Summative Essay Assignment

Columbian Exchange
In a four page essay explain how civilizations impacted each other through the
Columbian exchange through a transfer of culture and economics and conquest. In
other words, what changed for people of each civilization once they interacted? How
did the situations of each civilization at the time of contact with each other impact
the outcomes?
Things to include:
A strong thesis statement that takes a stand based in facts
Each question in the prompt is addressed thoroughly and with factual evidence from
academic resources (Class notes, scholarly articles and primary sources etc.)
Evidence from at least one primary source discussed in class
Evidence of proofreading and a professional sounding writing form

A strong thesis
statement that
takes a stand
based in facts

Each question in
the prompt is
addressed
thoroughly and
with factual
evidence from
academic
resources (Class
notes, scholarly
articles and
primary sources
etc.)
Evidence from at
least one primary
source discussed
in class

Proficient

Above satisfactory

Satisfactory

Below
expectations

Statement can be
factually proven
but is
argumentative in
nature. Leaves no
doubt about what
the paper will be
about and
requires evidence
to be proven true
All three aspects
addressed with
solid factual
evidence. Sources
are all of
academic
dependability.

Statement can be
factually proven
but is too general
and summary
based or makes a
slightly weaker
statement

Statement comes
off as vague and
leaves the reader
guessing to what
the point is

Either no thesis
cannot be
factually prove

All three aspects

addressed with
mostly factual
evidence. Not all
sources are
reputable.

All three aspects

addressed but
evidence is
lacking in
objective analysis
and from weak
sources.

Not all aspects

are addressed
an overall lack
evidence

Primary source
analyzed and
used in productive
ways to address
key points

Primary source
used in a
tangential way
but well analyzed

Primary source
not used to
support main
thesis but analysis
is evident.

No primary sou
cited in paper.

Evidence of
proofreading and
a professional
sounding writing
form

0-3 grammatical
or spelling errors

4-5 grammatical
or spelling errors

6-10 spelling or
grammatical
errors

More than 10 o
the paper is
incomprehensib

Michael McClanathan
UBD Narrative
The unit I have chosen is over the Columbian Exchange. This term focuses on the vast
arrays of cultural, economic, political and biological transfer between Western Europe,
Mesoamerica and West Africa. This large area is often discussed as the Atlantic World. The
purpose of this unit is to introduce students to the massive world changes that came about for
several different cultures when the civilizations located in this part of the world began to interact.
This is a complex task with a variety of cultures, leaders and interlocking factors that can be
analyzed by students. This unit shows students that history does not take place in a vacuum but
proves that the events of one group or even one individual can have lasting impact on everyday
peoples lives for generations. This topic is appropriate for tenth grade world history students
because through this unit, they will begin to analyze more complex texts than at the ninth grade
level. This includes primary sources from the era that will need scaffolding and modeling to
allow students to read older texts. Also, this unit will allow for a greater worldview about issues
and topics that are beginning to matter to young adults.
The enduring understandings from my unit focus on the impact civilizations have on each
other when they interact, especially for the first time. The first enduring understanding: cultures
and civilizations develop along unique lines in different parts of the world. This generalization
will be vividly expressed in the differences between Mesoamerican culture and the culture of the
Iberian Peninsula. This will be discussed at length and constantly compared and contrasted
throughout the three-week unit. The second enduring understanding: When civilizations collide,

