Teacher Candidate Name: 1

Unit Plan/Instructional Sequence Title:

Date:

Part 1: Basic Unit/Instructional Sequence Information:

Unit Plan/Instructional Sequence Title: Rome: An Evolution from Republic to Empire to the Foundation of

the Western Civilizations of Today

Grade Level(s): 8th Grade

Subject/Topic of the Instructional Sequence: Rome as it Develops from a Republic to an Empire and the

lasting impact of Roman civilization on later civilizations to the present day. Christianity’s development and

role within the Roman Empire will be an important subtopic.

Time Required for the Instructional Sequence (# of days): Classes are 55 minutes. The unit will be covered

over 10 days. This will include 8 days of instruction and two days to create a presentation as the summative

assessment of the unit.

Key Words: Italy, Rome, Republic, Empire, Julius Caesar, Augustus, Christianity, Jesus, Senate, Consul, Checks

and Balances, Civic Duty, Carthage, Pax Romana, Byzantine

Empire,

Brief Summary of Unit (including context and unit goals): The unit on Rome plays and important role in

the 8th grade world history course. Together Rome, Greece, and Christianity form the basic foundation for the

development of the Western world. Rome follows Greece in the overall timeline of the course, and Christianity

is introduce in the unit on Rome only to be expanded upon later as it develops in the units that cover

throughout Europe throughout the following centuries, as well as in a segment on comparative religion once

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we reach the foundation of Islam and have finally established all five of the major world religions we know

today. This unit will focus on Rome’s role in building the foundation for the Western World throughout the

development of the republic, the foundation of Christianity, and other significant cultural achievements.

Students should leave this unit understanding that the political and religious principles they see in their life

today have major beginnings within the world of Ancient Rome.

Part 2: Goals of the Unit/Instructional Sequence:

Established Goals (all ACOS standards addressed in the unit/sequence):

6 ) Trace the expansion of the Roman Republic and its transformation into an empire, including key
geographic, political, and economic elements.

Examples: expansion—illustrating the spread of Roman influence with charts, graphs, timelines, or maps

transformation—noting reforms of Augustus, listing effects of Pax Romana

• Interpreting spatial distributions and patterns of the Roman Republic using geographic tools and
technologies
Insight Unpacked Content

Strand: Economics, Geography, History, Civics and Government

Course Title: World History to 1500
Evidence of Student Attainment:
Students:
 Analyze the influence of the Roman Republic, including reforms and the Pax Romana.
Teacher Vocabulary:
 Roman Republic
 transformation
 geographic, political, and economic elements
 spatial distributions
Knowledge:
Students know:
 Details of the expansion of the Roman Republic and its transformation into an empire. Key geographic, political,
and economic elements of the Roman Empire.
 The spatial distributions and patterns of the Roman Republic.
 How Rome gained control of the Mediterranean region events leading to the creation of a Roman empire.
 The reforms of Augustus.
 Effects of the Pax Romana.
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Skills:
Student are able to:
 Analyze textual evidence of primary and secondary sources.
 Locate places on a map.
 Analyze the effects of geography on culture.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
 The Roman Republic evolved from a republic into an empire, and it later expanded.

7 ) Describe the widespread impact of the Roman Empire.

Example: spread of Roman law and political theory, citizenship and slavery, architecture and engineering,
religions, sculptures and paintings, literature, and the Latin language

• Tracing important aspects of the diffusion of Christianity, including its relationship to Judaism, missionary
impulse, organizational development, transition from persecution to acceptance in the Roman Empire, and
church doctrine
• Explaining the role of economics, societal changes, Christianity, political and military problems, external
factors, and the size and diversity of the Roman Empire in its decline and fall
Insight Unpacked Content

Strand: Economics, Geography, History, Civics and Government

Course Title: World History to 1500
Evidence of Student Attainment:
Students:
 Analyze the history and impact of the Roman Empire on later societies.
Teacher Vocabulary:
 diffusion
 persecution
 doctrine
 external factors
Knowledge:
Students know:
 The impact/influence of the Roman Empire on the world including cultural achievements.
 How to trace important aspects of the spread of Christianity such as how it relates to Judaism, its organization, and
its doctrine. The reasons behind the decline and fall of Rome including economics, societal changes, Christianity,
political and military problems, external factors, and the size and diversity of the empire.
 Long-lasting Roman influences.
 The important aspects of Christianity in the Roman Empire, including how it relates to other religions and its
influence on Roman society.
 The role of economics, politics, size/diversity, and societal changes in the decline and fall of Rome.
Skills:
Students are able to:

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 Analyze textual evidence of primary and secondary sources.

