use the attached Argumentative Essay Organizer and/or Step-by-Step instructions to help organize your ideas. Essays will be scored using the Social Studies Argumentative Writing Rubric

Performance Task

Structured Classroom Debate

Students debate whether they think that the gold-salt trade was beneficial or detrimental for the development of civilization in Africa and why.

1. Divide the class into four groups, two groups will debate for the beneficial side, two groups will debate the detrimental side.

2. The members of each of the role group will need to research whether the Gold Salt trade was beneficial or detrimental to African civilization.

3. After research has been completed, each role group will state its position on the topic. The groups should then debate the topic from the point of view of their position (beneficial or detrimental).There should be two groups debating at the same time.

4. After all the debates are finished, class members should discuss which opinion they agree with and explain why in writing.

Debate Structures