Unit 2: Cultural Diffusion
Essential Questions:
1. What is culture?
2. How are cultures defined?
3. To what extent does the acceptance or rejection of new ideas affect communities?
4. To what extent are new ideas the products of past or established cultures?
5. Are the outcomes of cultural diffusion more beneficial or detrimental?
For all textbook readings, you should record the Terms & Names at the end of each section in your notebook.
Day 1
To prepare: (1) Read textbook Chapter 1 (sections 1 & 2); (2) Print Renaissance Overview PowerPoint Presentation from website (you may print 6 slides per page and in black-and-white ink).
Topic: Unit introduction; Renaissance Europe
Format:
PowerPoint Presentation and discussion
Video: Biography of the Millennium, Gutenberg (8 minutes)
Day 2
To prepare: (1) Print and read Italian & Northern Renaissance Seminar Readings; (2) Print and review Renaissance Seminar questions.
Topic: The Italian & Northern Renaissances
Format: Seminar Discussion based on The Dawn of the Renaissance, by J.H. Plumb
Day 3
To prepare: (1)Complete map activity, Renaissance Italy, c. 1494; (2) Print Renaissance DBQ from website; (3) Print DBQ Essay Organizational Chart from Writer’s Corner
Topic: Italian & Northern Renaissances; introduction to DBQ’s
Format:
-Video: Biography of the Millennium, Renaissance (12 minutes)
- Document-Based Question (DBQ) – Middle Ages or Renaissance? Differing Interpretations. Class willexamine the documents, answer the related questions, and complete organizational chart.
Day 4
Topic: Art of the Renaissance
Format: - PowerPoint presentation, Renaissance Art (no need to print)
- Discuss DBQ from Day 3
- Introduce Seminar format
Day 5
To prepare: (1) Print and read Renaissance Political Theory Seminar Readings; (2)Review discussion questions to prepare for seminar; (3) blog posting: “Should the President spend more time studying John of Salisbury or Machiavelli?”
Topic: Renaissance political theory
Format: Seminar Discussion, based on The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli and The Nature of a True Prince, by John of Salisbury
Day 6
To prepare: (1) study for Renaissance test; (2) print Protestant Reformation Introduction
Format: - Renaissance test
- Introduce Reformation
Day 7
To prepare: (1) Read textbook Chapter 1 (sections 3 & 4); (2) complete Religious Map of Europe, c. 1600; (3) print Protestant Reformation PowerPoint Presentation from website (you may print 6 slides per page and in black-and-white ink); (4)Print 95 Theses from website;
Topic: The Protestant Reformation
Format: - PowerPoint Presentation and discussion
- Video: Biography of the Millennium, Luther and Elizabeth (5 minutes)
- Class reading and discussion of Ninety-Five Theses, by Martin Luther. In groups, students will rewrite the theses in their own words and decide which three theses best capture the spirit of the Reformation.
Day 8
To prepare:Print and read Luther: Giant of His Time and Ours, by Richard N. Ostling; review discussion questions to prepare for seminar.
Topic: The Protestant Reformation
Format: - Seminar Discussion
- Complete PowerPoint presentation
Day 9
To prepare: Print Protestant Reformation Video Guide from website
Topic: The Protestant Reformation
Format:
PBS Video and website: Martin Luther
Video resources: vocabulary sheet, timeline, crossword, quiz
Day 10
To prepare: (1) study for Reformation test; (2) print Muslim Gunpowder Dynasties Worksheet from website
Format: - Reformation test (30 minutes)
- Introduce Muslim Dynasties (PBS website, Islam Empire of Faith). Class will explore the website’s resources, including faith, culture, innovation, profiles.
Day 11
To prepare: (1) Complete Muslim Gunpowder Dynasties worksheet using Chapter 2; (2) Using the blank world map, combine the maps on pps.65, 70, and 71 of the textbook into a single map of the Muslim Gunpowder dynasties; (3) Begin preparing for Islam seminar on Day 12
Topic: Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Dynasties
Format: - Class collaboration on worksheet (10 min.)
- Class discussion of worksheet (15 min.)
- Video: Islam, Empire of Faith (part III, 25 min.)
Day 12
To prepare: Print and readMuslim Gunpowder Dynasties Seminar Readings and review the discussion questions to prepare for a seminar on the topic.
Topic: Muslim Gunpowder Dynasties; cultural bias
Format: - Seminar (25 min.)
- Complete video: Islam, Empire of Faith (part III)
Seminar Discussion, based on following texts:
Suleyman: Warrior, Man of Justice
Suleyman the Magnificent, by Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq
Constantinople under the Turks, by Benedetto Ramberti
Descriptions of the Turks and the Christians, by Bertrandon de La Brocquiere and Sultan Bayezid II
Report on Persia, Persians, and Abbas I, by Father Simon
Akbar, by Father Monserrate
Shah Jahan: Legacy of Beauty
Day 13
To prepare: View Islamic Art PowerPoint on website (no need to print)
Topic: Islamic art
Format:MediaCenter research of Islamic Art
Day 14
To prepare: Print Comparative Essay rubric from Writer’s Corner of website
Topic: Renaissance & Islamic Art
Format: Comparative essay, “Compare and contrast the nature and function of visual arts in Renaissance Europe and the Muslim Gunpowder Dynasties.” Class time will be used to develop thesis statements and outlines. Completed essay due a few days later.
Day 15
To prepare: Study for Muslim Dynasties test
Format: - Muslim Dynasties test
- Continuation of comparative essay
Day 16
To prepare: (1) Read textbook Chapter 3 (sections 2 & 3); (2) print Chinese Exploration Readings from website
Topic:- Comparative Essay
- Introduction to Age of Exploration (East Meets West)
- Chinese Exploration & Isolation
Format: - Final questions on comparative essay
- Class reading and discussion of Letter to King George III (1793), List of Chinese Inventions and Discoveries with Dates of First Mention
Days 17
To prepare: Print Chinese Exploration NY Times Articles from website
Topic:Chinese Exploration & Isolation; Analysis of Historical Evidence
Format:
PBS Video and website: 1421: The Year China Discovered America(select chapters)
Class discussion of New York Times articles: (1) Who Discovered America? Zheng Who?, by Joseph Kahn (January 2006); (2) 1421: Pacific Overtures, by John Noble Wilford (February 2003)
Day 18
To prepare: (1) Read textbook Chapter 3 (section 1); Chapter 4 (sections 1 & 4); (2) Using a blank world map, combine and reproduce the maps on pages 87 and 104 of the textbook; (3) Print European Exploration Fact Sheets from website.
Topic: European Age of Exploration
Format:
Fact sheet, Factors Behind 15th-Century European Exploration
Fact sheet, Mercantilism vs. Free Market, 1500-1776
Fact sheet, Interhemispherical Exchange of Plants and Animals 1492-1610
Video: Biography of the Millennium, Explorers (6 minutes)
Point/Counterpoint Reading: Legacy of Columbus
Day 19
Topic: Chinese and European Exploration
Format: - Video, Geography of Food
- Comparative Essay -- Compare and Contrast Chinese and European views of and experiences with exploration. Class time will be used to develop thesis statements and outlines. (not doing full essay, but open-ended question will be on test)
Day 20
Test - Chinese and European Exploration