Unit prompt
Unit:
Age of Humanism
Purpose: One Big Idea
The Italian Renaissance was a rebirth of learning that gave birth to individualism that created the drive for
global exploration and human rights.
Social Studies Standard
SS-HS-2.1.1 Students will explain how belief systems,
knowledge, technology and behavior patterns define
cultures and help to explain historical perspectives and
events in the modern world.
Relationship to Unit
The rebirth of education in the western world
creates a drive for Europeans to develop ideas and
technologies that lead to the development of human
rights.
SS-HS-2.2.1 Students will explain how various human
needs are met through interaction in and among social
institutions (e.g., family, religion, education,
government, economy) in the modern world
With the rebirth of education in Europe that leads to
the development of humanism, Europeans looked to
change the government institution that was
interwoven with the Catholic Church in order to
create a system that supported the individual right
to choose.
During the Renaissance many people sought to make
it possible for all men to have the right to education
and to ask questions about the government and
religious establishment that isolated Europe from
the rest of the world for generations.
The European Renaissance encouraged many to seek
new forms of wealth and culture in other parts of
the world. In order to accomplish this feat,
Europeans created technologies and political
philosophies to help them achieve high levels of
wealth and to justify their motives.
SS-H-5.3.1 – During the Renaissance and
Reformation, humans began to rediscover the ideas
of the Classical Age and to question their place in
the universe.
SS-HS-5.3.2 Students will explain and give examples of
how new ideas and technologies led to an Age of
Exploration by Europeans that brought great wealth to
the absolute monarchies and caused significant political,
economic and social changes (disease, religious ideas,
technologies, new plants/animals, forms of government)
to the other regions of the world.
SS-HS-5.1.1 Students will use a variety of tools (e.g.,
The use of primary and secondary sources help
students gain a real life perspective on how the past
primary and secondary sources, data, artifacts) to
analyze perceptions and perspectives (e.g., gender, race, is connected to the present.
region, ethnic group, nationality, age, economic status,
religion, politics, geographic factors) of people and
historical events in the modern world (1500 A.D. to
present) and United States History (Reconstruction to
present). D
Lesson Title
The Renaissance
Main Ideas
1. Identify the values and ideas prized during the
Renaissance
2. Explain the impact of Humanism
3. Analyze the importance of the printing press
The Reformation
1. Analyze historical forces and religious issues that
sparked the Reformation
2. Describe Martin Luther’s role in changing the
Church
3. Discuss the impact of the Reformation on the
Western World
1. Analyze the factors that led to European
exploration
2. Describe how trading empires were established
3. Discuss Spanish and Portuguese impact on the
Americas
1. Identify French, English, and Dutch colonial
activities in North America
2. Summarize competing clams in North America
3. Describe Native American response to Europeans
1. Summarize the evolution of the Atlantic Trade
Network
2. Discuss the consequences of the Atlantic Slave
Trade
Iberian Exploration
North American Exploration
Columbian Exchange
Lesson Title
The Renaissance
The Reformation
Iberian Exploration
North American Exploration
Columbian Exchange
Assessments
Formative (quizzes, worksheets, ect)
Summative (Unit Exam)
Quiz
10 Questions
10 Questions
10 Questions
10 Questions
10 Questions
Points
10
10
10
10
10
Points
100
50
Homework
Daily sheet/ Art Critique
Daily Sheet/ Dante’s Inferno
Daily Sheet/ Explorer’s check list
Daily Sheet/ NA Explorers Chart
Daily Sheet/ Trade Map
Points
10
10
10
10
10
Lesson Plan Prompt
Unit:
Age of Humanism
Lesson:
Iberian Exploration
Section:
Pages:
Date:
Purpose of the Lesson:
The Renaissance led directly to the Age of Exploration. Italy dominated the Mediterranean. Other European
powers envied the Venetians and Genoese their leadership position in trade with the East. It was a lucrative
trade that originated on the far side of Asia and came through Arab traders of the Middle East. Other
Europeans wanted to get a piece of this action.