 Locate places on a map.
 Identify the effects of religious beliefs and practices on societies.
 Identify the cause and effect of economic changes on societies.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
 The Roman Empire impacted and influenced later societies.

What will students understand as a result of this unit/sequence?

Students will understand that Rome evolved from a small Republic into a large Empire that had significant

impact on cultural, political, and religious developments on later societies for centuries up to the present day.

What essential question(s) will be used as part of the unit/sequence?

Overarching Question: How did Rome evolve from a small republic to a large empire? How did the evolution of

Rome have significant impact on cultural, political, and religious developments on later societies for centuries

up to the present day?

Day 1 – How did the Roman Republic come to exist?

Day 2 – What were some of the key aspects of Roman law and government? Where do we see

similarities to this today?

Day 3 - What role did the Punic Wars play in altering Rome’s political landscape in the latter half of the

Republic?

Day 4 – What were some of the factors that led to the fall of the Roman Republic allowing Julius Caesar

to gain the title Dictator for Life?

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Day 5 – What were some of the major achievements and reforms of Augustus? How did these changes

impact the Roman Empire?

Day 6 – What effects did the Pax Romana have on society in the Roman Empire?

Day 7 – What are the basic tenants of Christianity? How did Christianity overcome persecution and

become accepted in the Roman Empire? How did the growth of Christianity alter other aspects of

Roman Society? How does Christianity relate to Judaism?

Day 8 - What factors led to the Fall of the Roman Empire?

What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit/sequence?

The following knowledge and skill goals are taken from the unpacked course of study for items 6 and 7
covering the Roman Republic and Roman Empire.

Knowledge:

 Details of the expansion of the Roman Republic and its transformation into an empire. Key geographic,
political, and economic elements of the Roman Empire.
 The spatial distributions and patterns of the Roman Republic.
 How Rome gained control of the Mediterranean region events leading to the creation of a Roman empire.
 The reforms of Augustus.
 Effects of the Pax Romana.

 The impact/influence of the Roman Empire on the world including cultural achievements.
 How to trace important aspects of the spread of Christianity such as how it relates to Judaism, its organization,
and its doctrine. The reasons behind the decline and fall of Rome including economics, societal changes,
Christianity, political and military problems, external factors, and the size and diversity of the empire.
 Long-lasting Roman influences.
 The important aspects of Christianity in the Roman Empire, including how it relates to other religions and its
influence on Roman society.
 The role of economics, politics, size/diversity, and societal changes in the decline and fall of Rome.

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Skills:

 Analyze textual evidence of primary and secondary sources.

 Locate places on a map.
 Analyze the effects of geography on culture.

 Analyze textual evidence of primary and secondary sources.

 Locate places on a map.
 Identify the effects of religious beliefs and practices on societies.
 Identify the cause and effect of economic changes on societies.

The knowledge covered throughout the standard breakdown relates information necessary to know in order to

obtain understanding of the overall goals of the unit. The knowledge listed here will allow to students to

answer all essential questions throughout the unit as well as the more important overarching question relating

to the unit’s overall significance to history and the present day. The embedded skills include analysis of

primary and secondary resources as well as geography skills that are necessary both in the context of the

classroom as well as essential skills for students to possess outside of the classroom. These are skills primarily

embedded in social studies coursework and should be focused on in the majority of units across the social

studies spectrum because of their real world importance to students moving forward. Students need to be able

to read something and recognize if it’s a primary source or a secondary source. They need to have the ability to

recognize whether or not it is a reliable source. They need to be able to read something and analyze it well

enough to know the main purpose of the document. Students need map skills moving forward. They need to

be able to look at a variety of maps, recognize familiar points, and locate other points of interest in relation to

those key points. Reading maps is a necessary life skill because travel becomes very difficult if you don’t know

where you’re going or how to figure out how to get there.

Part 3: Assessment Evidence:

Describe the summative assessment that you will use to evaluate the overall effectiveness of your
unit/instructional sequence.
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 In most cases this should be a performance assessment.

 If your instructional sequence is intended to result in students developing understanding, you must use an
authentic performance assessment in order to effectively evaluate understanding.

