STAGE I GOALS

Unit Overview:
The content will begin by talking about the spice trade during the 15th
century and how competition demanded a new route that would be shorter
and cheaper. From such search the Americas were discovered and this will all
serve as the background to get the unit started. Students will then learn
about the empires that wanted a piece of this new land. The colonization of
the Americas brought forth a new economy and students will learn about
what this new market brought forth to table; monarchs expended their
empires, trading routes were developed, Europeans conflicted with the
natives, and etc. At the end of the day the discovery of Americas changed
the world and students will be able to understand how and why this
happened.

Students should be interested in the topic because it has a little bit of

everything. Some of the activities that students will work on in relation to the
unit include oral stories, narratives, role play, map graphing, fictional
character writing, among a few more. This unit is crucial in the curriculum
and history as a whole because within a few centuries half of the world goes
from pretty much empty to booming. The impact can even be seen to this
day and it is important for tenth grade students to recognize as world
citizens and upcoming adults the ever-changing world.

Enduring Understanding: When the Americas were discovered various

Europeans saw the land as an economic tool that would lead to the
reshaping of how the world operated when compared to previous eras.

Essential Question: How did the discovery of the Americas establish new
opportunities that would change the way the world operated?

Key Concepts: Trading, exploration

Trading- The business between two or more parties in where they

exchange, buy and/or sell commodities, products, or services with one
another.
Exploration-The act of searching an area for the purpose of discovering
new information or resources that often benefit the researcher.
Indigenous- A community or person who inhabited a territory prior to
exploration and settlements by Europeans. Often referred to belonging
to the land because of originating within it.
Slavery- A system in which principles of property law are applied to
humans allowing them to be classified as property, to be owned,
bought and sold with often times inhuman conditions.

1
 Colonialism- The policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political
control over a foreign area and occupying it with settlers, and
exploiting it economically.
Raw materials- A material that originates or is produced by the earth
and is used to produce goods, products, or energy. The demand of such
materials are usually high.
Opportunity- An occasion or situation which makes it possible to do
something that will be profitable and bring success to a person(s).
Missionary system- Members of a religious group who are sent into an
area with the goal of converting people and/or performing services
such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic
development.

Standards:

Arizona Standards for Social Studies: S2CO5PO1- Describe the

religious, economic, social, and political interactions among
civilizations that resulted from early exploration.
a. Reasons for European exploration.
b. Impact of expansion and colonization on Europe.
c. Impact of expansions on Africa, the Americas and Asia.
d. Role of disease in conquest.
e. Role of trade.
f. Navigational technology.
g. Impact and ramifications of slavery and international slave trade.
h. Contrasting motivations and methods for colonization.

AZ Career & College Readiness Standards:

- 910.RH.3. Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text;
determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply
preceded them.
- 9-10.WHST.4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the
development, organization, and style are appropriate to task,
purpose, and audience.
- 9-10.RH.6. Compare the point of view of two or more authors for
how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details
they include and emphasize in their respective accountants. 1, 2, 7,
Objectives:

1. SWBAT describe the reasons for Europeans wanting to come to

the new world.
2. SWBAT identify the routes of the African Slave trade.
3. SWBAT organize items traded in the triangle trade by continent.
4. SWBAT retell the conditions of the middle passage.

2
5. SWBAT describe how diseases were a helpful tactic used by
Europeans to defeat indigenous tribes.
6. SWBAT analyze how slavery helped build the economies of the
new world.
7. SWBAT compare and contrast the impact that colonization had
on Africa, the Americas, and Asia.
8. SWBAT identify some of the navigation technologies that made
exploration possible.
9. SWBAT describe the impact of the Spanish empire in the
Americas.
10. SWBAT develop an argument on whether or not
Christopher Columbus was a hero.

