James Madison University College of Education

Social Studies Lesson Plan Format

MSSE 570, 571Dr. Taylor Jaffee and Dr. Pease
Name: Morgan Braun

Date:1/31/2016

Subject/Class: World History I Grade Level: 9

circle one:

Original

Topic: Pax Romana

Essential Question(s)/Big Ideas:

Is being conquered worth the protection of an Empire?
SOLs/Standards addressed (# & letter):
NCSS5: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
STANDARD WHI.6g
NCSS7: Production, Distribution and Consumption,

Learning Outcomes/Objectives & their assessment chart:

Learning Outcomes/ Objectives:

Assessment: How will you know they know?

U1: SWUT peace and protection come at the

expense of being under imperial control

Students will answer an exit question, Is protection

worth being controlled? Why

K2: SWKT Economic impact of the Pax

Romana
Established uniform system of money,
which helped to expand trade
Guaranteed safe travel and trade on
Roman roads
Promoted prosperity and stability

Students will show these positives on their t chart that

they brainstorm on the positives of the Pax Romana

K3: SWKT: Social impact of the Pax

Romana
Returned stability to social classes
Increased emphasis on the family
K4: SWKT Political impact of the Pax
Romana
Created a civil service
Developed a uniform rule of law
D 1: SWBAT Judge whether the Pax
Romana was positive or negative for
different factions of the Roman Empire

Students will show this through the positives on their

T-Chart

V 1: SW Students will work cooperatively in

groups
Dept. of Middle, Secondary, and Math Education
modified by Dr. Cude & Dr. Taylor Jaffee 9/13

Students will show this through the positives on their

t-chart
Students will defend their scenarios as positive or
negative to the class. Students will sort and record
positives and negatives of the Pax Romana on a tchart
Observed by teacher.

Background Content Overview/Justification: One paragraph in your own words (4-6 sentences).
Include citations of where you gathered your background information in the reference section.
The Pax Romana was a period of peace and prosperity for the Roman Empire that lasted for
over 200 years. It started under Octavian, Augustus Caesar. Rome expanded their borders and absorbed
many different lands and nations into their empire. The Romans built roads, aqueducts, and bridges to
support communication and trade to different parts of their Empire. They established a uniform
currency to facilitate more efficient trade. The Pax Romana put new emphasis on the family unit. The
father and head of the household was responsible for the well-being of his family and took this role
seriously. Roman women were given more power for having the responsibility of bearing sons for the
Roman Empire. The Roman government worked to create a fair and representative system that could
administer to the far reaches of the Empire. They established an imperial civil service system that
would fairly elect officials to collect taxes and administer to the Empire. They also established a rule of
law to fairly represent the citizens and guide political affairs. These accomplishments were positives
for many Roman citizens but came at the expense of the people they conquered. These people paid
high taxes and were rarely represented in Roman political affairs. People of conquered nations were
often taken as slaves to build the Roman economy. Rome was not tolerant of other religions or
governments and persecuted those who worshipped different religions.

Instructional Plan: This is the heart of your lesson. It includes step-by-step instructions which a
substitute teacher should be able to teach from. Include movement opportunities and student-directed
learning. Higher Blooms questions should be included. Plan and write out your transitions. THIS IS
a SCRIPT of what you will teach.
Lesson
Components
& Time
Frame
(examples)
(Anticipatory
Set
5 min.

What the Teacher Will Do

What the Students Will Do

Teacher will go around and sign agendas and

prompt students to complete the warm up questions.

Students will write down their

homework and answer two
warm up questions
1. Who is your favorite
emperor and why?
2. Who was the most
powerful emperor and
why?

Adaption/Differentiation*: Students who struggle to

write will receive completed warm up questions

Hook
5 min

Teacher will show clip from life of Brian What

have the Romans ever done for us?
Teacher will ask students why the characters would
want to revolt against the Romans after all the

Dept. of Middle, Secondary, and Math Education

modified by Dr. Cude & Dr. Taylor Jaffee 9/13

Students will answer questions

posed by the teacher and
facilitate discussion

Introduction
10 min.

Interactive
Lecture
20-25 min.

achievements they brought? Teacher will ask who

helped build those achievements and with what
funding? Teacher will ask students if they would
want someone to use their money and forced labor
for a positive end goal even if they had no choice?
Teacher will put up a map of the most famous slave
revolt showing the uprising of 120,000 slaves under
Spartacus. Teacher will ask students to describe
what they see on the map, what they know about
Spartacus from the Gladiator. Teacher will ask why
would slaves want to revolt? What kind of people
were ancient Roman slaves? Teacher will explain
that slaves were conquered people that were often
educated or highly skilled and were vastly unhappy
with servitude. Teacher will ask students to predict
what other factions of Roman society might be
unhappy with Roman Rule?
The teacher will display an interactive google slides
presentation on the Pax Romana. Teacher will ask
thought provoking questions throughout, asking
students to explain how the Pax Romana affected
different factions in society, or how these reforms or
achievemenets came about, to what expense? Who
paid for these advancements? What class of people
made the Pax Romana so prosperous?

Students will analyze the map

and try to take away the main
idea from the map through
teacher questioning. Students
should understand not everyone
is happy to be under Roman
rule and that slavery was not
based on race in ancient times.

