From the Sept 15, 2006 Issue of The Cape Codder
See Ms. Garran's paper (the subject of this article).
Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School News
The Imperial Scrapbook Project
Seventh-grade teacher Daniella Garran was recently awarded one of three fellowships awarded by the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association to highlight best practices. The fellowship program highlights best practices of charter school teachers throughout the state. For the fellowship, Garran devoted part of her summer to writing a paper about the Imperial Scrapbook Project, which she implemented in her social studies classes this spring.
The seventh-grade social studies curriculum at CCLCS is focused on ancient civilizations including Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Egypt, Greece and Rome as outlined in the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework. Throughout their analysis of each culture, students focus on the rise and fall of the different civilizations including government, social structure, the economy, job specialization, writing and literature, the military and the legacies left behind. While some traditional methods of instruction are used (e.g., class discussion, guided reading, writing assignments, note taking and group activities), each major unit is focused around a project. A key aspect of students' study of each civilization is the analysis of both primary sources and secondary sources. Rome is the most advanced and complex ancient civilization studied in the seventh-grade curriculum. The unit focuses largely on government and the shift from monarchy to republic to empire over the course of Rome's history. One of the most critical aspects of this unit is the comparison of Rome's government to the direct democracy of ancient Greece and to the representative democracy of the United States. The other main focus of this unit is a close examination of the factors that led to the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. As a result, students contemplate the economy, military strategies, social stratification, access to education, leisure activities, barbarian invasions, the rise of Christianity and other elements that influenced the development and dissolution of the empire.
As the seminal piece of their study of Rome, the Imperial Scrapbook project requires seventh-graders to research a Roman emperor of their choice and write a "first hand" account of his imperial reign. This practice is a multi-modal approach to the study of imperial Rome. Students must utilize skills and knowledge developed in other disciplines (e.g.: research, writing, drawing) as well as those necessary for historians (e.g.: use of primary and secondary sources). As they research their emperors, students are encouraged to view the emperor they choose as a historian rather than as a student; that is, they are encouraged to view the emperor in the bigger picture that is the history of ancient Rome. Students pay particular attention to their selected emperor's contributions and legacies as well as his failures.
As part of their project research, they consider the emperor's impact on Rome's economy, military conquests or losses, international relations, patronage of the arts, changes in government, and so on. Once students have synthesized the relevant information and have developed an understanding of the emperor's role within Rome's history, they must then write a narrative in the first person, thus creating an authentic, "primary resource." By writing from the perspective of the emperor in the first person and creating artifacts and souvenirs, students will truly understand the importance of primary sources to the historian and how the use of secondary sources alone is not an effective way to study history.
Garran's paper will be published in the coming months and she will present her paper and her project at the annual MCPSA Best Practices and Innovations Showcase in March.