Walking in an
Anthropologist’s Shoes
An Anthropological Study of Ancient Egypt
Kim VanHooser
Gifted 3rd Grade
Table of Contents
Walking in an Anthropologist’s Shoes:
An Anthropological Study of Ancient Egypt
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-6
2. Theoretically Speaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5
3. My Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6
4. Knowledge Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5. Field, Principles, Concepts, Essential Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-9
6. Instructional Strategies, Differentiated Activities, Opportunities for Talent
Development, Student Evaluation and Assessment, Social and Learning
Environment, Teacher Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-14
7. Section I Lessons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-20
8. Section II Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21-30
9. Section III Lessons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31-40
10. Section IV Lessons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41-49
11. Instructional Products Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50-53
12. Unit Assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54-73
13. Resources and References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74-80
Walking in an Anthropologist’s Shoes!
An Anthropological Study of Ancient Egypt
“Anthropology demands the open-mindedness with which one must look and listen, record in
astonishment
and wonder that which one would not have been able to guess.”
--Margaret Mead
Anthropology is the study of the origin, the behavior, and the physical, social, and
cultural development of human beings.
Anthropologists examine, analyze, report on, and compare different cultures and
how they grow, develop, and interact. How people live offers insights into modern life
and how significantly we have changed and how similar we are in our basic systems of
interaction. Anthropologists can travel to exotic lands and spend time in primitive
conditions or work in developed countries.
This unit is designed around the idea that there are a group of people in the world
who study human civilizations, anthropologists. These anthropologists look at how
communities develop and sustain themselves as a collection of interdependent
systems.
The ancient Egyptian civilization is the training ground for my classroom of young
anthropologists to apply their skills of evaluating a community’s many facets (i.e.
agriculture, economics, language, leadership). The students will become very unique
anthropologists as they travel through time to this ancient culture. Before my students
start their trip they will learn how an anthropologist crafts their trade. Then they will
voyage back in time and become an actual anthropologist and walk in their shoes. In
the end, their understanding will be broadened by comparing the ancient Egyptian
civilization with aspects of their own lives and communities.
As they take a trip down the Nile and back in time they will become
anthropologists who explore 5,000 years of Egyptian history. Students will visit a palace,
see a sphinx, and come face-to-face with a mummy. They will learn about royalty,
religion, and art as they participate in a variety of hands-on activities that illustrate life in
ancient Egypt. Together they will create a life-size tomb filled with treasures. They will
discover what life is like in Egypt as they travel through time during this nine week
program.
These travels will include archaeological investigations, deciphering hieroglyphs,
and mask making, just to name a few. The traditional dances of ancient Egypt will
provide a moving record of a vanishing way of life. They will reflect aspects of village
life such as water gathering and the celebration of weddings. Together, these dances
will symbolize a continuity of traditions in different ancient Egyptian societies. Through
participation in dances they will learn the essence of these peoples.
The students will discover what life was like in ancient Egypt. They will learn
about the lifestyles of the pharaohs and wealthy as well as ordinary citizens. In addition
Walking in an Anthropologist’s Shoes Page 3 they will examine ancient Egyptian
religion and their belief in the afterlife. Many aspects of ancient Egyptian life are similar
to those of the modern world. Love poems, humor, education, and various hobbies are
several examples of this connection withcontemporary society. They will truly have far
more than a glimpse into the lives of thepeople of ancient Egypt as they become
anthropologists.
Questions challenge kids to think about history and culture: Were ancient
Egyptians on the right track when they created a society without money? Why were
Egyptians so peaceful and could people today learn from them?
What will my class of second and third grade gifted students do with the
knowledge they gain from this anthropological study of ancient Egypt? They will
progress to a real world application of what they have learned about the basic principles
and concepts of the development of a community as it relates to their own life. They will
travel back in time to the beginning of their local community, Lafayette, Indiana. They
will use their knowledge of the career of anthropology to delve into the origin, behavior,
and the physical, social, and cultural development of the community they live in. They
will apply how communities develop and thrive and what makes a community unique to
gain a true understanding of the history of their community. This is the step that will take
them beyond that of a general education student and allow them to be a part of the
history of their ancestors. All the while they will be Walking in the Shoes of an
Anthropologist.
Theoretically Speaking:
As I started down this road of curriculum development I found that it is difficult
to rein my thoughts in. What do I teach? How long do I teach it? How do I teach it?
Most importantly, how is it different from a general education classroom? Joseph S.
Renzulli’s statement that there is a veritable “gifted gerberfood” of underlying principles
for developing differentiated curriculum brought a smile to my face. I have always
scrounged for hands-on and interesting materials and sources to utilize when teaching
students. In fact, I could always find the “stuff” I needed. Of course, that would take me
back to my original set of questions: what is the most important “stuff” to teach, how
long do we spend on it, what and how do we teach it? Yes, it was as though I was
writing the children’s book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. I was on a never ending
loop.
