Mesoamerica Lesson Plan- Lovin

Content Area: World History

Standard(s):
SSWH8 The student will demonstrate an understanding of the development of
societies in Central and South America.
a. Explain the rise and fall of the Olmec, Mayan, Aztec, and Inca empires.
b. Compare the culture of the Americas; include government, economy, religion, and the
arts of the Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas.
Step 1: Desired Results
1- What is the big idea(s)? (Formulate it into a question or provocative statement)
What makes a culture? How do individual cultures develop? What constitutes
civilization?
2- How does this big idea relate to the standard(s)?
The standard asks students to understand the development and decline of societies in
Central and South America. Students are also to compare the cultures of the Maya,
Aztecs, and Incas. Framing a discussion of different cultures in Central and South
America is the consideration of the components that comprise a culture of a group of
people. In addition, the peoples of Central and South America developed complex
societies, as will be discussed in the standard's focus on the development of the
societies. Along with thinking about the complexity of society comes contemplation
about what constitutes a civilization.
3- What should students know, understand, and be able to do as a result of the lesson?
Students should know some basic characteristics of the Olmec, Mayan, Aztec, and Inca
civilizations, including location, time of existence, religion, technological achievements,
etc. Students will also know reasons these civilizations declined. Students will
understand how events relate temporally across geographic area. Students will be able
to sequence events across geographic area using a timeline and make connections
among the different civilizations.
Step 2: Assessment Evidence
1- What formative assessments will you use to gauge understanding?
Students' answers to the questions during the station work will allow me to determine
how they understand the material. It will allow me to see whether there are
misconceptions, confusion, etc. Students' placement of events on the timeline will show
me whether they can make connections to events in other parts of the world of which

we have previously discussed. Our discussions will also indicate their level of
understanding of the content and ability to make connections. The 3-2-1 used for the
closer will also help me gauge student understanding of the content.
Step 3: Learning Plan
1- What co-teaching strategy are you using during this lesson?
One teach, one assist
2- What are your learning activities? (Step by step from start to finish, detailed enough for
someone else to follow)
Opener:
We will begin the lesson with GeoGuessr to help students begin to think about Central and
South America geographically. I created a GeoGuessr in which the locations represented
are the approximate current day locations of the civilizations of the Olmec, Maya, Aztecs,
and Incas. I will pull up the first one and ask students to think about what they can learn
about the location by looking at image. I will navigate the view as desired by the students,
whether changing the direction of the view or moving forward to explore more. As I do so, I
will ask students to share what they notice and ask how that may help us think about the
location represented. After a few minutes of examining, I will have the students guess the
location in the world of the view that we see. We will repeat this process for the other
locations.

Comment [C1]: Before this lesson, the

emphasis of our studies in World History had
been on Africa, Asia, and Europe; the Americas
had not been previously discussed. As a result, I
used GeoGuessr to draw students' attention to the
fact that our focus was shifting. In addition, the
activity served as an introduction to the region
geographically.
Comment [C2]: If you go to geoguessr.com, you
can't pick the location for your students to guess,
because it automatically chooses. However, if you
go to geosettr.com, you have the ability to choose
the locations.

