9th Grade World History

Unit: _South America__

Duration:__6 50-minute periods_______

Chapters 16:2, 16:3, 20:1, 20:4, 24:1__________

Overview/Rationale Essential Questions

A common focus of second-wave civilizations
(600 BCE-1200 CE), according to Strayers
Ways of the World, is on India, China, and of Who were the Aztecs?
course the Greeks and Romans. We often forget
to look west and south, to the southern
hemisphere, and specifically at South and
Central American civilizations. The Maya,
Aztec, and Inca civilizations will be the focus of
this unit, spanning from as early as 2000 BCE
all the way up to the 1820s and the revolutions
that finally brought freedom from Spanish rule.
Who were the Maya?
Who were the Incas?
How did civilizations develop in Central
and South America?
What were the effects of contact between
European explorers and the American
civilizations they encountered in the 15th
century?

January and February 2017

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

16 17 18 19 20
MLK day MIDTERMS MIDTERMS MIDTERMS Frozen in
NO SCHOOL Heaven
documentary
about Peruvian
mummies
23 24 25 26 27
16:2 HW due Middle States Peru slideshow SHEG lesson on
Schedule and intro to the Guest the encounter
Maya slideshow 16:3 HW due Incas presentation: between Cortez
and graphic Christopher and Moctezuma
organizer Aztecs slideshow Heaney
groupwork and graphic (biography work
organizer Mary visits day for 9-1)
9-3 biography groupwork class
assigned
30 31 1 2 3
Biography Document-rea Cusco conquest 20:4 due Columbian
paper due 9-1 ding HW done lesson day 2 Columbian exchange group
exchange group activity wrap-up
20:1 due for 9-3 20:1 HW due for activity and share-out
and 9-4 9-1
Context: Spain in my Cusco
1492 (provide conquest lesson
hand-out with
info)
Work day for
graphic
organizers
6 7 8 9 10
24:1 due for HW 24:1 (lecture) Latin America Start Middle
revolution in Unit Ages unit, Ch.
Graphic South America Assessment 13
organizer work
day graphic
organizers
due

Assessments
Homework Readings from the textbook
Readings from the Stanford History Education Group lesson
and from my own Opening Up the Textbook lesson
Ancient As a class, we will come up with a rubric to use to assess the
Civilizations graphic organizers
Graphic Students will work in groups of four to create their own
Organizer graphic organizer with information about the Maya
Students will then work in those same groups to create
another graphic organizer (or use their first one as a template)
for the Aztec civilization

Stanford History Students will be assessed on their participation in the activities and
Education Group discussion.
lesson on the
meeting between
Moctezuma and
Cortes
Opening up the This two-day lesson culminates in a rewriting of the textbook passage
Textbook lesson: that students will complete in small groups and submit as an
How did Pizarro assessment grade.
capture the Inca
city of Cusco?
Columbian The same groups of four will examine one commodity or disease that
Exchange was part of the Columbian Exchange and look at how it impacted the
Performance Task civilization to which it was brought (exchange items will include
potatoes, corn, tomatoes, quinine, horses, coffee beans, sugar, and
diseases).

Final assessment The final assessment will be a multiple choice, fill in the blank, and
short answer test.

Resources
PowerPoint presentation on the first day, Stanford History Education Group lesson on the
Spanish conquest of Mexico, Patterns of Interaction textbook, Graphic organizer task
description and rubric, Columbian Exchange task description and rubric, guest speaker
Christopher Heaney

Personal Reflection/Notes

Resources:

Chapter 9:1: peopling the Americas

9:2: Early American Civilizations: The Olmec, Zapotecs

9:3: Early civilizations in the Andes: Chavin, Nazca, Moche

16:2: the Maya

Also, from Student Resources, excerpt from the Popol Vuh, Maya creation story

16:3: the Aztecs

Excerpt from Quetzalcoatl, from student resources

16:4: The Incas

Excerpt from Hiram Binghams Lost City of the Incas in Student Resources

Not great textbook passage on Pachacuti also in student resources

Excellent video on Inca trepanation:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/inca-skull-surgery.html
Archaeology article on the peopling of the Americas; evidence of the earliest inhabitants:

http://www.archaeology.org/issues/145-1409/features/2367-peopling-the-americas-paradigms

Article by Charles Mann on Clovis, earliest evidence of human populations in the Americas:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-clovis-point-and-the-discovery-of-americas-first
-culture-3825828/?page=1

Google Maps tour of Machu Picchu

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/wright-inca-engineering.html

Spanish Inquisition: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Spanish-Inquisition

Library of Congress listings for several Mesoamerican documents in their collection, including
Diego Riveras rendering of the Popol Vuh:
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/kislak/kislak-exhibit.html