After reading about The Multiple Menu Model I saw a different view. In fact, the
model seems to iron out those questions for me. How Renzulli develops a differentiated
curriculum for the gifted and talented clearly fits into my curriculum design vision. As a
student once said, “It just fits inside of me and makes sense.” Yes, the Multiple Menu
Model does that for me. It has a full “menu” to follow from the foundation up.
The Multiple Menu Model blends content with instructional technique.
Knowledge is a key piece of this. The model is based on the three levels of knowing
(William James, 1885). Those levels are; knowledge of, knowledge about, knowledge
how. They take knowledge from simple to complex. This is where the teacher’s
knowledge is very critical. They are juggling very important balls of understanding;
content field, instructional techniques, cognitive and developmental psychology, and
experience. WOW! What happens when one of those balls falls? I think that is what has
happened many times for me as I have developed curriculum for my gifted students.
The Multiple Menu Model requires teachers to identify a discipline’s principle
and concepts and to carefully reflect on how teachers can share the meaning of these
ideas with their students. It is based on the constructivist theory. It encourages the
teacher to offer students opportunities to apply the research methodologies that
practicing professionals use in their fields of study. This type of curriculum planning
helps students pursue the depth and complexity of a discipline and its content, rather
than learning surface-level content knowledge (The Multiple Menu Model, 2000).
In the past my time has been focused on developing units of study about a specific
topic. In the Multiple Menu Model you are digging much deeper. They are still learning
about ancient Egypt and their local community, but they are doing that via an
anthropologist. This Multiple Menu Model takes the study of communities to a very
different level. It is nothing like a general education classroom unit. Students will
become entrenched in the world of an anthropologist as they travel through ancient
Egypt and their own historical community.
Individual learning styles, needs, gifts, talents, and their affective needs will all be
addressed with the varied choices of instruction and activities they will have throughout
this nine week unit of study. Students will use science as a human endeavor. Students
will learn what an anthropologist is, what they do, how they think, and then put it into
practice (walking in their shoes). I have created many situations which students are
thinking, feeling, and doing what practicing professionals do when they explore the
content and methodology of this particular discipline. Students will do this via gathered
stories and documents to make the curriculum authentic. There are opportunities for
investigative activities and creative products. The integration of portfolio assessment
throughout this unit will incorporate Albert Costa’s 16 Habits of the Mind. These are
characteristics of what intelligent people do when they are confronted with a problem
and the resolution is not readily available. This portfolio piece will exemplify these 16
habits and allow students to showcase work they are doing throughout this unit of study.
This is also another way the affective piece will be enhanced.
The 16 Habits of the Mind:
1. Persisting (Stick to it)
2. Listening With Empathy and Understanding (Understand Others)
3. Thinking About your Thinking (Metacognition; know your knowing)
4. Questioning and Problem Posing (How do you know)
5. Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision (Be clear)
6. Creating, Imagining, and Innovating (Try a different way)
7. Taking Responsible Risks (Venture out)
8. Thinking Interdependently (Work together)
9. Managing Impulsivity (Take your time)
10. Thinking Flexibly (Look at it another way)
11. Striving for Accuracy and Precision (Check it again) 12. Applying Past Knowledge to
12. New Situations (Use what you learn)
13. Gather Data Through all Senses (Use your natural pathways)
14. Respond with Wonderment and Awe (Have fun figuring it out)
15. Finding Humor (Laugh a little)
16. Remaining Open to Continuous Learning (Learn from experiences)
Students will have the opportunity for high-end learning. They will be engaged in
pursuing topics of their own personal interest and producing authentic products of their
own choosing. This advanced content and use of higher level thinking processes allow
students to explore and apply knowledge in the real world. Learning how an
anthropologist thinks and works will provide a hands-on working knowledge of the
anthropologist’s career and how they do their craft. It will provide a solid foundation to
many other units of study in my gifted classroom. The state and national standards for
grades second through fifth guide the scope and sequence of this unit. The scope and
sequence will build upon itself through the four Multiple Menu Model sections:
Section I Lessons: Identifying the Basic Principles and Functional Concepts:
Helping Students Get the BIG Idea
Section II Lessons: Structure of Knowledge Helping Students Understand the
Location, Definition, Organization of Anthropology
Section III Lessons: Knowledge about Methodology: Helping Students Act like a
Practicing Anthropologist
Section IV Lessons: Knowledge about Specifics: Helping Students Apply Basic
Principles and Concepts
Field: Social Sciences
Principles:
Every community develops a system of roles, norms, values, and rules that guide
the behavior of individuals within a society.
The environmental and cultural characteristics of people vary according to
location.