Describe other instructor assessments, such as quizzes, tests, prompts, observations, dialogues, and
work samples that will be used to evaluate knowledge and skills.

Formative assessments:
Various activities done each day will serve as formative assessment measures of the students understanding of

that day’s essential question.

Examples:

Day 1 - The 3-2-1 chart and the paragraph will be taken up as formative assessments to gauge student

understanding of the story behind the beginning of the Roman Republic. These responses should show

whether or not students have a fair understanding of Day 1’s essential question, how did the Roman

Republic come to exist?

Day 2 - The comparison chart will be taken up and checked as a formative assessment to ensure students

mastered the understanding for the essential question of the day, what were some of the key aspects of

Roman law and government? Where do we see similarities to this today?

 Day 3 – The discussion will be used as a formative assessment to measure student understanding of the

day’s essential question on the Punic Wars impact on the political landscape of Rome. Questions at the end

of the lecture for the discussion will include: 1. What made the Punic Wars unique for Rome at this point of

the Republic? (Rome involved in a large scale military conflict with an outside nation leading). 2. What

were some major benefits to Rome from engaging in this rivalry with Carthage? (Military advancements.

Expansion of the Republic) 3. How might this change Rome’s foreign policy moving forward? (Confidence in

dealing with outside foes. Desire for further victories and expansion. – Seeds of the future empire.) The

map activity will be taken up to formatively assess student knowledge of the geography relating to ancient

Rome and their overall map skills.

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Day 4 – The companion worksheet with the film and the groups primary document analysis will be taken up as

a formative assessment to make sure students are following the knowledge necessary to answer the days

essential question, what were some of the factors that led to the fall of the Roman Republic allowing

Julius Caesar to gain the title Dictator for Life?

Day 5 – The analysis on the achievements of Augustus and the comparison chart will be taken up to

formatively assess student understanding of the day’s essential question.

Day 6 – The picture analysis and the map and related writing assignment will be turned in as formative

assessment checks to measure students understanding of the essential question for the day as well as assess

their map skills and geographic knowledge in relation to ancient Rome.

Day 7 – The written summary of the information from the reading assignment and the Venn diagram will be

taken up to be checked as a formative assessment measuring student understanding of the day’s essential

questions. (What are the basic tenants of Christianity? How did Christianity overcome persecution and

become accepted in the Roman Empire? How did the growth of Christianity alter other aspects of

Roman Society? How does Christianity relate to Judaism?)

Day 8 - The video companion organizer worksheet will be taken up as a formative assessment to measure

student knowledge of the day’s essential question, what factors led to the Fall of the Roman Empire? The

writing assignment at the end of class requires students to consider the unit’s overarching question.

This assignment will formatively assess whether or not students are ready to move into the

summative assessment project for the unit, or if there are certain areas that we need to take extra

time to cover before the summative assessment project.

Summative assessments:

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 Students will be tasked with creating a presentation. Students will imagine they are in a world

where everyone can travel back in time once in their life to observe a period of history in a

specific location as an invisible, non-interfering viewer. Almost as if they are in a live museum.

The students are in charge of creating a presentation persuading people to choose The Roman

Empire to the Republic as their one “live” historical viewing experience. Students should

include information and images related to the politics, religion, and dramatic moments

throughout the development of Roman history and relate how these developments help make

the world we live in today in effort to convince perspective time travelling viewers spending

their one time trip to Ancient Rome is the way to go. Students will be given all activity

responses taken up as formative assessments to use in building their presentation for the

summative assessment. Students will have a rubric to guide them as they complete their

presentation. The rubric will serve as an outline for expectations and goals for the summative

assessment as well as allow students the opportunity to self-assess their work on the

summative assessment as they compile their presentation.

Thoroughly describe activities that will be used for peer assessments:

Some activities will allow students the opportunity to peer assess their work. The activity on day 2 where

students create a chart comparing the Roman Republic to the present government of the United States calls for

students to pair with another student and review each other’s work prior to turning it in for review by the

instructor.

Thoroughly describe activities that will be used for self-assessment:

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Students will have a rubric that goes along with the summative assessment. During the two days the students

are compiling their presentation they will have the opportunity to use the rubric in assessing their work on the

summative assessment project while they work on it.

