Standard

I have chosen to focus on the Virginia World History 5 Standard of Learning for this course.  The standard falls under the World History and Geography to 1500 curriculum and would probably be taught at the Eighth Grade level. 

WHI.5: The student will demonstrate knowledge of ancient Greece in terms of its impact on Western civilization by

a)   assessing the influence of geography on Greek economic, social, and political development, including the impact of Greek commerce and colonies;

b)   describing Greek mythology and religion;

c)   identifying the social structure and role of slavery, explaining the significance of citizenship and the development of democracy, and comparing the city-states of Athens and Sparta;

d)   evaluating the significance of the Persian and Peloponnesian wars;

e)   characterizing life in Athens during the Golden Age of Pericles;

f)   citing contributions in drama, poetry, history, sculpture, architecture, science, mathematics, and philosophy, with emphasis on Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle;

g)   explaining the conquest of Greece by Macedonia and the formation and spread of Hellenistic culture by Alexander the Great.



Providing students with options for learning and demonstrating what they have learned is important.  I remember listening to a conversation between classmates from a course I took recently.  As part of the course requirements, each of us had to create two presentations.  Several of the students were discussing how they would prefer to write a paper on the topic instead of creating and giving a presentation on it.  I remember thinking that I feel the opposite.  I would much rather create a presentation than write a paper.  Although both tasks probably take a similar amount of time to complete, I enjoy the process of adding visuals and building the story of a presentation much more than focusing on the topic sentences and proper format of a paper. 

There are a number of activities that could be incorporated into the lessons that would take into consideration the different learning styles of the students.  For example, blog entries written by students from the perspective of individuals living during the Golden Age of Pericles would support visual learners.  Students could also create podcasts to narrate Greek mythology.  This would be particularly helpful for auditory learners, but visual and kinesthetic learners would also benefit from writing or acting out the dialogue of the podcast.  Students could also be provided with a choice in terms of presenting a particular contribution to the rest of the class.  The students could first choose an ancient Greek contribution from drama, poetry, history, sculpture, architecture, science, mathematics, and philosophy, and then decide how they would present the topic to the class.  For example, the visual learners could create a blog entry, or a PowerPoint presentation to describe the contribution they chose.  The kinesthetic learners could recreate sculptures or architectural elements, while the auditory learners could perform the poetic, dramatic, or historical contributions.