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WIDEHORIZON

The e-newsletter for teachers of world history/ancient civilizations
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NOVEMBER 1999
Welcome to this month's edition of WideHorizon, the free newsletter for those interested in world history/ancient civilizations.
We hope you enjoy this issue of WideHorizon and thanks for subscribing!

CONTENTS:
1. This month's lesson plan

2. WideHorizon Plus and WideHorizon Basic

3. Web sites for this month's lesson plan

4.Past issues of WideHorizon

5. Useful sites

6. Papyrus for your students

7. WideHorizon Plus for November

8. WideHorizon Basic for November

9. The lesson plan for November
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1 THIS MONTH'S LESSON PLAN
Our lesson plan for this month focuses on Kush and, in particular, a period of Kushite history when Kush was a world power, and Kushite kings ruled an empire that stretched north to the mouth of the Nile; they ruled both Egypt and Kush (c.760 - 656 BCE). The outline of the lesson may be found at the end of this newsletter. As usual it is a social studies/language arts lesson giving students ample opportunity to develop skills across the curriculum.

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2 WIDEHORIZON PLUS and WIDEHORIZON BASIC
If you find the lesson plan, "Kush: A World Power" in this month's newsletter valuable, and would like a detailed and comprehensive version, with copyright material that you can use to teach the lesson, you may be interested in subscribing to WideHorizon Plus or WideHorizon Basic.

WIDEHORIZON PLUS
Details of WideHorizon Plus, and how to subscribe, may be found at:
http://members.aol.com/WERlessons/WHplus.html

WideHorizon Plus lessons are designed for mainstream middle grades and similar in design to the ones at:
http://members.aol.com/WERedu/PlanEg1.html and
http://members.aol.com/WERedu/PlanIndia.html

WIDEHORIZON BASIC
Details of WideHorizon Basic, and how to subscribe, may be found at:
http://members.aol.com/WERlessons/WHbasic.html

WideHorizon Basic lessons are designed for ESL students, academically challenged students, or students of lower grades and similar in form to the ones at:
http://members.aol.com/WERedu/PlanEg1Basic.html
http://members.aol.com/WERedu/PlanIndiaBasic.html

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3 WEB SITES FOR THIS MONTH'S LESSON PLAN
1. PBS “WONDERS OF THE AFRICAN WORLD WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.”
The documentary airing on PBS in the USA at the moment has a companion Web site, part of which is a must for those using this month's lesson plan.

Start here:

http://pbs.org/wonders

and follow the link, "Black Kingdoms of the Nile."

2. Outline map of Nubia with the ancient cities
http://www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/PROJ/NUB/NUBX92/NUBX92_fig2.gif

3. The Kingdom of Kush
http://library.advanced.org/22845/kush/index.shtml

4. Article about Kush and Timothy Kendall
http://www.pathfinder.com/TFK/archive/110797/cover.htm

5. Pictures of Jebel Barkal
http://world.std.com/~erg/gebel.html

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4. PAST ISSUES OF WIDEHORIZON
Past issues of the newsletter are stored at:

http://members.aol.com/WERlessons/Newsletter.html

starting with the May 1999 issue

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5 USEFUL SITES
1. "Introduction to African Art" is a good beginners guide to African art from the beginning of time to the present day.

http://www.arts.usf.edu/~ooguibe/oluart.htm

The section on Nubia is of particular relevance to this month's lesson plan.

2. I know many of you will already be using this site on a regular basis; for those who have not yet discovered it, I'm including it this month:

http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html

The site is HyperHistory and describes itself as "Over 1,600files, covering 3,000 years of world history."

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6 PAPYRUS FOR YOUR STUDENTS

If you are interested in having your students work with genuine papyrus (papyrus was in widespread use in Kush as it was in other ancient civilizations), there is one with a design suitable for Kush available at:

http://members.aol.com/WERedu/Papyrus.html

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7 WIDEHORIZON PLUS

Subscribers to WideHorizon Plus will find the following in their lesson this month:
Part 1
* Kush: A World Power (An overview of the period of history when Kush broke away from the control of Egypt, extended the size of the kingdom to include Egypt, and also Kushite rulers became the 25th Dynasty in Egypt. This is written at a readability level suitable for main stream middle grades.)
* Assignment 1: Kush a World Power(A review assignment in the form of a graphic overview.)
* Assignment 1: Kush a World Power - suggested answers (For teacher use, or for students to check their answers.)

Part 2
* Story - Expedition to Jebel Barkal by Joyce and David Mollet (A story based on the archaeological work that is in progress at the ancient city of Napata.)
* Assignment 2 - Jebel Barkal: A Poem (Students work in the genre of poetry to express what they have learned; structure and guidance given.)
* Assignment 3 - Guided Reading (Questions to answer before, during and after reading the story, "Expedition to Jebel Barkal.")
* Jebel Barkal: Review Exercise (A completed crossword is supplied, students have to write the clues.)
* Kush: A World Power - Teacher Notes (Answers to the assignments, suggestions for approaching the lesson, and a large variety of suggested topics and questions for class and group discussion.)