Part 4-A: Daily Plan for Instructional Sequence and Learning Experiences
 For each day you should write a short summary of what will be happening that day, including the focus of the lesson, primary instructional/learning
activities, and assessments that will be used.
 These summaries should work together to make it clear how the unit moves forward.
 You may use bullets to indicate lesson activities, assessments, etc.
 It is not permissible to just put lecture; instead you should state what the lecture is about (Ex. Lecture on the causes of the Cold War, or interactive
discussion about the types of chemical bonds, etc.)
 Include a time estimate for each activity. You should also indicate the days you plan to co-teach and the type of co-teaching you plan to incorporate.
 If your instructional sequence is more than 3 days, you can add additional days to Part 4. Add as many days as necessary so that you have a description for
each day of the sequence.

Include the WHERETO elements in the calendar. Describe how each WHERETO element you identify for a day is fulfilled during the course of the lesson.

Day 1:

 Focus of the lesson: Foundation of Rome: The Beginning to the Start of the Republic.

 Primary instructional/learning activities. The first primary learning activity of the first day has

students read selected passages from Virgil’s Aeneid as well as his Parallel Lives (The Life of Romulus).

The students will be asked to complete a 3-2-1 chart related to the reading. They will list three things they

found out, two they thought were interesting, and one question they have from the reading.

The second activity will be guided notes, discussion / lecture reviewing the main points from the first

activity and discussing the Etruscan Kings eventually fall to pave way for the Roman Republic. At the end

of the class students will be asked to write a brief paragraph explaining how the Roman Republic came to

exist.

 Assessments to be used during the day’s lesson. The 3-2-1 chart and the paragraph will be taken up as

formative assessments to gauge student understanding of the story behind the beginning of the Roman

Republic. These responses should show whether or not students have a fair understanding of Day 1’s

essential question, how did the Roman Republic come to exist?

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Day 2:

 Focus of the lesson: The Early Roman Republic and its laws and political structure

 Primary instructional/learning activities. There will be a 10 minute Lecture / Discussion on the Early

Roman Republic including discussion of history and the political structure. . Students will have a guided

notes companion sheet to follow as with all lecture / discussion within the unit. Students will then work

individually and use their Chromebook and textbooks to do research and organize a chart comparing

commonalities and differences between the Roman Republic and the present day government of the United

States. Once students have finished their research and compiled their chart they will pair with another

student and peer review their work to correct any mistakes or further elaborate if necessary prior to

turning in the chart.

 Assessments to be used during the day’s lesson. The comparison chart will be taken up and checked as

a formative assessment to ensure students mastered the understanding for the essential question of the

day, what were some of the key aspects of Roman law and government? Where do we see

similarities to this today?

Day 3:

 Focus of the lesson: The Punic Wars and the later Roman Republic

 Primary instructional/learning activities. There will be a 10 minute Lecture / Discussion on the Punic

Wars and the later years of the Roman Republic. Students will have a guided notes companion sheet to

follow as with all lecture / discussion within the unit. The final activity of the day after the discussion of the

Punic Wars will be a map activity requiring students to use the resources in their text book as well as

resources they find online via their chromebooks to label a map of Italy. They will highlight the location of

Rome, shade areas of Italy in green and brown to indicate elevations and label the shade the seas

surrounding Italy and shade them in blue. Other keys locations in and around Italy, including rival Carthage
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from the Punic Wars will be identified on the map. The map activity will be taken up to formatively assess

student knowledge of the geography relating to ancient Rome and their overall map skills.

 Assessments to be used during the day’s lesson. The discussion will be used as a formative assessment

to measure student understanding of the day’s essential question on the Punic Wars impact on the political

landscape of Rome. Questions at the end of the lecture for the discussion will include: 1. What made the

Punic Wars unique for Rome at this point of the Republic? (Rome involved in a large scale military conflict

with an outside nation leading). 2. What were some major benefits to Rome from engaging in this rivalry

with Carthage? (Military advancements. Expansion of the Republic) 3. How might this change Rome’s

foreign policy moving forward? (Confidence in dealing with outside foes. Desire for further victories and

expansion. – Seeds of the future empire,)

Day 4:

 Focus of the lesson: Disorder in the Republic and the Emergence of the Roman Empire featuring Julius

Caesar

 Primary instructional/learning activities. Students will watch a 25 minute documentary clip on Julius

Caesar’s rise to power and the end of the Roman Republic. There will be a companion worksheet / notes

outline that follows along with the video. Students will read a few brief selections from Caesar’s writings on

the Gallic Wars and the Civil War. They will work in small groups of 4 to answer Who, What, When Where,

Why in relation to the readings.