3
STAGE II ASSESSMENTS
Formative Assessments:
1. QUIZES: A total of two quizzes will be given during this unit. The goal of
this assessment is to gather data regarding student achievement and
understanding of the material being presented. The first quiz will be
given on the 3rd day and the second one on the 6th day. Quizzes are
typically 6-9 questions. (All objectives)
2. FOUR CORNERS: This assessment will be used on Fridays and early
release. The goal of this assessment is to give the teacher a quick and
easy interpretation of the students knowledge and understanding of
the material. Students will be presented a question such as Which of
these items was most likely not traded in the Atlantic Trade and each
corner would be assigned an item, with one corner being the correct
one. Students walk to the corner they believe to be the answer, thus
allowing the teacher to gather quick and easy data. (Objectives
2,3,5,7, and 8).
3. THINK PAIR SHARE: This assessment can be used throughout the unit
and in all parts of the class period. A question can be displayed on the
board and students will think about it and discuss it with a partner. The
teacher will then walk around and listen to students and assess
whether they are in the right direction. This assessment can be used as
a warm up, during the lesson, or after the lesson. For example,
students can discuss the question How do you think a slave felt while
being transported to the Americas. The teacher would walk around
and listen, interact, and correct students if needed. (All Objectives)

Achievement Test Description:

At the end of the unit an exam will be given to students. Students will be
tested on 25 questions that tests them on all objectives mentioned on part
one of this document. The Exam will be broken up into three different
components to challenge students. The test would be worth 25 points out of
the 100 available for this unit.

Part 1: This part of the exam would consist of 15 multiple choice questions (1
point each). This part is supposed to measure students knowledge on the
importance of events and figures during the Age of Discovery (All objectives).
Questions would consist of Columbus search for a new route, importance of
disease, the need for a working force, conquistadors, impact on direct
continents, trading routes, etc. One question would be,
3.) Which of the following is LEAST likely a job of a Conquistador?
a. Explore new discovered land
b. Fight natives and establish ports
c. Take care of sick soldiers
d. Gather natural resources for the monarch

4
Part 2: This part of the exam consists of 5 matching the term with the
definition (1 point each). The goal of this part is to measure a students
ability to define vital terms from a pool of options (Objectives 3,4, 6, and 8).
This part of the exam would have terms such as triangular trade, joint stock
company, encomienda system, missionaries, etc.
Part 3:
The final part of the exam will be a written response (Worth 5 points). This
written response will allow students to partially answer the essential
question; a broader opportunity will be allowed during the performance
assessment. The question would be After learning about the age of
discovery and how it changed the way the world operated, describe one
positive change and one negative change that occurred during this era. Make
sure to explain both your choices in detail within a minimum of six
sentences. The goal of this essay is to have students independently
evaluate all the material covered in class and pick the most vital ones in
their opinion.

Performance (Authentic) Assessment Description:

Stage I concepts: All Concepts

Unit objectives: All objectives (Objective #8 might not be applicable, but

students might end up touching on it)

Description of the project: The goal of this project is to measure the students
knowledge of the material covered during the age of exploration unit. As
noted above, this performance assessment will include all concepts and
objectives. The focus will be around the essential question and how this era
brought forth new opportunities. In this assessment students, will be
appealing to a grant offered by a new established Monarch in the early 19th
century. The project has been broken up into three parts for the students
discretion.

G- Explain how new opportunities affected certain groups

R- Slave, conquistador, colonist, or indigenous
A- Newly established monarch
S- Appeal to a grant offered by the Monarch
P-Classroom Hearing/persuasive letter

Part 1: All students will be broken up into groups of approximately four. Each
member of the group will then be assigned a role (slave, conquistador,
colonist, or indigenous. They will then write a persuasive letter to the
fictional monarch of a newly developed country. The monarchy is offering
one massive grant to the top personnel involved in the age of discovery. The
monarch states that if you were somehow involved during this era, then you
deserve to be compensated. All the monarchy asks is that you talk about the

5
opportunities that the new world brought and how they affected you and/or
your descendants. Why are these experiences more important than that of
the other people? All letters should include at least 5 ways on how the new
world brought forth new changes and how they affected their character.

Part2: After the letter is completed students will share their findings and
ideas with the other members of the group. They will then write a 2-
paragraph reflection paper on the ideas presented by their peers.

Part 3: All groups will then be broken up one more time and be teamed up
with others who have the same role. They will have time to discuss their
ideas with each other. After doing so they will then prepare to persuade the
king (teacher) in a hearing where he will grant the money to one group. All
groups will have 5-7 minutes to convince the king on why they deserve the
grant.

