Unit Title: Columbian Exchange

Grade level: 9-12 World History

Length of unit: 3 Weeks
Stage 1 Desired Results
Meaning
Enduring Understandings/Generalizations:

Essential Questions:

Cultures and civilizations develop along unique

lines in different parts of the world.

When civilizations interact are there winners and are

there losers? How so?

When civilizations collide, their culture, disease

and economics transfer to each other causing
good as well as bad results for all parties.

Why do civilizations advance differently than others in

certain parts of the world?

How do major explorations from history effect the

world we see today?
Knowledge & Skills Acquisition
Learning Goals:
Understand the role of culture and cultural diffusion on the development and maintenance of
societies.SS.912.H.3
Understand the role of individuals and groups within a society as promoters of change or the
status quo.SS.912.H.4
Understand the effect of economic needs and wants on individual and group decisions.SS.912.H.5
Understand the role of innovation on the development and interaction of societies.SS.912.H.7
Taken from Iowa Common Core

Students will know

Students will be able to

Columbian Exchange
Small pox
Christopher Columbus
Montezuma
Arawak peoples
Hernan Cortes
Mesoamerican culture (Aztec)
Spanish culture and brief history of
Iberian Peninsula
Siege of Tenochtitlan
Cultural diffusion
Economic systems of New Spain
Mercantilism and Encomienda
Slave trade (African and Indian)

Compare and Contrast cultures and leaders and

economic systems

Draw and infer conclusions from text both

primary and secondary
Analyze the roles of institutions in cultural
development
Understand how civilization grows and
develops differently around the world
Understand the impact of disease on
colonialism
Understand the development of the slave
trade in the new world
Understand how certain civilizations are
able to conquer others
Write a thesis based paper with supporting
evidence from texts

Resources/Materials:
Books: World History Textbook
Daily PowerPoints
Primary source documents from anthology over conquest of Peru and Mexico
Other Primary sources over slave trade
Stage 2 Evidence (Assessment)
Types of assessment: Selected-Response (tests, quizzes); Personal Communication
(interview, oral exam, discussion); Written Response (short constructed response questions,
entrance/exit slips, essays); Performance Assessment (role-play, Simulation, labs,
dramatization)

Pre-assessment:

Will you use formal or informal pre-assessment methods in this unit?

informal
If so, what types of pre-assessment methods/strategies with you use?
I will use admit slips to connect to prior knowledge and to determine what content students already know.
Also, I will engage in student discussion to assess quality of knowledge and skills possessed such as
comparing and contrasting.
What will you do if a student(s) has demonstrated mastery of the knowledge or skills you plan to teach?
I will provide more in depth options for that student and allow them to demonstrate these skills and
content mastery in the final essay as well as in the Prezi presentations.

Formative Assessment:

How will you assess student learning along the way?

Through quick writes, exit slips and alphabox quiz assessments. Also informally by being present in
discussions.
How will you use your formative assessments to help scaffold student learning of key concepts and skills?
Through these exit slips and other diagnostic tools I will be able to see if learning is taking place at
appropriate levels. The only alphabox quiz that is graded is the final one. The others are to inform them on the
process and to assess what they know so I can adjust accordingly.
How will you integrate performance assessment into this unit?
There will be one or two short essay questions on the alphabox assessments where they will be asked
analytical questions about topics in the unit and they must use key vocabulary to demonstrate that
knowledge. However, these will all tie into the quick writes and exit slips done earlier in the week.

Summative Assessment:

How will you summatively assess student learning in this unit (end-of-unit test, essay, interview,
performance assessment)?
I will use a long essay as the main assessment as well as a quiz the week before the test. The Quiz will
mostly be multiple choice but will have a couple short answer questions and focused on the use of
vocabulary. Also, the students will fill in a Prezi I have made and will present what they found to the class.
This will be a summary of the entire unit essentially.
What knowledge or skills will you target in this summative assessment?
How will you integrate performance assessment into this unit?
The students will create their own original long essay and must use at least one primary source that we
used in class. Other
sources must be cited. Also, students will be making a Prezi out of a skeleton form they
will be given by me. This mind map can contain sources, facts and notes that they will have gathered
throughout the unit. They will then give a presentation over what they have found. This will be mostly graded
on effort and accuracy of knowledge presented. The main focus of this unit is the essay where the main
essential questions as well as standards will be assessed.
Stage 3 Learning Plan

Use these questions to help guide the creation of your pacing calendar (learning plan).

How many days will your unit last?

How will you sequence/organize learning your unit in an iterative/incremental way?

What opening activity will you use to hook or engage student learning in this unit?

How will you ensure students know where the learning is headed in this unit?

How will you introduce students to your Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions? At what
points will you have your students re-consider these understandings/questions?

How will you sequence/organize your assessments in an iterative/incremental way?

How will you foster critical thinking and problem solving in this unit? Self-reflection? Curiosity and
imagination? Collaboration? Innovation/Creativity? Adaptive thinking? Accessing and analyzing
information? Oral and written communication?

What active instructional strategies/learning activities might you use to engage students in learning (You
need to use at least 3 different types of instructional strategies)?

How will you differentiate for individual student needs in this unit? What differentiated instructional
strategies will you use (e.g., student choice, flexible grouping, jigsaw, choice boards/menus, tiered
assignments, anchor activities, etc.)?

How will you use technology to support and facilitate student learning in this unit?