Objectives:
1. Analyze the factors that led to European exploration
2. Describe how trading empires were established
3. Discuss Spanish and Portuguese impact on the Americas
I Can . . .
Understand how Prince Henry influenced navigation.
Know the importance of the caravel.
Know Europeans’ main motives for making voyages of
exploration.
Give the relative location of Columbus’ initial landing in
the Americas.
Understand what factors helped the Spanish conquer
the Aztecs.
Essential Question – Answer in no less than 3 sentences
Why were Spanish explorers drawn to the Americas?
Answer the I can as if it were a question
Terms
Bartolomue Dias
Prince Henry
Treaty of Tordesillas
Christopher Columbus
Hernando Cortes
Colony
Encomienda
Definition /Significance/ Date
Date:
Definition:
Significance:
Date:
Definition:
Significance:
Date:
Definition:
Significance:
Date:
Definition:
Significance:
Date:
Definition:
Significance:
Date:
Definition;
Significance:
Date:
Definition;
Significance:
Procedure:
Day 1
1. Fill out the daily sheet then begin reading the assigned pages while attendance is taken.
2. Class discussion on the objectives and I can statements: How do you think they are related to each other?
3. Class lecture/discussion and the importance of the Iberian Expansion
4. Discuss possible answers to the Essential Question
5. Homework – I can Statements and Vocabulary
Day 2
1. Discuss the ‘I can” Statements and their relationship to the objectives.
2. Work on and complete Reading guide
3. Work on and complete map activity
4. Answer Essential question through a class discussion
Day 3
1. Check off work from Lesson 3
2. Lesson Quiz
3. ACT preparation Reading assignment
Assignments:
1. Daily Sheet
2. Reading Guide/ Dante’s Inferno
3. Lesson Quiz
ACT Preparation Reading Assignment
Points
5
5
10
5
Due Date
Age of Exploration
Prompt:
The Age of Exploration and the subsequent colonization of much of the world was an ongoing
project for several hundred years. Islands were still being discovered in the late 1700s. Actual
colonization did not end until the last few countries in Africa gained their independence from
European powers in the 1960s. The significance of all this activity is that European culture and
technology was suddenly spread throughout the world. Events occurring in Europe could affect
events around the world and vice versa. In fact one of the great wars of the 1700s (the Seven
Years War) was sparked by a young American officer (George Washington) in the backwoods of
Virginia confronting some Frenchmen in a fort. The world was suddenly a much smaller place.
Directions
1. Draw a map of the Western Hemisphere and on the other sheet draw a map of the Eastern
Hemisphere.
2. Pick out 5 explorers and will pick a different colored pencil for each explorer.
3. Draw a line along the map showing the path each explorer took.
4. Take another sheet of paper to create a key. The key will include the following:



Name of the Explorer
Color of the explorers line of travel
A description of each explorer that includes Name, employer, and impact on American,
European, or Global Society.
7. When finished each group will display their work on the classroom wall.
Rubric:
In order to receive credit the map must include the following:



Name of the Explorer
Color of the explorers line of travel
A description of each explorer that includes Name, employer, and impact on American,
European, or Global Society.
Iberian Expansion Reading Guide
Directions: Answer the following questions in complete sentences.
1. What role did the Renaissance play in launching an age of exploration?
2. What was Prince Henry’s goal and who actually achieved it?
3. What did the Treaty of Tordesillas reveal about European’s attitudes toward non-European lands and
peoples?
4. What were the motives behind exploration?
5. In what ways did Europeans owe some of their sailing technologies to other peoples?
6. What process did Columbus and his followers begin?
7. How might Columbus’s view of the Taino have led the Spanish to think they could take advantage of
and impose their will on the native?
8. What might have been some similarities in character between Cortes and Pizarro?
9. Through what modern day states did Coronado lead his expedition?
10. What percentage did the native population decrease between 1519 and 1605? What is the
significance of this decrease?