My 7th grade class consists of 20-25 students. I teach two humanities blocks in the day, each block lasting 2 hours. This year, I have 4 students who struggle significantly below grade level. Three of them have IEPs; one does not. One of these three is also an English learner. The majority of my students are on grade level, with a few being advanced. My school essentially uses tracking, so one of my classes preforms at much higher reading and writing levels on average than the other.

We will complete this inquiry project in our fourth unit. During that unit, our ELA content is focused on argumentative writing and we will be reading “City of the Beasts” by Isabel Allende (diving into the genre of magical realism). Our school-wide thematic focus for this unit is justice and diversity.

For the social studies portion of our class, we will be focused on our Africa and Mesoamerica units — “7.4: Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the sub-Saharan civilizations of Ghana and Mali in Medieval Africa ” and “7.7: Students compare and contrast the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the Meso-American and Andean civilizations.”

Why are students doing this inquiry? Why is the topic important for them? What do you hope they will get out of it?

This inquiry will allow students to explore the diversity contained in Africa, breaking the single-story narratives that many students hold about Africa. It will expose students to issues of justice–both environmental and human–connecting our unit to our school-wide theme. Ghana and Mali have very different environmental attributes that in part contributed to the successes and failures of their civilizations, as does Meso-America, and which also resulted in different types of human interactions. Some of these environmental attributes increased human interactions and caused places to become centers of trade; others increased human conflict and contributed to colonialism; yet others caused societies to fall apart because of a lack of natural resources. All of these factors are important when considering the success of a society or community.

I think this topic is important because it breaks down the mythical narratives that we are all isolated communities, and that those who are successful are such because of their own inherent ability, while those civilizations that disappeared were somehow just “less.” In addition, this inquiry will create a bridge with our science class and cause students to consider the many ways that human life is shaped or influenced by environment, and vice-versa. I hope that exploring this topic causes students to think more critically about the world around them, and about the factors that contribute to success and power.

• Chromebooks

• Dictionaries

• Sources and documents that students will work with are linked in the assignment below. 

• Word Bank

• Graphic Organizers

• Intentional groupings

• Options to work with a partner

• Shortened assignments/writing requirements for students who need it. 

• Extra time on final writing reflection for students who need it. 

• Other supports detailed in the assignment below.

Students written reflections in response to the EQ before after each unit of study provide an opportunity for me to assess their understanding of the material. These reflections require students to draw on what they learned in each section and cite text evidence. They build toward the final assessment - the in-class essay. They also provide a wonderful opportunity for me to assess how a student's thinking is changing and evolving in response to each part of the inquiry. The first EQ reflection (completed prior to our inquiry) and the final in-class essay will be especially useful in determining the effectiveness of this inquiry.

Graphic organizers, discussions, written reflections, and student presentations are woven throughout the inquiry intentionally to help me monitor student learning of the material. The graphic organizers are especially helpful for quickly seeing what sorts of connections and inferences they are making based on the sources they are analyzing.

What are some things that you might see or hear students doing that will let you know this is going or has went well? 

• "Environment can influence and impact success."

• "For example..." (followed by text evidence from our units of study)

• "Societies can overcome their environments."

• "Success is not solely determined by the longevity of a community/society."

• Students comparing different societies we study to each other.

• Students changing their opinions / thinking based on evidence from their historical inquiry. 

What would students be doing/saying if things weren’t going as you envisioned? 

• "Environment completely predetermines a community's success."

• "You know a community was successful if they were around for a long time."

• "You know a community was successful if they have a lot of written records for us to study."

• Students answering the EQ based on only one of our societies / units of study. 

• Students making claims backed by opinion, not based on evidence from their historical inquiry. 

• Students showing no shift or development in their opinions / thinking. 

• Students thinking about each community / society in isolation (rather than comparing them to each other).