 Assessments to be used during the day’s lesson. The companion worksheet with the film and the groups

primary document analysis will be taken up as a formative assessment to make sure students are following

the knowledge necessary to answer the days essential question, what were some of the factors that led

to the fall of the Roman Republic allowing Julius Caesar to gain the title Dictator for Life?

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 Day 5: Focus of the lesson: The Achievements and Reforms of Augustus

 Primary instructional/learning activities. There will be a 10 minute lecture / discussion on the

period following Caesar’s assassination where Augustus rises to power and becomes the first emperor

of Rome, and the structural differences between the Empire and the Republic. Students will have a

guided notes companion worksheet to fill out as we discuss. Students will then read a brief primary

document from Augustus listing his achievements as emperor of Rome. They will work in groups to fill

out an analysis sheet. This will ask students to select what they fill the most important actions of

Augustus were, and whether or not they consider him to be a great leader. Finally, students will

complete a comparison chart utilizing the notes, their textbooks, and research on their chromebooks

showing the differences in political functions in the Roman Republic vs the Roman Empire. Students

will have roughly 20 minutes for each activity.

 Assessments to be used during the day’s lesson. The analysis on the achievements of Augustus and

the comparison chart will be taken up to formatively assess student understanding of the day’s

essential question.

Day 6:

 Focus of the lesson: The Pax Romana and Cultural Achievements of the Roman Empire

 Primary instructional/learning activities. The first activity will consist of a 15 minute lecture and

discussion on the period of the Pax Romana (Roman Peace). The second activity will have students get into

groups. They will work together to analyze images showcasing some of the significant cultural

achievements of the Roman Empire, particularly from the period of the Roman Peace. Students will record

their observations from the picture analysis. The second activity will have students label a map of the peak

of the Roman Empire. Students will also write a brief 1-2 Paragraph commentary on this map in

comparison to the previous map they completed on the Roman Republic.

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 Assessments to be used during the day’s lesson. The picture analysis and the map and related writing

assignment will be turned in as formative assessment checks to measure students understanding of the

essential question for the day as well as assess their map skills and geographic knowledge in relation to

ancient Rome.

Day 7:

 Focus of the lesson: Christianity in Rome

 Primary instructional/learning activities. Students will read selected passages from the New Testament

of the Christian Bible. These passages will focus on basic beliefs as well interactions in Rome. This activity

will be completed as a jigsaw activity. Students will be in groups of four given an A B C D designation. Each

student will have a quarter of the selected reading. The students with the same designations will meet and

discuss their portion of the reading. The students will then meet in their groups and teach each other the

material from their section. The class as a whole will then discuss the key points of the different sections of

the reading. The students will be asked to summarize the key points they learned from the jigsaw reading

activity in 1-2 paragraphs. Students will also work individually to complete a Venn diagram. This should

highlight the differences in Christianity and Judaism and the key points where the two religions overlap.

 Assessments to be used during the day’s lesson. The written summary of the information from the

reading assignment and the Venn diagram will be taken up to be checked as a formative assessment

measuring student understanding of the day’s essential questions. (What are the basic tenants of

Christianity? How did Christianity overcome persecution and become accepted in the Roman

Empire? How did the growth of Christianity alter other aspects of Roman Society? How does

Christianity relate to Judaism?)

Day 8:
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 Focus of the lesson: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

 Primary instructional/learning activities. Students will watch a 30 minute clip from a documentary

series on Rome focusing on the fall of the Roman Empire. As student watch the video they will fill out an

organizer that will help connect causes of the fall of the Empire and the aftermath of those events. For the

last 25 minutes of class students will be asked to write five to ten sentences on how the world of Ancient

Rome carries similarities to what the know from the world present day regarding government, culture, and

religion.

Assessments to be used during the day’s lesson. The video companion organizer worksheet will be taken up

as a formative assessment to measure student knowledge of the day’s essential question, what factors led to

the Fall of the Roman Empire? The writing assignment at the end of class requires students to

consider the unit’s overarching question. This assignment will formatively assess whether or not

students are ready to move into the summative assessment project for the unit, or if there are certain

areas that we need to take extra time to cover before the summative assessment project.