In order to survive a civilization must be able to answer the needs of its members:
food, drink, shelter, and medical care.
People tend to put down roots and raise families in a community where they share
common views and experiences, have employment opportunities, explore artistic
expression, and experience family interactions.
The history of a culture provides guidelines for understanding the thoughts and
actions in the culture’s present-day affairs.
Concepts:
Anthropologist, culture, cultural change, interacting, independent, civilization,
comparisons, influence, exploration, geography, environmental, agriculture, economics,
language, leadership, community, change, social level, norms, values, rules.
Essential Questions:
What can we learn from the past?
What can we infer from the artifacts left by past groups?
In what ways is the past about me?
What can we learn from different generations?
How does an artifact tell its purpose, function, and ultimately its story?
What is an anthropologist?
What does an anthropologist study and why?
How does socio-cultural anthropology and archaeology fit into the world of
anthropology?
How does each fit into the larger picture and purpose of social sciences?
Why do cultures differ?
Why are some cultures technologically “simple” societies, while others developed
more complex, technologically sophisticated societies? Inventions?
How did this society provide for the basic biological needs of its members (food,
shelter, drink, medical care)?
How did this society provide for the production and distribution of goods and
services (division of labor, rules for property and trade, ideas about the role of
work)?
How did this society provide for the reproduction of new members and laws and
issues related to this (regulations, marriageable age, and number of children)?
What type of training was provided to the individual members of this society
(education, apprenticeship, passing on of roles)?
How did this society maintain internal and external order (law, courts, police, and
wars)?
How did this society provide meaning and motivation to its members?
Why are the Tools of the Trade important when learning about communities?
How did geography affect the development of the Egyptian civilization?
Why was the Nile River important to life in Ancient Egypt?
What would happen if the Nile River didn’t exist?
What was life like as a member of the ancient Egyptian culture?
How did social level determine an ancient Egyptians' life-style?
Why were pharaohs important to ancient Egyptians?
What contributions did the people of ancient Egypt make to the development of
written language?
What effects did Egyptian religion have on Ancient Egyptian culture?
What inventions came from ancient Egypt?
What examples of architecture from ancient Egypt are still present today?
Are there enduring government ideas today which existed in Ancient Egypt?
How did geography affect the development of Lafayette, Indiana?
Why was the Wabash River important to life in early Lafayette, Indiana?
What was life like as a member of the early Lafayette, Indiana?
How did social level determine an early Lafayette person’s life-style?
How does the legacy left behind by earlier groups affect us?
What makes your community special?
How has our community changed and how will it change in the future?
Why do we need to study the history of our community?
How does where you live affect how you live?
Instructional Strategies:
Empowering students to think independently is one of the main instructional
strategies incorporated into this unit. Students will be taught “thinking” strategies, Tools
of the Trade. These tools are; thinking like an anthropologist, higher order thinking, the
BIG idea, and deductive reasoning. The great thing about these tools is they will belong
to each student. They have the opportunity and knowledge to use each one as needed.
These tools will be at their fingertips as they travel through time in ancient Egypt.
Another instructional strategy the teacher will use throughout this unit is indirect
instruction. The teacher will take on the role of a facilitator, supporter, and resource for
the students’ knowledge. High level questioning will also be utilized by the teacher as a
strategy. This questioning will be used to ask questions like “What would happen if the
Nile River didn’t exist?” or “What would happen if we had no history from the citizens of
ancient Egypt?” These questions allow the students to use higher level thinking by
applying what they have learned to create and develop new knowledge.
Students will also be participating with interactive instruction. This type of
instruction relies heavily on discussion and sharing among students and the teacher.
Students will be involved in role playing, cooperative learning, jigsaw learning, and
problem solving. This strategy will be utilized in all phases of the unit.
Overall a variety of instructional strategies will be used throughout this unit.
Meeting individual needs and interests will both be a very large focus throughout.
Differentiated Activities:
Each section of the Multiple Menu Model delineates specific differentiated
activities. Individual interest, talent areas, zones of weakness and strength, personal
preference, and twice exceptional needs will all be a part of this. Product choices will
facilitate each section.
The core of student learning will fall into the category of experiential learning.
This is an inductive, learner centered, and activity oriented approach. The simulation
will be a great framework for this type of learning. Students will have the opportunity to
“become” anthropologists of the time period they are studying and take virtual trips back
in time.
Compacting students out of material they have mastered will also become a
valuable part in terms of differentiating. After students are given the formal unit pre-test
this piece will be evaluated. Daily pre and post-tests will also play into compacting
decisions. This will affect the pace at which each student moves through each lesson.
Again, within this compacting student interest and talent will be taken into account.
Product choices are also given throughout the unit as a form of differentiating.
