Can someone show me where Greece is on this map?
Ancient Greece was made up of independent city-states each with its own culture and government. One of the most important city-states was Athens. It is important to study Athens because it was the first democracy. We will learn about democracy and Athens in this unit. We will explore issues that the ancient Athenians faced and compare them to issues we face today in New York.
We are going to watch a short animation that will explain some of the things you will be doing in this unit. In the video the animated gods Zeus, Athena, and Ares will invite us to visit ancient Athens and become part of the democratic Assembly. The gods Athena and Ares have strong opinions about some of the issues facing the people of Athens. It will be your job to try and figure out what those opinions mean and how they relate to your lives.
Let's talk about this animation.
1. Who are Zeus, Athena, and Ares?
Sample Responses: They are Greek gods. The ancient Greeks worshiped these gods as part of their religion. Zeus was the king of the gods. Athena was the goddess of wisdom. Ares was the god of war.
2. What was the Athenian Assembly?
Sample Response: The government of ancient Athens where issues were debated and voted on by citizens.
3. What does the goddess Athena want the Athenians to build?
Sample Response: Athena wants a huge temple called the Parthenon to be built. This temple will honor her.
4. Who does the god Ares want Athens to go to war against?
Sample Response: He wants the Athenians to go to war against their neighboring city-state Sparta.
5. Ares asks Zeus what democracy is. What is democracy?
Sample Response: It is a system where people vote on matters of importance. It may also be a system where people vote in elections to choose people to represent them.
6. Athena says to vote wisely. How do people do that?
Sample Response: By being informed, getting all the facts and listening to different perspectives.
Over the next six weeks, we are going to listen to the Greek gods as we get to know ancient Greece. We will debate important issues in our own Athenian Assembly. We will also explore how we can solve problems and make important decisions today by learning from the ancient Athenians.
Here are your folders to keep all of the materials for this unit organized in one place. Write your name on your folder and on everything that you put in it.
Exploring the Website:
Let's take a look at the Democracy in Ancient Greece student website. The student website contains everything you need to do for the project including all your research materials and a glossary of terms. Look at the step-by-step checklist that will guide us through this project. Each step in our exploration of ancient Greece will have a different theme. As we go through this unit, check off items that you complete.
Now, let's look at the website together.
In step one we will explore the history of ancient Greece, learn about some important issues in their society, different types of governments, and the geography of the region. You will each choose one of two issues to research.
In step two you will get to know ancient Athenians and hear what they say about some important issues in their lives in order to understand multiple perspectives.
In step three we will learn how to conduct more in-depth research on ancient Greece using the Internet.
In step four we will each take a position on the issues and write a speech to support our views.
In step five we will learn how to create a presentation to persuade members of the Assembly to support our views.
In step six we will gather as members of the Athenian Assembly and give our presentations in preparation for a vote. After the vote, we will discover the consequences of our decision. We will also discuss what we have learned from studying ancient Athens and how this knowledge can help us make important decisions today.
Let's discuss some important issues occuring in our society today.
1. What are some important issues currently being discussed in the news?
Sample Response: Schools need repair, subways need repair, gasoline prices are going up, the threat of terrorism in the United States, poverty, lack of health care, hurricanes, war. (Guide students to include the war in Iraq and large public building projects like the rebuilding of New Orleans and the building of new stadiums.)
The Greek gods Ares and Athena spoke about building a huge temple called the Parthenon and Athens going to war against Sparta. Each of you is going to pick one of these issues to debate in the Assembly. To help you decide, we are going to look at similar issues that are happening today.
1. Can you think of things that you have seen or heard about in the news that are similar to the issues faced by the ancient Athenians?
Sample Response: War in Iraq, building the Freedom Tower, building a football stadium. Display newspaper headlines relating to the current war in Iraq.
Here are some newspaper headlines about the war in Iraq.
1. What do these headlines teach us?
Sample Response: They tell us about people’s concerns for the length of the war; they tell us about how many people have died. They also tell us about the Iraqi constitution.
2. What do you know about the war in Iraq?
Sample Response: The US declared war on Iraq and sent many troops to the country. The troops are still there.
3. Why were some people for it?
Sample Response: Some people felt that going to war was the right thing to do to protect the United States from terrorism.
4. Why were some people against it?
Sample Response: Some people felt that we should not go to war because too many soldiers and civilians would die.
The people of Athens had a similar debate about war. Some people thought that they needed to go to war against Sparta because Sparta had disrespected Athens and because they were afraid that Sparta’s warlike society would take over Athens.
Others thought that a war against Sparta would be dangerous, cost too much money, and cause the unnecessary death of many Athenian soldiers.
Here are some newspaper headlines about proposals for new stadiums in NYC.
1. What do these headlines teach us?
Sample Response: They tell us about the arguments about whether to build stadiums throughout NYC.
2. What do you know about the current proposals to build stadiums in NYC?
Sample Response: There are plans to build stadiums throughout NYC, some of which will be paid for by NYC taxpayers and some of which will be paid for by the sports teams themselves.
3. Why are some people for it?
Sample Response: Some people feel it will bring jobs and major sports events to New York City.
4. Why are some people against it?
Sample Response: Some people feel it will create too much traffic; they should spend the tax money on schools, etc.
In ancient Athens, the citizens of the Assembly debated a similar issue. There was a very big controversy over whether or not they should build a large temple called the Parthenon. Some people thought it would be a great idea, but others disagreed. Let’s learn about this issue together.
1. Monitor individual student progress. Observe students’ writing. Encourage students to explain why they are interested in the issue they choose.
2. Group together students who may have difficulty reading the Issue Intros independently so that it will be easier to assist their efforts. Guide them in a discussion about the issues and their opinions.
3. Encourage some debate to motivate students to read about the issues and choose which one they want to study.
