SOCIAL STUDIES
Although most think Columbus was a hero for "discovering" the New World, our inter-disciplinary question of study is: Was Columbus a hero or a villain? While this question will be discussed in each class, you will learn the basics about Christopher Columbus and his voyage to the New World in social studies. We will cover Columbus' background, who his travels were funded by, where he landed, whether he was accepted there or not, what he brought back to Europe with him, and how he conquered the peoples in the New World.
After researching this (and learning much more in your other classes), you will be able to successfully form an opinion about whether Columbus was a hero or a villain. In English/Language Arts, you will write a final paper about your decision. In social studies, you will be filming a movie in groups of three "interviewing" Christopher Columbus' crew members. Your opinion will shine through in what you say as you represent his crew members.
An ongoing formative assessment will be creating a timeline through the website dipity. You will be creating the timeline as a means of the "L" in the KWL model. What you know about the subject, what you want to know, and what you have learned. This will be a published website that you will continually work on during the three-week unit. (An example of a dipity I did about myself can be found here.) A rubric for grading of your dipity is found below.
STANDARDS USED IN THIS UNIT
State of Michigan Standards
5.2.1: Analyze the demographic, environmental, and political consequences of European oceanic travel and conquest and of the Columbian Exchange in the late 15th and 16th centuries examining the exchange of plants, animals, and pathogens impacted the natural environments, political institutions, societies, and commerce of European, Asian, African, and the American societies
Common Core Standards
RH.6-8.3: Identify key steps in a text's description of a process related to history/social studies
RH.9-10.6: 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 accounts.
RH.9-10.9: Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.