Independent study will also be incorporated throughout this unit. Students will
have opportunities to journal, do a research project, and participate in computer
assisted instruction, researching almost daily into the lives of those who lived before us,
all the while “walking in an anthropologist’s shoes.”
Clearly there will be a variety of differentiated activities utilized throughout this
nine week ancient Egypt unit. Student needs will be the focus.
Culminating Event:
Students will choose 2 projects from the Instructional Product Menu below:
Multiple Menu Model (Renzulli 2000)
Concrete Products
A. Artistic Products
-architecture -furniture design
-murals -wood carvings
-decoration -political cartoons
-sculpture -horticultural design
-filmstrips -landscaping
-slide shows -terrariums
-comic strips -mosaic
-yearbook -videos
-advertisements -computer graphics
-drawing -aquariums
-graphic design -painting
-photography -web pages
-engraving -package design
-etching -postcards
-exhibits -posters
-cartoons -puzzles
-book covers/designs -car designs
-fabric design -sewing
-maps -puppets
-mobiles -set design
-fashion design -pottery
-jewelry -weaving
-diorama -calligraphy
-multimedia presentation
B. Performance Products
-skits -role playing
-simulations -theatrical performance
-vocal -athletic events
-dance -mime
-puppet shows -dramatic monologues
-comic performances -demonstrations
-films/videos -reader’s theater
-poetry readings -improvisations
-musical performance -experiments
-interpretive song -composition
-chorale -concerts
-parades -reenactments
C. Spoken Products
-debates -speeches
-radio plays -advertisements
Walking in an Anthropologist’s Shoes
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-poetry reading -storytelling
-poetry for two voices -interviews
-oral histories -newscasts
-teaching a lesson -lecture
-mock trials -songs
-sales promotions -simulations
-demonstrations -phone conversations
-eulogies -announcements
-comedy routines -master of ceremony
-D.J. shows -panel discussion
-celebrity roasts -narrations
-sermons -dedication ceremonies
-weather reports -rap songs
-town crier -guided tours
-oral reports -book talks
-chronicles -forums
-sign language -book reviews
-puppet shows -audio tapes
-infomercials
D. Visual Products
-videos -slide/digital photo shows
-computer printouts -sculptures
-table settings -advertisements
-puppets -calendars
-musical scores -book jackets
-layouts -models
-pottery -proclamations
-computer programs -timelines
-diagrams/charts -sketches
-graphs -collages
-ice sculptures -demonstrations
-cartoons -travel brochures
-athletic skills -blueprints
-lists -multimedia presentations
-graphic design -paintings
-maps -diagrams
-mobiles -set design
-experiments -caricatures
-silk screening -graphic organizers
-photography -fashion design
E. Models/Construction Products
-drama-drama sets
-sculpture
-relief map -habitat
-bridges -inventions
Walking in an Anthropologist’s Shoes
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-food -vehicles
-fitness trails -microscopes
-microscope slides -aqueducts
-terrariums -greenhouses
-gardens -dioramas
-shelters -collections
-ceremonies -learning centers
-pottery -working models
-ant farms -buildings
-toys -games
-games -books
-solar collectors -bird houses
-bulletin boards -circuit boards
-paper engineering -puppet theaters
-computer programs -computers
-documentaries -exhibitions
-interviews -scale models
-3-D figures -graphs
-furniture -instruments
-robots -machines
-rockets -play facilities
-quilts -multimedia presentation
-hydroponic farms -masks
-robots -gifts
-catalogs -mazes
F. Leadership Products
-speeches -elections
-plans -debates
-school patrols -leading rallies
-consensus building -role playing
-mock trials -musical performances
-campaigns -protests
-open forums -fund raising
-student council/govt. -organizing a
business
-organizing a group -editorials
-service learning projects -editing a
newspaper
-directing a plan -bulletin board/chat
room/discussion group Internet
-club or class webmaster
G. Written Products
-pamphlets -brochures
-books -speeches
-captions -charts
-radio programs -instructions
-interview questions -outlines
Walking in an Anthropologist’s Shoes
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-simulations -recipes
-legends -definitions
-bibliographies -rhymes
-limericks -parables
-advertisements –laws
-graphs -articles (newspaper, journal,
etc.)
-diaries/journals -poetry
-marketing plans -comic strips
-joke/riddles -slogans
-songs/lyrics -questionnaires
-invitations -story boards
-greeting cards -grants
-analyses -epics
-web pages -autobiographies
-flow charts -amendments
-family tree -position statements
-banners -plays/skits
-letters/postcards -crossword puzzles
-summaries -consumer reports
-lists -notes
-budgets -blueprints
-criteria listings -census reports
-folktales -graphic organizers
-story problems -public service
announcements
-ethnography -maps
-timelines -multimedia presentations
-discussion group questions
Artifacts: