Technology and Writing Systems of

Egypt, Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, and Yellow River

Name:
Jason D. Faull
10
Jacqueline Kingston
Civilizations
Samantha Kolesky
Ryanne Wiser

Date: 6/16/14

Grade Level:
Content: World

Content Objective(s): The student will learn and compare the technology and writing
systems of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and the Yellow river region.
They will use a Jigsaw format to research their assigned topic and share that information
with other students in the class. The data collected by the student will be used in a testing
format.
Language Objective(s):
The student will need to know how to find subjects in a World Civilizations textbook. Such as
using a table of contents, index, main headings, vocabulary words, etc.
Students will need to know what you mean by technology and writing systems.
Define the meaning in the context of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, Yellow River.
2. Instructional Focus:

What are the technologies and writing systems developed by ancient river valley
civilizations.

When was the time period these technologies and writing systems were used?

How was the technology and writing systems used to benefit the people in their
region?
Why was this technology and writing system important to this civilization?

3. Texts for Instruction

World Civilizations classroom textbooks, previous handouts.
4. Instructional Procedures:

Introduce the idea of jigsaw research and teaching to the students.

Divide the class into expert teams of three or four (depending on the size the class.)

Assuming both ELLs are ideally native Spanish speakers, we will put the level 1 ELL
and the level 4 ELL in the same group along with 2 non-ELL students. This way, the
level 1 ELL has someone who can explain directions to them in their native language,
and the level 4 ELL has practice interacting with students in English using academic
language.

Pass out the graphic organizers for each member of the expert team (these will be
turned in to the teacher from each student at the end of the lesson).

Assign a topic to each expert team. Such as Egypt and Technology, Egypt and Writing

system and so forth.

Before the lesson, we as teachers have gone through the textbook and have noticed
that there are more illustrations and maps for for "Egyptian writing systems" than any
other topic on the graphic organizer, so we purposefully assign this topic to the group
containing ELL students.

Have the students quietly research the information from their World Civilizations
textbook.

Then have the expert team members work together to decide what is the most important
information to know. An idea from each team member must be on the final paper that will
be taught to the other students, and handed in to the teacher.

Using the illustrations provided in the textbook, the level 4 ELL shouldn't have any
problem contributing an idea for the graphic organizer. However, the level 1 ELL will
not be required to contribute an idea for the graphic organizer.

Now assign each member of the expert team a letter. A, B, C, and D. These will be the
teaching groups.

Divide the class into the teaching groups.

The experts for each topic will now share their information with the members of the
teaching group. The students will then fill in their graphic organizer.

The Level 4 student will be able to describe what they researched to their teaching
team using their graphic organizer. The level 1 student will not be able to teach the
other students, but can still show students his/her graphic organizer and will show
other students a picture from the text related to the information on their graphic
organizer for their topic, and fill out the other topics from the other students' graphic
organizers.

Now the students have the data they need to prepare for a summative assessment.
5. Student Activity/Differentiation. What will your students be doing to meet this
lessons content and language objectives? (listening, reading, searching, writing, strategy
instruction, group work, etc.)
Listening Students will listen to each other teach about the information they found on the
topic.
Reading/Searching Students will be required to use the textbook to extract information
about their assigned topic.
Writing Students will write down what they have researched and also fill in the graphic
organizer they have been given.
Group Work The expert teams will help all students in the group pull their individual
understandings about the content and academic language objectives and filter it into a more
academically friendly student understanding.

How will you differentiate your instruction for ELLs at given proficiency levels? (noted
above in instructional procedures)
ALSO:
Listening-Both Level 1 and Level 4 students will benefit from listening to their peers

in both their "expert groups" as well as their "teaching teams" discuss academic
terms in English.
Reading-Level 1 student will be able to "match visual representations to
words/phrases" (can-do descriptor) while researching, and Level 4 student will be
able to "interpret visually or graphically supported information" (can-do descriptor)
Writing- Level 4 can "summarize content-related notes from lectures or text" (can-do
descriptor) Level 1 can "label content-related diagrams, pictures from word/phrase
banks" so will not be able to come up with the information graphic organizer on their
own, but will be expected to fill it out fromt the other graphic organizers in their
expert group and teaching team.
Speaking- Level 4 can "explain content-related issues and concepts" (can-do
descriptors). Level 1 can "repeat words, short phrases, and memorized chunks of
language" so this student will not be able to teach, but can still show their teaching
team their graphic organizer and be allowed to carry an illustration or picture that
relates to the information on their graphic organizer.

6. Assessment: How will you know students have met the purpose of the lesson? Use
Gottliebs 4 step process to outline this section and Fairbairn & Jones-Vo to create
differentiated formative and summative assessments appropriate for ELLs at your
selected proficiency levels.
Check on Learning (formative):
The teacher will roam the classroom and listen/visit with each expert team to assess the
depth/accuracy of the research that has been done and ensure that content objectives are
being met/researched.
The teacher will also ensure that the level 1 ELL student knows they are allowed to
carry a picture along with his graphic organizer to show other students in his/her
teaching team.
Summative: The students will be able to choose from a list of final products to turn in to
enable a more authentic assessment.
Level 4 ELL student will be able to choose an assessment also, but will be graded based on
the can-do descriptors of their level rather than the rubric that the rest of the students will
be graded on.

Put together a poster or diorama on technology and writing systems.

Teacher will recommend that Level 1 ELL student choose this assessment and will be graded on a
different scale, focusing on only Egyptian writing systems rather than all topics, and will be focused
less on language and more on visual aspects of the poster.

Make a brochure advertising early inventions from Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Make a map showing how these civilizations shared technology.

Make a timeline of when the technology and writing systems developed.

Write an editorial on the usefulness of an ancient invention.