STAGE III LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Unit Calendar: 12 school days

Day Topic(s) Unit Brief Listing of Assessments

Objective(s) Activities

**Day 1 Hook and Objective 8 Begin class by Participation in

before talking about how group
1492 everyday NASA is discussion,
closer to discovering Thumbs up
a new planet with answering.
life. The teacher will
lead a discussion in
where students
discuss what we
would do with that
planet and its
inhabitants if it were
discovered. This will
be tied into the Age
of Discovery. A brief
lesson will then be

6
 given on how the
world looked prior to
1492.
**Day 2 The Objectives 1 Warm up (What do Warm up
voyage of & 10 you know about response,
Columbus Columbus). Watch Question sheet.
video on Columbus.
Day 3 Exploring Objectives 1, Short brief lesson on Questions
and 5, & 9 the reasons for during lesson,
Conquerin exploration and Conquistador
g the America being group
Americas conquered. presentation
Conquistador
research.
**Day 4 Review Objectives 1, Quick recap of Quiz
and quiz 5, 8, 9, & 10 crucial information
from the past 3
days. Students take
quiz.
Day 5 Trading Objectives 1, Teacher gives a full Questioning
system 2, 3, 4, 6, & 7 day lesson on the during lesson,
trading system of think pair
the new world. share, four
corners.
**Day 6 Colonizing Objectives 1, Think pair sharing Group listening,
the new 2, & 7 ideas on why out the door
world someone might want ticket.
to come to America.
Short lesson will
then be given about
the reasons for
colonization.
Day 7 Impact on Objectives 7 Students get into Compare and
different & 10 groups of three and contrast charts
Continents use the book to
research the effects
of colonization on
Africa, Europe, and
Asia.
Day 8 Performan Objectives 1- Introduce the Answering
ce 10 performance teacher
assessme assessment. Review questions, four
nt exam. corners.
introductio
n and

7
 exam
review
Day 9 Exam Objectives 1- Students take exam. Exam
10
**Day Performan Objectives 1- Students research Group listening
10 ce 10 *with the their role and begin
assessme exception of writing letter over
nt #8 the weekend.
workday 1
Day 11 Performan Objectives 1- Students share their Group listening
ce 10 *with the findings with group
assessme exception of members.
nt #8 Rehearsal.
workday 2
Day 12 Performan Objectives 1- Rehearsal and group Performance
ce 10 *with the presentation. assessment
assessme exception on Hearing. grading
nt hearing #7

Catalog of Lessons:

Day 1

Lesson title: Unit Hook & Before 1492

Unit objectives: Objective 8

Activities:
Hooking students
o After sitting down students will be presented the
statement/questions Everyday NASA and the rest of the worlds
aerospace programs are closer to discovering a planet that is
bound to have life. If we were to discover it tomorrow what do
you think we would do? Would we try to go to it? Why or why
not? How would we treat the inhabitants if they are not as
advanced as us?
Students will take a minute to think about this and then
share it with their partners.
Afterwards as a group we would share some ideas.
o Teacher would listen and guide the discussion eventually tying it
into the unit by stating that something like this has happened
before.
Quick lesson on Before 1492 will set up the unit (student takes
cornell notes)
o The Economy

8
 Spice trade
Power nations
o Technology
Ships
Navigation tools
Weapons
Heads down, thumbs up
o A series of true/false questions will be given towards the end of
class (thumbs up if it is correct). Questions can include:
The Chinese by now had invented gun powder and as a
result the first gun. (TRUE)
The spice trade was a trade between only Europe and
India. (False)
Assessment: Students will be assessed firstly by listening to the ideas
presented in the hook. Secondly they will be assessed through observation of
who has their thumbs up and who does not; both of these check for
understanding.

Day 2

Lesson title: The Voyage of Columbus

Unit objectives: Objectives 1 & 10

Activities:
Warm up
o Students will discuss with their shoulder buddy what they know
about Christopher Columbus.
Documentary video
o After the warm up the teacher will present the A&E video on
Christopher Columbus (Stop video at min 31)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4ON19woHvU
o Students will complete a worksheet with questions that
correspond to the video as it plays.
Worksheet
o After the video students will have about 10 minutes to work with
a partner and complete any questions they might have missed.
o Worksheet gets turned in at the end of class

Assessment: Teacher will walk around during warm up to get an

understanding of what students know about Columbus. The worksheet will
be graded and will be used to show the teacher comprehension.

