S+Simmons,Darcie+Jane

**Office:** 001 SB **Office Phone:** (207) 778-3390 **Office Hours:** 10am-12pm ** E-mail: ** darcie.simmons@maine.edu
 * Teacher:** Ms. Simmons

=Summary of Unit= Welcome to the Roman Empire! The goal of this unit is for students to understand the major contributions the Roman Empire made to the present time. This includes realizing that the Romans built one of the best and longest lasting society's history has ever seen. Recognizing the achievements the Empire had physically, politically, and philosophically. Students will also learn that the Roman Empire was significant to the way the United States runs their government today. Throughout the unit students will have many mini products to produce to have a deeper meaning of this Roman Empire. To conclude the unit, students will create an interactive product that will discuss a class system in Roman society. They will show their role in society, and their significance to society as well. This product will give the students the chance to demonstrate all that they have learned in the unit, and put it together into one final product. It will also push the students to delve deeper into the topic for a deeper understanding of what it was like for someone in the Roman Empire.

=Establish Goals= Maine Learning Results: Social Studies - E. History E1 Historical Knowledge, Concepts, Themes, and Patterns Grades 6-8 "The Roman Empire" Students understand major eras, major enduring themes, and historic influences in the history of Maine, the United States, and various regions of the world.

= = =Students will understand that= •the Romans built one of the best and longest lasting society's history has ever seen. •the great achievements the Romans has throughout the Empire. •the Roman Empire was significant to the way the United States runs today.

= = =Essential Questions= •How did the Roman's create such a powerful and great Empire? •How were the achievements that the Roman Empire had used to make it so great? •Why did the Romans political system affect the way the United States is run today?

= = =Students will know= •Important Events and People, such as: Romulus,Julius Ceasar, Carthage, etc. •Sequence and Timeline, such as: The start of Rome, significant wars, the fall of Rome, etc. •Vocabulary, such as: Colosseum, Justinian Code, The Twelve Tables, etc.

= = =Students will be able to= •show that history includes the study of past human experience from a variety of sources. •make sense of the workings of the Roman Empire to make it last so long. •exhibit the achievements the Roman Empire had, through hands-on projects •analyze the Roman political system and how it reflects the United States •role play the Roman achievements that made such a great empire •realize the history of the Roman democratic ideals and constitutional principles and their importance to the United States and the world.

**Performance Task Overview** Congratulations! Now that you have just successfully completed gathering knowledge about the Roman Empire, you have been presented with a task from the Museum of Natural History in New York City. They are holding a contest for aspiring young historians. They want an exhibit on display from the Roman Empire that demonstrates their class system, and what it was like within that class system. They have heard that as a class we have just learned all about the Roman Empire, and wants you all to create this exhibit. You will be split up into groups, (one person for each class), and compete against each other for the win. The museum wants the exhibit to be interactive and engaging. The classrooms submissions will be judged before a board of contest evaluators. The group that wins this contest will have their exhibit on display at the museum for a time period of six months. Good luck to all!

=Expectations= I expect all of my students to be prepared for class. Doing the homework is a necessity, and having done it will result in an acceptable grade. Attitudes in class must also be positive, and enthusiasm is also fun as well. Assignments must be turned in on time. If students fail to get their work done on time, they will quickly fall behind, and therefore be lost with what is going on in class. I want all of my students to learn, and you cannot learn if you do not do the material. If something does come up, or you are sick and are unable to make it to class, then you should email me, and we will discuss a way for you to make up for what you missed in class, and a strategy for you to catch up on your work. All writing that is done in this classroom will be done so to your highest level. I also want to see an improvement in your writing as this unit goes on. Plagerism is not acceptable. If you just simply site something wrong, then we will have a discussion about how to site, so we won't have the same problem more than once. However, if you simply copy and paste someone else work to a word document, something will be done. Lastly, I want this to be a fun unit for all. So if there is anything that you have seen or heard in past classroom experience, or simply from watching television on your own that pertains to the Roman Empire, then please feel free to bring it in to the classroom! I would love to see it, and I'm sure your classmates would too.

=Benchmarks= Below is the point value system for each assessment and your grade will be based on the percent of points earned from the **total points of 500**.

__**•iMovi****e****:**__ **50 points** A group of you will create a script and skit that discusses the lives of the Romans and their society. After creating and reviewing the script, then the group will put it into a film, using iMovie. The movie should accurately reflect the lives of the Romans. Before starting to film your There should be some type of dialogue amongst the characters. All settings in the movie should try to be as life like to the Roman Empire as possible. Keeping these components in mind, then you will create a movie on what it was like in the Roman Empire. __**•Google Sketch-Up:**__ **50 points** Each student will choose a building or some type of "technology" that Roman's built. After you have chosen your building or technology, you will draw it by hand and work with it with clay for a hands on approach, then put it onto Google sketch up. This Google sketch up should look be as realistic as possible, the more realistic the better.In class students will get a tutorial of how to use Google Sketch-up. It will give all students a sense of how to use this program, and hopefully all questions will be answered by using this during class. After everyone in the class has created their Google sketch up, then the classroom will take each of their sketches and put them on one template to create our own classroom 3D Roman Empire. This will give everyone a visual look at what the Roman Empire looked like, before it became ancient architecture. __**•Glogster:**__ **50 points** Everyone will chose a specific person from the Roman Empire, there will be a list to choose from, however if you "discover" someone not from the list, then you are welcome to use that person. Instead of making just any regular poster, you will instead use glogster to create on interactive poster board. In class we will do a tutorial of how to use this creative website, which will give everyone a better idea of the features, and how to make it as cool as possible. Your poster should cover who the person was, their role in society, what they accomplished throughout their lifetime, and any other cool things that you think the class would like to know. Be sure to site all of your sources __**•Comic Life:**__ **50 points** After reviewing the beginning of the political system the Romans created, you will have the choice to work alone, or in a group to create a comic strip with comic life about the story of Rome's political system. You should use many different ways to illustrate your comic life, be it through pictures found on the internet, or pictures you take with photo booth. Before you start the actual process of creating the comic life, you/your group should create a storyline using graphic organizers, to figure out how your comic life is going to go. Be sure to cite your sources. __**•Podcast:**__ **50 points** For a creative spin on the achievements the Roman Empire had, you and a group with create a podcast about them. You can do this by either creating an interview, or a song. The podcast, whether it be an interview or a rap, needs to cover the achievements of the Roman Empire. Before creating the podcast with garage band, you should create a script, or lyrics, that way when you start to create your product, you have everything laid out in front of you, and will flow smoothly. After taking the time to look at in class the comparisons between the Roman political system and the United States political system, a group of you will create a website that shows the comparisons, and also the differences. This website should have great graphics, and it should be easy to navigate. There should be links to outside sources, to support your ideas. Everything should be cited, and your thoughts and ideas should be clearly stated. __**•Report:**__ **50 points** While making your glogster, there will also be a report to go alongside of it. This will be fairly easy, considering it's taking everything you had on the poster, and putting it into a report form. This should be in a five paragraph form. Before writing the report, each student will turn in an outline, so I can clearly see everyone's ideas, and know where they are going with it. Once you have gotten an approval from your outline, you can begin working on your report. With the completion of your outline, writing the report should be fairly easy. Halfway through the unit there will be a quiz covering Roman figures, Roman achievements, and some Roman politics, so I can gauge where everyone's learning is. This will help me know who stands where with the material. __**•Self-Assessment:**__ **25 points** At the end of the unit you all will do a self assessment on how you feel you did in the unit. This will be good for everyone, so they can take the time to step back and think about the work and effort they put into this unit. How they feel they should be graded, and how they thought the unit went. __**Performance Task**__: **100 points** At the end of the unit, students will be broken up into groups, and each will be assigned a role in each class system. After you have become the master of your class system, you will create a tumblr that shows just what each person does in their class system. After each person in your group has created their own tumblr, you will create a "cover" tumblr, that puts each class system together. =Grading Scale= **A** (93 -100), **A-** (90 - 92), **B+** (87 - 89), **B** (83 - 86), **B-** (80 - 82), **C+**(77 - 79), **C** (73-76), **C-** (70 - 72), **D+**(67 - 69), **D** (63 - 66), **D-** (60 - 62), **F** (0 - 59).
 * __•Website:__ 50 points**
 * __•Quiz:__ 25 points**