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8 WIDEHORIZON BASIC

Subscribers to WideHorizon Basic will find the following in their lesson this month:
* Kush: A World Power (A brief overview of Kush's history during the time when Jebel Barkal and the city of Napata was a religious center, and written at a readability level of grades 3/4.)
* Story - Expedition to Jebel Barkal (readability level grade 3)
* Assignment 1 - Learning the glossary words
* Assignment 2 - Basic literal recall
* Assignment 3 - Jebel Barkal: Review Exercise (A completed crossword is supplied, students have to write the clues.)
* Assignment 4 - Jebel Barkal: A Poem (students express what they have learned in a simile poem; guidance given.)
* Teacher Notes (guidelines and references)

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9 THE LESSON PLAN FOR NOVEMBER
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Kush: A World Power

STRANDS:
historical and cultural literacy, critical thinking skills and language skills.

OBJECTIVES:
Students will be able to:
* describe the events of the Napatan period of Kushite history;
* describe the events that explain Kush’s role in ruling Egypt as the 25th Dynasty;
* understand the place of religion in the lives of the ancient Kushites;
* understand the role of religion as one of the influences of historical events of the period;
* recognize the variety of archaeological work that helps us to understand ancient civilizations;
* recognize some of the skills required of a modern day archaeologist.

CONCEPTS:
religion, politics, archaeology

INTRODUCTION
This lesson focusses on a period of Kushite history when Kush was a world power, and Kushite kings ruled an empire that stretched north to the mouth of the Nile; they ruled both Egypt and Kush (c.760 - 656 BCE). Napata was the capital city and nearby Jebel Barkal was the religious center. The lesson plan also includes archaeological work that is in progress in the area and uses the information to extend students understanding of archaeological work in general.

PROCEDURE:
1) Suggest to students that they have been selected as part of an archaeological expedition to Jebel Barkal. The team is led by Timothy Kendall, a Curator at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. They have certain tasks to complete before leaving for Khartoum, the nearest large city to Jebel Barkal, and other tasks to complete during the expedition.

2) Preparatory Task 1
Ensure that students have a knowledge of the history of the region, preceding and during the period c.760 - 656 BCE. This should include:

* the political climate in Egypt;

* the political climate in Kush;

* the Kushite rulers involved in the Kushite expansion of power;

* the probable causes for Kush's invasion of Egypt;

* the involvement of Assyria and the consequences.

Suggested sources:

(a) Students' textbooks

(b) WideHorizon Plus lesson for November

(d) The Kingdom of Kush (http://library.advanced.org/22845/kush/index.shtml)

3. Preparatory Task 2
Gather some information about the team leader, Timothy Kendall and his work.
Suggested sources:

(a) Editors, “Excavations in Nubia,” Calliope-World History for young people, Nov./Dec. 1996, pp. 40 - 41

(b) Article about Kush and Timothy Kendall (http://www.pathfinder.com/TFK/archive/110797/cover.htm)

4. Work Arising From Preparatory Task 1

It is suggested that students make an outline graphic overview before gathering information about Kush during this period in history. If they complete it as they read the information it will help structure their reading and understanding.

Work together with students through the information on Kush.
Spend some time in discussion, exploring various aspects of the events of this period of Kushite history.

From inscriptional evidence that has survived, it seems that religion was one of the motivational factors of Kushite rulers when they invaded Egypt. Kushites who had newly adopted the Egyptian gods saw themselves as "upholders of the faith" when Egyptian society began to decline and religion became less important in the lives of the Egyptians.

Discuss with students how the decision on the part of Kushite rulers to invade Egypt would have had a variety of motives. These may have been:

political;
economic;
religious.

However, the motives that they would have made public on inscriptions would have been those that placed them in “a good light.”

Ask students to speculate on why Kush might have invaded Egypt, and encourage them to look for reasons under the different categories described above.

Discuss why the Kushite and Egyptian priests might have encouraged Kushite rulers to take over the rulership of Egypt.

(Priests had traditionally held a powerful political position in Egypt. Egyptians were moving away from their traditional ways and the old religion. It can be assumed, therefore, that the priests were loosing their power. They saw a takeover of Egypt, by rulers who were still tied to the old ways, as an opportunity to regain their old power.)

5. Expedition to Jebel Barkal.

With a knowledge of Kush and Egypt during this period, students are now ready to experience the ongoing archaeological work at Jebel Barkal.

Suggested sources:

(a) Kendall, Timothy, “Kingdom of Kush,” National Geographic Magazine, Nov. 1990, pp. 96-125

This is a very detailed and an excellent account of the work in Jebel Barkal. The photographs, as one would expect. are excellent. However,it will need editing for students who are working independently as it is too long for most students, and the readability level is high for mainstream middle grades.

(b) WideHorizon Plus has the information in a story written at the readability level of mainstream middle grades.
WideHorizon Basic has the story written at a low readability level (Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 3.8 - American grades) .

4. Assignment

When archaeologists want to solve a problem they draw upon a number of “tools” to help them. These tools include:
* the evidence at hand;
* education and training;
* past experience;
* creative and imaginative thinking.

Invite students to:
* carefully examine the information on the expedition to Jebel Barkal;
* identify a problem that Timothy Kendall solved;
* select evidence from the information showing that Timothy Kendall used the four “tools of archaeologists” to solve the problem.

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Until next month,
Take good care of yourself,
Your Editor

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