geoguessr.com/retro/?s=eyJ0b3RhbFBvaW50cyI6MTAwMDAsInZlcnNpb24iOjEsInJvdW5k
cyI6W1sicm91bmQiLCJsYXQiLCJsbmciLCJnTGF0IiwiZ0xuZyJdLFsxLDE5LjQzNDU4MywtOT
kuMTQxMzk2OTk5OTk5OTgsMTkuNDM0NTgzLC05OS4xNDEzOTY5OTk5OTk5OF0sWzIsL
TEzLjE2NTcxMywtNzIuNTQ1NTQyMDAwMDAwMDEsLTEzLjE2NTcxMywtNzIuNTQ1NTQy
MDAwMDAwMDFdLFszLDE5LjM2MDM0NCwtODkuNTg1NTQ1MDAwMDAwMDIsMTkuMz
YwMzQ0LC04OS41ODU1NDUwMDAwMDAwMl0sWzQsMTcuOTk2NDM3LC05Mi45Mzg0M
DY5OTk5OTk5OCwxNy45OTY0MzcsLTkyLjkzODQwNjk5OTk5OTk4XSxbNSwzMy43NTg4O
DEsLTgzLjgxODU3OCwzMy43NTg4ODEsLTgzLjgxODU3OF1dfQ%3D=
Lesson:
To help students learn background information about the cultures and societies of Central
and South America, they are going to participate in stations. There will be four different
stations (Olmec, Maya, Aztecs, and Incas). Students will be divided up into eight groups, so
two groups will be participating at each of the four stations at one time. This is to ensure
there are not too many students at one station. The stations will include various types of
information, including text, pictures, and video. As students engage with these different
media, they will be responsible for answering the questions associated with each station.
After students engage with each of the four stations, we will discuss what they learned.
Some possible questions might include:
What were some of the achievements of these societies?
How are these different groups of people similar? How are they unique?

Comment [C3]: With only one day to discuss

four Central and South American societies, I chose
stations to give students the opportunity to focus
on one civilization at a time and work together as
a group to gain understanding. As students had to
move around to go from one station to the next, it
broke up the time, so students were not only
sitting in their desks the entire lesson.
Comment [C4]: While I included text with each
station, I also tried to include images, maps, and
videos to vary the way the information was
presented. The images served to provide
examples of aspects of the civilizations discussed
in the texts.

In this discussion we will also discuss how Central and South America are similar to and
different from civilizations we have previously discussed. If students struggle, I will
provide categories to consider such as: religion, buildings, art, cities, etc. I can also provide
a specific geographic area (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Rome, etc.) and we can compare the
civilization in this specific location to the societies in Central and South America.

Comment [C5]: , In this discussion, I wanted

them to think about how the Central and South
American civilizations were similar to one
another and how each was unique. In addition, I
felt it was important for students to be able to
connect characteristics of these societies to those
previously discussed in other civilizations in
Africa, Asia, and Europe.

After, the students will construct a timeline to understand how the Central and South
American societies relate to one another and to events in other parts of the world
temporally. They will have to include the approximate dates of the societies of the Olmec,
Maya, Aztecs, and Incas, as well as 5 events that we have discussed previously from another
part of the world. If students struggle to determine when events occurred in other parts of
the world, I will give them some approximations of different time periods (for example,
Middle Ages: 500-1500 AD). With this information, they can choose events from within the
time periods to include.

This discussion led us toward thinking about the

big idea questions about how cultures develop
and what constitutes a civilization. Religion,
government structure, transportation and writing
systems, etc. emerged from this comparison
discussion.

Closer:
For the closer, the students will participate in a 3-2-1. They will be asked to pick one of the
societies discussed during the lesson (Olmec, Maya, Aztec, and Inca). For one of these,
students will need to say 3 characteristics, contributions, etc. of the civilization, 2 ways the
civilization compares to those in other parts of the world (religion,
buildings/infrastructure, art, cities, etc.), and 1 remaining question they have about the
society.
If there is time, I will have students share their ideas from the 3-2-1.

Comment [C6]: In studying history, many

times it is easy to become engrossed in specific
civilizations and forget what is happening in
other parts of the world. I chose a timeline
activity so students could think about what was
happening across the world simultaneously and
make connections among civilizations.

Comment [C7]: 3-2-1 served to provide a

snapshot of student learning during the lesson.
Though the writing is minimal, the activity also
allows students to work on this skill, as I believe it
is important to have students practice writing
frequently.
The 3 characteristics allow students to
summarize their learning about one of the
civilizations. The 2 connections asked students to
connect one of the Mesoamerican civilizations to
those in other parts of the world. The question
served to help me see confusion or
misconceptions of the students.
Comment [C8]: I like to hear students'
thoughts about what they are learning, because it
gives me an initial gauge of where my students
are in their thinking. I can look at their writing
later to form a more well-rounded idea