UNIVERSIDAD MARIANO GALVEZ

FACULTAD DE HUMANIDADES
ESCUELA DE IDIOMAS
Microteaching Lesson Plan 2014
Instructor: Monica Santizo Sandoval

Date: Aug 26, 2014

plan / Aug 30, 2014
class

Course Title: Social Studies

Grade: 10th

Unit: 4 Ancient Greece

Specific Topic: The battle of the Thermopylae

Competence:
Understands the events of what happened in the Thermopylae in Ancient Greece and recognizes why this
battle is admirable

Rationale:
Understanding history is essential in our understanding of todays world, we learn our current situation from
our knowledge of what happened in the past; also, we can learn valuable lessons from what others have lived
and done in history. The Battle of the Thermopylae is a clear example of mans courage and intelligence at
work.

Lesson Content:
Many will know of the Battle of Thermopylae as it was made famous by the film 300 which depicts a small number of
Greek forces under the leadership of Leonidas battling against thousands of Persian warriors. This is a great film but there
is more to this battle than meets the eyes, this being said the outline of the film does depict one famous part of the
battle.
Battle of Thermopylae Facts
The date of the Battle of Thermopylae is in debate with two dates under contention. The dates in question are either
August 7th or September 8th to the 10th of the year 480 BC.
The battle was between the defending Greek city-states led by Athenian General Themistocles, King Leonidas I of Sparta
and Demophilus of Thespiae and the attacking Persian army of Xerxes I of Persia. The total number of forces on both
sides are still debated but the Greek numbered between 5,200 to 11,200 and the Persian between 70,000 and 300,000
(historical numbers put the Persian army at around 2,000,000 men).
Before the Battle
The battle occurred because the forces of Xerxes I, King of Persia marched through Thrace and Macedon on their way to
Greece. The Greeks found out about this but the Spartans, renowned warriors in Greece were enjoying a festival called
Carneia in which no armed battles were allowed to take place.
Given the urgency because of the large Persian army marching on Greece it was deemed that there was ample reason to
still go into battle. King Leonidas I of Sparta was the chosen leader and he took to the Oracle to find out what would
happen in battle, the Oracle advised that he would die. Because of what the Oracle had said Leonidas chose 300 men of
the Royal bodyguard who had sons to carry on the family lineage as he knew he would not die alone.
As the Spartans marched on Thermopylae their numbers swelled to over 5,000 by gaining more soldiers from other Greek
cities, as mentioned earlier in the article. Upon reaching Thermopylae the Greek armed forces camped at the narrowest
pass called the 'middle gate' where the Phocians had built a defensive wall.

Of the men with Leonidas he stationed a four figure number of Phocians high in the mountains to protect a hidden goat
trail so the armed forces could not be ambushed by the advancing Persian army.
When the Persians landed they sent their emissary, something common in the times prior to battle. The emissary offered
terms that would mean no battle would take place but while being classed as free men would also mean being
subservient to the Persians.
The Battle of Thermopylae
The position of the Greek army at the narrow pass at Thermopylae was a tactical move, the idea that was the Greek army
was a lot smaller but because the pass was tight the Persian army would not be able to overrun the Greeks.
Five days after the Persians arrived at Thermopylae the battle commenced with Xerxes sending men to bring the Greeks
back, this did not happen as a battle started. The Greeks standing in front of the Phocians defensive wall formed the
Greek phalanx, an impenetrable wall of men that rotated continuously so those out of the battle will be brought in and
out keeping the Greeks from tiring.
Xerxes sent Medes and Cissians for the first days engagement and watched in horror as the Greek soldiers demolished
those attacking them without losing many men. This caused Xerxes to use his Elite troops called the Immortals on the
second assault of the first day; these soldiers were feared because they were seen as men that couldnt die. This was not
the case though as the Immortals also ended up suffering heavy losses.
The second day ended up in the same vain as the first with Xerxes becoming furious as more men were sent to the
slaughter, the day finished with Xerxes withdrawing his forces back to camp frustrated. Unfortunately for the Greeks the
fortunes of Xerxes changed when a Greek called Ephialtes went to Xerxes hoping for reward by telling Xerxes about the
Goat trail in the mountains.
On the third day Xerxes sent a force of men under the leadership of commander Hydarnes to go through the Goat trail
where the Phocians were defending. The Phocians were surprised when they saw the Persians and took up weapons
before moving back to a hill for defence as they expected a fierce battle. The Persians however did not attack; they sent a
volley of arrows and continued on their way to cut off the Greek force led by Leonidas.
One of the Phocians had run to Leonidas as soon as the Persians were seen so the Greeks knew what was coming. This
caused the Greek commanders to hold council and decide what will happen, this finished with nearly all the Greek force
withdrawing or being ordered to do so. With the Persians coming there were only 300 Spartans, 400 Thebans and 700
Thespians left to do battle.
As the Persians were coming down from the mountain Xerxes also sent his army for a frontal attack, in response the
Greeks moved out into the wider part of the pass. During the ensuing battle the Greeks fought hard but Leonidas was
killed by Persian archers causing a battle for the body which the Greeks won. The Greeks retreated to the defensive
position of a hill where they made their last stand until Persian archers sent volley after volley of arrows until the Greek
soldiers were all dead.
- See more at: http://www.thefinertimes.com/Ancient-Wars/the-battle-of-thermopylae.html#sthash.lgsdfgfe.dpuf

Instructional Procedures
a.

Warm-up
I will put a video on the screen for everyone to watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDiUG52ZyHQ
And I will ask the following questions:
What movie is it?
What event in history does it show?
Is the event real?
Where did it happen?
Why is it remarkable?

b. Teaching procedures
Presentation:
I will tell them we will learn about a real life battle in Ancient give Greece and that for this I need their help.
I will divide them into groups and I will assign to each group a different question to answer by doing some
reading from the link I give them. I will them the topic and the time to find it out. When they have the
answer I need them to make sure that everyone understands the answer for the question I gave them
Controlled practice:

TIME
5 min

c.
d.

e.
f.

I will divide them into groups, give each group a question to research and then have them write down
the answer to that question. The questions are as follows
1. What are the causes for the battle?
2. What was the success of the battle?
3. Who were the Spartans? Why were they leading the defense?
4. Who is Xerxes? Who are the immortals?
Semi controlled practice:
These groups will be regrouped into the whole class once again and then each member of the group
must go to another group for example in the first groups we had four groups with four members each
one, now the members must go into a different group where we now have four new groups with one
member of each of the previous groups. In their new groups they must now exchange the information
so that all the members of the groups understand the answers to all the questions, not only to the one
they had assigned. Son now everyone in theory has the same complete information.
Free practice:
I will ask them to go back to their original groups and now make a visual representation of all of the
information they now have on the Battle of the Thermopylae. They in their groups must choose what
the best way to represent all of the information and present it. (here they can use any resource
available to them their cellphones to take stills, to record themselves, their pads to make a ppp, their
choice)
Closure:
Each group must then hand in their creation to me for me to grade
Feedback:
I will then randomly pair them up and ask them to talk to each other and answer the question.. why is
this battle remarkable?
Formative/ Summative check:
The Ss need to sit back down and I will pass a small comprehension quiz for them to fill out
Homework:
I will assign for homework that they go home and google how close to reality is the movie.

10 min

5 min

10 min

01 min
5 min
5 min

Evaluation Procedures:
I will be checking the use of resources, as well as the work in groups to make sure that these have everyone
involved and with appropriate use.
The evaluation procedures will happen throughout the class in things like observation and correction at the
time of possible mistakes.
Then when it is time for the free practice I will already know who will need more attention
Materials and Aids:

The information sheet, and the link from where everyone takes the information
The quiz
The computer and projector for the video