their culture, disease and economics transfer to each other causing both good and bad results for
each party. This will be discussed throughout the unit as we go through the ways in which the
Spanish attempted to convert native peoples, conquered cities in the name of God and spread
disease like wildfire as well as creating new and exploitative forms of economics similar to a
feudal Europe.
The essential questions narrow the focus of these understandings to focus on the
outcomes of how civilizations react to each other. When civilizations interact, how are there
winners and losers in the short and long run? This question is constantly brought new evidence
and supporting fact as the unit progresses. Admittedly, the evidence strongly supports one side
over the other as who the winner might be; however, it is an important question to ask
nonetheless and to examine for our own benefit. Examining why certain civilizations develop in
a specific way will be addressed in the unit especially on the first day of introducing each major
culture. This question will be how we will assess the differences in progression that each
civilization had made up to the point in which the two sides met and realize what implications
such differences met for each group. The last essential question for this unit is: How do major
explorations from history affect the world as we see it today? This final question asks students to
understand the impact that individuals and groups can play on the world simply by stepping into
the unknown. The obvious person to reference here is Christopher Columbus. His exploration
had such an impact on the world we see today that his story is often changed to fit a comfortable
narrative. This impact and retelling of the story will be explored in this unit over the Columbian
Exchange.
The learning goals this unit will achieve are based on the ones set by the ninth through
twelfth grade social studies standards in the Iowa Common Core. Students will understand the

role of culture and cultural diffusion on the development and maintenance of societies. This will
be assessed through the final essay in students showing that society changes when cultures
collide with each other. The second goal, understand the role of individuals and groups within a
society as promoters of change or the status quo. This will be looked at through the profiles of
Montezuma, Columbus as well as Hernan Cortes. Students will compare and contrast each of
these leaders at some point during the unit and will also be asked about them on their alphabox
quizzes. The third goal is that students will understand the effect of economic needs and wants
on individual and group decisions. This will be assessed through the quizzes as well as the Prezi
activity where students will need to fill in their thoughts and present them to the class. Finally,
students will understand the role of innovation on the development and interaction of societies.
This will be addressed during the introduction of each culture and discussing how each culture
progressed in certain ways. It will be clear in the essays the emphasis put on how important
innovation was for some cultures to merely survive while important for others to conquer.
Throughout the three week unit, I will use formative assessments such as exit slips, other
quick writes, sharing whips and alphabox quizzes to diagnose my teaching effectiveness and
what content or skills are lacking in students. Most of the quick writes are used as diagnostic
assessments which I will then read and decide which information to reteach the following day or
later in the unit. I will also use these diagnostic assessments to decide if students are able to use
certain skills in the right ways. Examples would be summarize or analyze primary sources. Also,
compare and contrast is a popular writing skill that I will check for both the content and the
understanding of the mental skill. Towards the end of the unit, I will use two main summative
assessments. The first one being a group presentation based around an introductory Prezi I create
at the beginning of the unit. This is a basic overview of the entire unit that students will be able

to use to organize their notes and sources. They will work with one of the groups they worked
with all unit while reading primary source documents. This activity will help them organize their
thoughts and prove their knowledge of the entire Columbian exchange process. This will be
graded on effort, accuracy of knowledge as well as a peer assessment on each persons
contributions that I will factor into the score of each individual. The main focus is the long essay.
This will be used to tie in all the essential questions and the standards to allow students to prove
they have grasped all the main topic areas as well as to use the skills they have practiced during
the unit.
The main source of differentiation in this unit is in the flexible grouping. The groups for
think, write, pair shares as well as think, pair shares will rotate based on a clock partner schedule.
Also, the primary source document groups will rotate between two groups. This can be adjusted
for difficulty of text or for learner differences. The use of different types of assessment will also
help differentiate between different learners. The prominent use of formative assessment will
help me make further changes as the unit progresses.
The UBD process has been an eye opening experience into the planning process. This
plan has given me insight as to how much goes into planning farther ahead than just one lesson
plan which is all I have had experience with up to this point. I found that once a topic is either
given or chosen, working from understandings to questions and then finally to assessments was
the easiest path to take. However, there is no clear and easy way to create a unit through this
process. This was beneficial because the process constantly made me go back and align
everything I wanted to teach with goals and the major questions or topics I needed to cover. It
made the purpose of the lesson the forefront and not the daily activities. This is often lost when
looking at lesson plans as standalone products instead of pieces of a larger puzzle.