Journal Worksheet
Interview of Older Person
Cultural Analysis Worksheet A
Cultural Analysis Worksheet B
Circles of Life Worksheet

Unit of Study:            Cortez and the Aztec Conquest

Lesson Title:               Understanding the Culture of the Aztecs

Subject Area(s):         Language Arts

Grade Level:              6th Grade

Author:                       Dolores J. Taylor

County:                      Prince George’s County

Length of Time:        Four to six lessons, 45 minutes each

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Abstract:

Students are given an overview of Multiple Intelligences and how it affects their learning style.  Then they will make a coat of arms showing who they are.  Using the background knowledge of their own lives and culture, the students will interview an older relative to compare and contrast their historical culture with the students’ present culture.
Students will pick two of the five characters for a different point of view of the events ahead of time in order to put themselves into the video.  Students will view video segments of the conquest and use stickie notes at various intervals to record what each could have been thinking about the events as they unfolded. They will also look for symbols, colors, and/or art which depict meaning.   explore the new world through the eyes of a slave girl and her handler before, during, and after the encounter with Cortez in their own words using symbols for journal entries and writing strategies and techniques from one minute essays, interviewing, predicting, and summarizing.  They will use graphic organizers for   recall, compare and contrast, evaluate, and examples to and from ideas.  Students will utilize art in their journey with the journal, symbols, pictorial graphs, and patterns. Background will be laid by using their own culture as a reference point to understand the culture of the Aztecs.  They will look at history from a different perspective as well as their own culture and how it compares to the dominate culture.  They will learn how to ask higher order questions for thinking.

Background:

Background will be laid by using their own culture as a reference point to understand the culture of the Aztecs.

Students will need knowledge of where the Aztec culture was on a map of the world in the 15th century and the importance of trade.   They will need to know what culture is and its components.  Students will need to have some concept of the role of women and power.
They will need knowledge of how to use graphic organizers to organize their thoughts and transition them into a well-written document.

Materials:

Adding machine tape

Worksheets

Crayons or colored pencils

Round or square box

Glue

Ribbon

Resources:

Web sites
Books
Handouts
Puzzles
Maps

Standards/Learner Outcomes:

A. Fine Arts Standards

Critical
To develop, through the visual arts, the ability to perceive and respond to ideas and the environment.
Historical/Cultural
To develop an understanding of the visual arts as a basic aspect of history and human experience.

B. Content Standards

Writing to Express Personal Ideas
Synthesize information from two or more sources to fulfill a self-selected or given purpose
Revise texts for clarity, completeness, and effectiveness
Use writing-to-learn strategies such as dialect journals, quickwrites, and mindmaps to make connections between learning and prior knowledge
Manage time and process when writing for a given purpose
Language Arts: to compose a variety of modes by developing content, employing specific forms, and selecting language appropriate for a particular audience and purpose.  Students will analyze their multiple intelligences and develop their coat of arms based on their learning style, their historical past, the present and their dreams for the future.  After looking at the key components in their culture, they will look at the culture of Cortez, Malinche, and Montezuma.  After seeing videos from Discovery Education on the conquest, they will write a story or play based on the events as seen from one of five perspectives: Cortes or sailor on ship, Malinche, Montezuma or slave in his kingdom.

Strategies for writing
Compare and contrast
Evaluate
Cause and effect
Idea to/from example
Recall (Sequential)
Problem – solution
Point of view
Sequential order

Objectives/Skills:

A. Fine Arts Objectives
To understand how history and culture is translated and preserved in art
To document their own history and culture in an art form
           
B. Content Objectives
Compose texts using the prewriting and drafting strategies of effective writers and speakers
Compose to persuade by supporting, modifying, or disagreeing with a position, using effective rhetorical strategies
Describe in prose and/or poetic forms to clarify, extend, or elaborate on ideas by using vivid language such as imagery, figurative language, and sound elements
Use suitable traditional and electronic resources to refine presentations and edit texts for effective and appropriate and conventions such as capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and pronunciation

Keywords/Vocabulary:

Culture
Art
Neighborhood
Community
Village
Power
Monarchy
Important names
Survey
Values
Interview
Status
Emperor
League

Motivation:

Motivation will looking at their culture first and using that as a standard for others cultures, including the dominate culture
Putting their story into history with symbols and writings.

Scope and Sequence:

Teacher Directed
Identifying the elements of culture
Defining art as historical records
Using the strategies of effective writers

Guided Practice
I do, we do, you do will  be the model for guided practice.

Independent Practice
Students will keep their own journals, make medallions, and vases to illustrate their history.  A written record will accompany each.

Assessment:

Quick paragraphs
Evaluation graphics
Completed graphic organizers
A letter to a friend telling the story of the conquest in sequential order

Closure/Reflection:

Students will write a composition using at least two of the techniques taught during this period.  They will use a main idea with supporting details and a conclusion that evaluates their process.
They will also display an art object they have created to show to the audience explaining how it relates to their and the Aztec culture. 

Students will share their journals and display their medallion in a panel: one for the Aztecs and one for their culture.

Students will write about the encounter from the point of view of Cortez or one of his sailors, Malachi, or Montezuma or one of his slaves.