Day 9: Summative Assessment Project on Rome: An Evolution from Republic to Empire to the Foundation of

the Western Civilizations of Today

 Focus of the lesson: Summative Assessment Project on Rome: An Evolution from Republic to Empire to

the Foundation of the Western Civilizations of Today

 Primary instructional/learning activities. The ninth day will be the first of two days allowing the

students to organize their digital presentation that will serve as the summative assessment for the unit.

 Assessments to be used during the day’s lesson. Students will be tasked with creating a

presentation. Students will imagine they are in a world where everyone can travel back in time

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once in their life to observe a period of history in a specific location as an invisible, non-

interfering viewer. Almost as if they are in a live museum. The students are in charge of

creating a presentation persuading people to choose The Roman Empire to the Republic as their

one “live” historical viewing experience. Students should include information and images

related to the politics, religion, and dramatic moments throughout the development of Roman

history and relate how these developments help make the world we live in today in effort to

convince perspective time travelling viewers spending their one time trip to Ancient Rome is

the way to go. Students will be given all activity responses taken up as formative assessments

to use in building their presentation for the summative assessment. Students will have a rubric

to guide them as they complete their presentation. The rubric will serve as an outline for

expectations and goals for the summative assessment as well as allow students the opportunity

to self-assess their work on the summative assessment as they compile their presentation.

Day 10: Summative Assessment Project on Rome: An Evolution from Republic to Empire to the Foundation of

the Western Civilizations of Today

 Focus of the lesson: Summative Assessment Project on Rome: An Evolution from Republic to Empire to

the Foundation of the Western Civilizations of Today

 Primary instructional/learning activities. The tenth day will be the second of two days allowing the

students to organize their digital presentation that will serve as the summative assessment for the unit.

 Assessments to be used during the day’s lesson: Students will be tasked with creating a

presentation. Students will imagine they are in a world where everyone can travel back in time

once in their life to observe a period of history in a specific location as an invisible, non-

interfering viewer. Almost as if they are in a live museum. The students are in charge of

creating a presentation persuading people to choose The Roman Empire to the Republic as their

Jacksonville State University, Secondary Education Unit Plan Template

Adapted from Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook © 2004
 Teacher Candidate Name: 17
Unit Plan/Instructional Sequence Title:
Date:

one “live” historical viewing experience. Students should include information and images

related to the politics, religion, and dramatic moments throughout the development of Roman

history and relate how these developments help make the world we live in today in effort to

convince perspective time travelling viewers spending their one time trip to Ancient Rome is

the way to go. Students will be given all activity responses taken up as formative assessments

to use in building their presentation for the summative assessment. Students will have a rubric

to guide them as they complete their presentation. The rubric will serve as an outline for

expectations and goals for the summative assessment as well as allow students the opportunity

to self-assess their work on the summative assessment as they compile their presentation.

Part 4-B: Overview of Instructional Sequence and Learning Experiences Plan

Complete each of the following related to your overall Daily Plan.

A. Explain how you introduce the unit/learning segment and how this activity helps students understand
the relevance of the unit/learning segment topic.
B. Explain how the sequence of learning activities is designed to ensure that students are able to
successfully address the essential question(s) that guide the unit/segment. Address the amount of time
spent on each aspect of the topic and briefly explain how the time spent on each helps the students
develop a deep, real world understanding of the topic.
C. How did your instruction support students in the development of arguments/conclusions within your
daily lessons and for your unit of instruction?
D. How did you address the key misconceptions of the throughout the learning segment?
E. What research or theory was used to support your instructional practice throughout your unit?
F. Explain how the formative assessments will be used to inform instruction throughout the learning
segment and how learning activities might change as a result of formative assessment data.
G. Explain how the summative assessment will provide effective evaluation of the goals for the
unit/learning segment.

A. The unit will be introduced by explaining to students how Ancient Rome along with Ancient Greece and

Judaism (the two previous units covered) work together to form the basic ideas of modern western civilization.

In simpler terms the Roman Republic, cultural developments in Ancient Rome, and the development and

Jacksonville State University, Secondary Education Unit Plan Template

Adapted from Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook © 2004
Teacher Candidate Name: 18
Unit Plan/Instructional Sequence Title:
Date:

spread of Christianity in Rome led to the development of Republican and Christian ideas to feature prominently

in the western half of the world throughout history. This still continues to today, where we live under a United

States government carried by Republican principles and a society that carries a majority of people still

practicing in some form or another the Christian faith. The opening day’s activity focuses on the mythology of

the founding of Rome leading up to the start of the Republic. Myths such as the story of Romulus and Remus

can work to pique student interest in a topic. The story contains strong elements of fantasy (the boys being

raised by a She Wolf) and family drama (culminating in brother murdering brother, a story element proven

effective repeatedly in religious folklore and mythology all throughout the ancient world.) After the first day

uses the mythology behind the founding to hopefully pique student interest, the second day moves into

focusing on the Republic, and comparing that republic to the present day government of the United States. This

allows students a window to see the connection between the ancient Roman world and their world today. This

real world relevance should build upon the interest built from the initial myth and propel student interest for

the remainder of the unit.

