West African Empire of Mali 7.4 (1230-1430 C.E.)
Inclusive Lesson Plan
Title: Connecting the Significant Social Attitudes and Historical Events of the West African Empire of Mali
Grade Level: 8
Subject Area: Early World Civilizations
Duration of Lesson: 30-35 minutes
Materials Needed:
Class copies of student worksheet #5, primary source Travels of Ibn Battuta by Ibn Battuta, You Tube video from the internet, projector, The G.R.A.P.E.S. work sheet of the Kingdom of Mali, Listening Guide, Listening Challenge, paper, pencil.
Content Standards 7.4:
Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the sub-Saharan civilizations of Mali in Medieval Africa.
- Study the Niger River and the relationship of vegetation zones of forest, savannah, and desert to trade in gold, salt, food, and slaves; and the growth of the Mali empires.
- Analyze the importance of family, labor specialization, and regional commerce in the development of states and cities in West Africa.
- Describe the role of the trans-Saharan caravan trade in the changing religious and cultural characteristics of West Africa and the influence of Islamic beliefs, ethics, and law
- Trace the growth of the Arabic language in government, trade, and Islamic scholarship in West Africa.
- Describe the importance of written and oral traditions in the transmission of African history and culture.
Common core literacy standard:
Key Ideas and Details.
- Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
- Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
- Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
Objectives:
- Students will identify and analyze significant social attitudes and historical events in Mali Ibn Battuta, Travels of Ibn Battuta.
- Students will know aspects of cultural views and historical events in the West African Empire of Mali.
- Students will make connections between historical events & current events in the West African Empire of Mali.
Context:
Mali: West Africa's Golden Empire. Sundiata, the historical founder of Mali (whose name meant “Hungering Lion”), ruled Mali from 1230-1255 CE. As a king, he was said to have worn hunter’s garments instead of royal robes. At the time of Sundiata’s rule, the empire of Mali extended over 1,000 miles from east to west and Mali took control of the gold and salt trade. (1230-1430 C.E)
Modifications:
The following modifications will be implemented as necessary:
- All ELA Framework Instructional Practices Ch. 9 Equity and Access modifications will be implemented.
- All H/SS Framework Instructional Practices Ch. 20 Equity and Access modifications will be implemented.
- Students may maintain an oral record of their written notes on Power Point presentation.
- Help with translation or interpretation of information will be provided to English Language Learners as needed.
- Additional time will be provided for students to respond to questions which require analysis, synthesis, or evaluation, as needed.
Setting Expectations:
The teacher will explain that today’s lesson is designed to reinforce the significant social attitudes and historical events in Mali. The teacher will then explain the procedures for today’s activities:
- The students will view and respond to a twelve minute Power Point presentation on the Geography, Religion, Architecture, People, Economics, and Social Structure of the Kingdom of Mali.
- The class will during the Power Point presentation read and discuss student handout 5 Mali: West Africa’s Golden Empire.
- The students will collaborate on a group activity to synthesize the Power Point presentation with historical events, and the G.R.A.P.E.S. acronym.
- Students will then present their group analyses to the class.
Input:
Information will come from:
- The teacher’s introduction to the lesson
- Ibn Battuta, Travels of Ibn Battuta.
- The teacher’s instructions on the collaborative activity
- Group collaboration and presentations of the groups’ analyses
Anticipatory Focus (2 minutes):
We can use this time to have the students pick up their materiel in an orderly way. I have enclosed student handout 5 for the student to read, worksheets for them to take notes as a listening guide and listening challenge which will incorporate a multiple intelligence activity, as well a G.R.A.P.E.S. project that can be used to get the students into groups. The anticipatory set can include a quick You Tube presentation and a map of Africa to point out where the empire of Mali was located.
Modeling (10 minutes):
- The teacher will moderate class discussions on the Power Point presentation and the primary sources.
- The teacher will assign diverse student groups to work together for the collaborative activity.
- The teacher will explain how to respond to the prompts for the collaborative activity.
- The teacher will direct the students to record and respond to their classmates’ analyses in their presentations.
Checking for Understanding (2 minutes):
The teacher will assess students’ comprehension of the Power Point presentation. This can be an excellent place to use background history of the African Kingdom of Mali: West Africa's Golden Empire.
- We will expand on the beginnings of Mali, the rise and fall of the Kingdom, plus the social structures it maintained.
- I will ask the students to focus on three questions which will be outlined in our listening guide.
- Then have the student individually answer the listening guide by spinning a wheel with several colors that will match a color piece of paper each student received earlier in class.
The content in this lesson will include the following: Information on the kingdom of Mali:
- How did their location have an effect on Trade…Economics…Religion…?
- Why did they decline?
- How does West African perspectives differ from American perspective today?
- What lesson can be learned from the West African kingdoms?
Guided Practice (10 minuets):
This can be a time when I show the ability to get the students into groups by introducing the students to G.R.A.P.E.S. This means geography, religion, art and architecture, politics and government, economics, and social structure. Each group will be assigned all six topics and create a G.R.A.P.E.S. worksheet the Kingdom of Mali as their content area.
This activity consists of two simulations in one class period:
- Students first engage in creating the G.R.A.P.E.S. worksheet, adding pictures and words describing their content area and topic (G.R.A.P.E.S.).
- Each group then presents their own G.R.A.P.E.S. worksheets to the class. Rules: Two teams will throw a ball back and forth each time they will say one thing that is on their worksheet about Mali. If a team member drops a pass they have to share two items off their group worksheet. If the ref (me) rules a throw is to hard or off line I give a penalty to said team and they must share an item off their teams poster. The winner is the last team that has the last item on their worksheet.
Reteach (10 minutes):
Each group then presents their worksheet in a fun competitive challenge. Rules: Two teams will throw a ball back and forth each time they will say one thing that is on their worksheet about Mali. The winner is the last team that has the last item on their worksheet. If a team member drops a pass they have to share two items off their group worksheet. If the ref (me)rules a throw is to hard or off line I give a penalty to said team and they must share an item off their teams worksheet. The winner is the last team that has the last item on their G.R.A.P.E.S worksheet.
Formative assessment:
- The teacher will collect the Listening Guide and evaluate them for effort, accuracy, and completion.
- The teacher will assess the quality of the oral group presentations.
- The teacher will collect the group activity sheets (G.R.A.P.E.S. worksheet) and evaluate them for effort, accuracy, and completion.
Closure (1 minute):
Now that all the students have heard a little about the Kingdom of Mali we will talk about how this kingdom is similar to modern day countries like America. Finally, students will complete the Listening Challenge (exit ticket) filling in the smiley face to indicate their level of feelings toward the lesson they received, plus draw a picture or create a song about the lesson they received. Alternative Listening Challenge (exit ticket) list three takeaways from the lesson student would want to know three years from today. They can do this while discussing the lesson with their group members (this will come into play for our next class meeting as they will recall what they drew to review where we were in order to know where we will be going.
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