Day 4

9
Lesson title: Review and Quiz

Unit objectives: 1, 5, 8, 9, & 10

Activities:
Review before quiz
o Students will be displayed 14 items on the board and informed
that 7 of them will appear on the quiz
They will have 18 mins to review the items before the they
take the quiz.
o After reviewing themselves, they will have the opportunity to ask
me final questions (about 5 mins).
Quiz
o 4 Multiple choice, 2 True/False, and one short essay question.

Assessment: The quiz will measure the students understanding of content

presented in the last three days.

Day 6

Lesson title: Colonizing the New World

Unit Objectives: Objectives 1, 2, & 7

Activities:
Warm up
o Students will fold a piece of paper in half. They will list the
reasons as to why they believe someone would want to come
over to the New World.
Discuss with a shoulder buddy their reasons.
Brief lesson on why people began migrating to the New World
o Personal reasons
New start
o Political/religious
Religious conditions in Europe/persecution
Freedom of religion offered in the New World
o Economic
Poverty levels in Europe
Overpopulation in Europe
Vast amount of unsettled land in new world
Owning land
Setting up a business in the New World
Lots of resources available

10
 o Joint stock companies
Its importance of bringing over people
Ticket out the door
o On the other side of the warm up sheet students will list the
reasons on why people come over in modern days to the new
world (Well, the United States).
o After, they will write 4-6 sentences explaining some of the
similarities and differences of the reasons from then and now.
Turn this as a ticket out the door.

Assessments: The ticket out the door will measure the student ability to
make educated guesses and/or measure prior knowledge. It will also
measure their comprehension of the material given and compare it to
modern days.

Day 10

Lesson title: Performance assessment workday 1

Unit Objectives: Objectives 1-10 *with the exception of #8

Activities:
Warm Up
o As students walk in the classroom they are to line up in front of
the classroom. They will then be counted off by 7s and split up
into groups of approximately four.
o After receiving their numbers, the groups will find an area in the
classroom to work at.
All group members will be assigned a role once they have
found a working space (slave, conquistador, Indigenous, or
colonist).
Research
o Students are to begin researching their role. This means looking
through:
Notes
Previous paperwork
Textbook
Internet (a few tablets will be checked by the teacher via
the computer lab and available for student use. Students
may use their phones for research if all tablets are being
used).
o Students will gather evidence in regards to their roles partaking
during the Age of Discovery.
What is their role?

11
 Accomplishment/suffering
Why they are vital?
Writing
o Students may begin writing their persuasive letter
5 paragraphs directed to me the monarch in regards to
why their people deserve the grant.
o Students are to finish their letter over the weekend.
Assessments: The teacher will walk around and interact/asks questions to
the students. This will give the teacher on understanding of how the student
is doing not only with the assignment, but with their understanding of the
material.

CITATIONS
(2005). Christopher Columbus: Explorer of the New World [Online video].
A&E.

ATTACHMENTS
Exploring the Americas Quiz

Multiple Choice: Carefully read all questions and circle the correct answer. Each question
is worth 1 point.
1.) Which of the following was NOT a ship used by Christopher Columbus during his first
voyage that lead to the discovery of the Americas?
a. Santa Maria
b. Pinta
c. Isabella
d. Nina

2.) In what modern day area did Columbus first land?

a. Cuba
b. The Bahamas
c. Haiti
d. Puerto Rico

3.) Which of the following is LEAST likely to be a duty of a Conquistador?

a. Explore newly discovered land
b. Fight natives and establish towns
c. Take care of wounded soldiers
d. Gather gold and bring it back to Europe

12
4.) What was the name of the 1494 agreement between Portugal and Spain that settled conflicts
over newly discovered lands?
a. Treaty of Versailles
b. Treaty of the New World
c. Treaty of the Pope
d. Treaty of Tordesillas

True/False questions: Read the question carefully and write either T on the line if it is true,
or F if it is false. Each question is worth 1 point.
_____ 5.) Hernan Cortez is well known for being a conquistador who fought the Incas in Peru.
_____ 6.) The indigenous were plagued by European diseases because these diseases did not
exist in the new world thus their immune system had not adapted to them.

Short Essay question: In 5-8 sentences answer the prompt below. The question is worth 4
points (1 point for meeting length, 2 points for explaining your opinion, and 1 point for
using class evidence).
7.) In present day people have argued that Christopher Columbus is not a hero, while others
continue to see him as one. In your opinion, do you think Christopher Columbus is a hero? Why
or why not? Use evidence from your learning to back up your thoughts.

13