B. Some daily lessons within the unit may cover broader periods or a couple of topics. These units are in

place as bridge lessons providing need to know information between the more essential units that carry more

substantial meaning today and in relation to answering the overarching question for the unit. For example, the

topics are Christianity, as well as the Roman Republic’s political structure get a full day of focus.

C. A variety of different types of instruction and resources were utilized each day to help students address

a specific essential question for that day’s instruction. The students should be able to pull from the different

resources and activities from each day’s lesson to form an argument or conclusion relating to that essential

question. The conclusions reached at the end of each day work together to form an argument for the unit’s

overarching questions, “How did Rome evolve from a small republic to a large empire? How did the evolution

of Rome have significant impact on cultural, political, and religious developments on later societies for

centuries up to the present day?”

Jacksonville State University, Secondary Education Unit Plan Template

Adapted from Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook © 2004
Teacher Candidate Name: 19
Unit Plan/Instructional Sequence Title:
Date:

D. The unit plan utilizes a number of primary resources and reliable historical secondary sources.

Embedding reliable source material serves to prevent the introduction of common misconceptions into

students learning of any particular subject.

E. A variety of theories from different educational researchers support different aspects of the design of

this unit plan. Some of the activities throughout the eight content days of the unit require students to work

together in groups. The use of cooperative activities fit in well with Vygotsky’s theories of social cultural

learning and the zone of proximal development. One of the cooperative activities is a Jigsaw reading activity.

This method was a result of Elliot Aronson’s theory of cognitive dissonance. Some of the activities throughout

the unit require students to work individually. Through both individual and cooperative activities there are a

number of different instructional methods, whether it be different reading activities, use of lecture, use of

videos, the use of image analysis, different map activities, etc. The variation of instructional methods relates to

Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. A variety of activities are utilized to appeal to a variety of

different learners. Throughout the unit we have activities that work up from lower level thinking to higher

order thinking, culminating with students creating a persuasive presentation based on the knowledge they

accumulated throughout the unit to answer the unit’s overarching question. Throughout the activities on

instructional days students regularly test middle order thinking activities. Overall this all plays in to Bloom’s

taxonomy, which argued that the greatest learning takes place when students are creating. With tasks such as

analyzing on a lower level, but still above measurements of basic knowledge that fall at the lowest level of

learning.

F. The formative assessments utilized in this year will do a lot to shape instruction. If the formative

assessment evidence from the activities show that students are not mastering the essential questions tied to

that day’s activities, then adjustments to the unit will need to be made. The following day may need to be

modified where instead of having two activities focusing on the material from the new day, we will have one

activity for the new material and one review activity. This could also lead to an extension of the unit as a whole

to cover an extra day or two to ensure student’s show understanding of all essential questions via formative

Jacksonville State University, Secondary Education Unit Plan Template

Adapted from Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook © 2004
Teacher Candidate Name: 20
Unit Plan/Instructional Sequence Title:
Date:

assessment prior to working on the summative assessment measuring understanding of the unit’s overarching

question.

G. The Summative assessment project requires students to piece together everything they know about

Rome in order to sell potential historical viewing time travelers to choose Ancient Rome as the subject of their

one such opportunity to place themselves in the past and see something first hand. The students are required

to take areas of Rome that are similar to our lives here today and use those connections to support their

persuasive argument in their presentation. The standard itself asks students to describe the widespread

impact of the Roman Empire. The overarching question I have created takes that a step further and asks

students how Rome has impacted societies in different areas up to the present day. If students create an

effective digital presentation playing off their target audiences’ experiences with modern republican forms of

government, modern Christianity, and other key ideas that developed in Rome that we see in our society today,

then these students will have mastered the understanding of the connection between Ancient Rome and the

modern Western World.

Jacksonville State University, Secondary Education Unit Plan Template

Adapted from Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook © 2004