East Asia, 300 AD-1300 AD
by Kevin Brown
1. The students will watch the video and listen to the instructor while taking notes. They will they be asked to choose whether they'd rather be a peasant or a merchant in Medieval Japan. After the debate they will be asked to write a reflection that argues for the opposing side that they took during the debate. The students will then share it with a student who wrote on the other side so that they can compare and hear how the other student would have fought their original argument.
2. The instructor will follow up the "hook" YouTube video with an illustration of the hierarchy during the Shogun Japan days. This picture is used to show that Merchants were on the bottom and that Peasants were one level higher. The instructor will give background and context on Japan during its military rule. The instructor will also inform the students that in feudal japan, peasants or farmers were considered above the artisans, who were above the merchants. Merchants were considered the parasitic lowest class. However, the peasants were very poor, were forced to give everything they grew to their Daimyo, and often had to hire themselves out in addition to their farming just to survive. The merchants, on the other hand, grew wealth and subsequently bought land giving them power. The question for the class debate will be: Would you rather be wealthy and despised, living outside of the town and shunned by the upper classes? Or, would you rather be a peasant who is honored and respected, but very poor and living in horrid conditions. Students must remember that in Feudal japan honor, society, rank, and respect meant everything. Without them, a Japanese person would feel they dishonored their family, bringing shame to their clan. This would sometimes even lead to ritualistic suicide to regain their family honor in death. The class will be split into two groups, one side debating that life would be better as a merchant, and the other side arguing why the life of a peasant would be superior during this era of Japanese history.
3. The students will be assessed formatively and informally during the whole class discussion. The instructor will be asking questions and observing facial and body language for understanding. The students will also be assessed formally and formatively during the debate when the instructor will score individual students for exceptionally strong points and assess all students on their debate performance and points made. The summative assessment will come in the form of a reflection that the students will be asked to write. Students will write from the opposing view to show they know the subject well enough to argue both sides and to show that they were paying attention to the opposing debate team.
4. The goal of this lesson is to engage the students in debate about the feudal system in Japan during the Shogun (military rule) dynasties. The main objective during this discussion and debate lesson is for students to determine whether they would rather be a merchant or a peasant during this time in Japan’s history.
5. Students read the excerpts from Tale of Genji and Tale of Heike. They then reread the primary source documents using the Close Reading strategy outlined below to delve into the mindset of the writer, to learn about the time, place, customs, behavior, and mindset of the aristocracy of the Heian period in Japan during the 1100s A.D. The documents will illustrate why this type of government was overthrown and a military style Shogun dynasty followed that lasted for the next 700 years. The excess of court reminds the reader of France's own issues, which will help as the instructor connects this time and place to the French Revolution to build context and prior knowledge by relating it to a more recognizable event. The students will read the source documents (highlighting import information such as key terms and unfamiliar words, and then paragraph by paragraph the students will cite the who, what, where, how, and why's of the text to determine meaning, setting, and clues to how the characters are thinking and their values. After the students have chosen the key words, reviewed the author's quotes, determined the big ideas, character motivations, and character intent, the class will have a discussion to see what the small groups discovered, and what pieces they need to add to their Close Reading list. After the class gives suggestions, students will be asked to review that text again, this time making diagrams and graphic organizers to help make connections between the words and actions of the characters.
6. The instructor will assess the students in an informal formative manner during the class discussion and Close Reading whole class work. The instructor will also formatively assess the students while they are working in their small groups and discussing their Close Reading Strategies and Pair/Share their responses. Students will also be formally and formatively assessed based on their answers to the questions in the Tale of Genji primary source document that they will be asked to answer the next day in class.
7. Students will be able to use close reading skills and techniques to analyze primary source documents and answer questions about those documents.
8. Chinese Inventions
8.1. Trace the historic influence of such discoveries as tea, the manufacture of paper, woodblock printing, the compass, and gunpowder.
8.1.1. Assessment: Students will be assessed on their Cornell Notes as a formal formative assessment.The class discussion will be an informal formative assessment, and an exit ticket (what are your top two inventions and why?) will be a formal formative assessment. Lastly, the fill in the blank supplemental document will be their summative assessment which they will get a grade on.
8.1.1.1. The teacher will have a large class discussion and then break the students into small group work. The instructor will then visit each group and answer questions and assess the students and the lesson
8.1.1.2. The students will be tasked with watching a short video and taking Cornell Notes throughout it. The students will also take Cornell Notes during the whole class discussion
8.1.1.3. The students will then get into small groups of four students and fill out a supplemental guided notes handout. At the end of the guided notes the students will be asked to write 2-3 sentences about their favorite invention.