Students will follow along and

fill in the blanks that
correspond to the PowerPoint.
Students will pay attention and
participate in answering the
teachers questions.

Adaption/Differentiation: Students who need

support will receive filled in notes and will follow
along with a highlighter
Group work
10 min.

Teacher will organize the class into partners of the

teachings choosing. Teacher will give each group a
scenario and ask them to distinguish if this was a
positive or negative impact of the Pax Romana.
Adaption/Differentiation: Scenarios will be
differentiated for reading levels

Dept. of Middle, Secondary, and Math Education

modified by Dr. Cude & Dr. Taylor Jaffee 9/13

Students will receive scenarios

and will sort them into good
and bad affects of the Pax
Romana. Students will analyze
exactly how the political,
economic, and social changes
affected those inside of Rome
and to the far depths of the
Empire. In groups of three
students will receive a scenario
from living in the Pax Romana.
They will evaluate whether this
was a positive effect of living in
the Pax Romana or a negative
effect of living in the Pax
Romana and explain their

answer.
Group
Presentation
s 20 min.

On the board the teacher will create a t-chart for

positive and negative scenarios. Each group will
share their scenario and where they would place it
on the T-chart. The class will agree or disagree with
them and explain their reasoning.
Adaption/Differentiation: Scenarios will be
differentiated and trickier or clearer scenarios will
be given to more or less readiness level students.

Class
Discussion
15 mins

Closure 5
min.)

Students will share their

scenarios with the class and
come up and place it on the
board in the positive or negative
column. They will defend their
decision to the class and the
class will have the chance to
agree or disagree with them and
challenge or ask them
questions.
On a graphic organizer students
will write positives and
negatives from the Pax Romana
and glue this into their
notebook.

Teacher will facilitate a class discussion on the

positives and negatives of the Pax Romana. Teacher
will draw a t chart on the board and have students
come up and write positives and negatives. Teacher
will encourage students to think of social, political,
and economic positives and negatives for each
faction of society, women, slaves, conquered people,
and roman citizens.
Adaptation/Differentiation: Students who need
support will receive a filled out version of this chart
that they can highlight and follow along with the
class
Teacher will ask students to answer on
Students will answer the
todaysmeet.com Are peace and protection worth
question Are peace and
being controlled?
protection worth being
controlled? on
Todaysmeet.com in 140
characters or less

*Adaption/Differentiation: Please briefly include within your instructional plan how would you
alter/modify various part of the lesson (as seen in the example above) to meet needs of ELLs/struggle
readers, ADHD students, and gifted students? [You can also explain how sections of the lesson are
already meeting needs of diverse student populations]
Materials Needed for the Lesson:
References: Give the websites you used as well as the print materials. Discuss how you altered the
material if you borrowed pieces from someone elses work. Use APA 6th edition for citation format.
Cartwright, M. (2013, November 27). Roman Coinage. Retrieved February 07, 2016, from
http://www.ancient.eu/Roman_Coinage/

Dept. of Middle, Secondary, and Math Education

modified by Dr. Cude & Dr. Taylor Jaffee 9/13

Dulberg, M. (n.d.). The Pax Romana. Retrieved February 7, 2016, from

http://www.pob.k12.ny.us/cms/lib/NY01001456/Centricity/Domain/81/Melissa Dulberg pax
romana.pdf
Life of the People. (n.d.). Retrieved February 07, 2016, from http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6d.asp
Research on the Ancient World. (n.d.). Retrieved February 07, 2016, from
https://www2.bc.edu/~mcglynka/honors3.html
The Roman Empire in the First Century. (n.d.). Retrieved February 07, 2016, from
http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/family.html
Roman Empire. (2008). In Gale Encyclopedia of World History (Vol. 1). Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/whic/ReferenceDetailsPage/DocumentToolsPortletWindow?
displayGroupName=Reference&action=2&catId=&documentId=GALE
%7CCX3048600025&source=Bookmark&u=winn16583&jsid=27e1682bb560031bbe2eb2284a8039e
Wasson, D. (2013, December 10). Roman Daily Life. Retrieved February 07, 2016, from
http://www.ancient.eu/article/637/
YEAR 4: LIFE IN ANCIENT ROME (8 lessons). (n.d.). Retrieved February 7, 2016, from
http://www.coreknowledge.org.uk/resources/Resource Pack-Year4-Life in Ancient Rome.pdf
Used scenarios from her lessons and added additional ones to further explain political, social,
economical positives and negatives
Points
/3 ea.

Rubric for Lesson Plans See full rubric for detailed description of expectations.
NCSS Themes: 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8 9
10
Objectives/EQ: well written EQ which is essential, objectives well-written and significant
Assessment: aligned with objectives, formative & summative
Content & procedures: HOOK, closure, timing, appropriate, detailed, accurate content, well
chosen strategies

PASS criteria: higher-order thinking, depth of knowledge [disciplined inquiry], meaning beyond
school, active, integrative, ethical valuing
Required elements: additional pieces submitted (incl. powerpoint, notesheet, assessments, rubrics,
etc), on time, strong visual component, use of primary sources

TOTA
L

13.5 15 = exemplary (A)

12- 13.25 = meets target (B)
10.25 11.75 = meets target (C)
10 and below = needs improvement/redo & resubmit

Dept. of Middle, Secondary, and Math Education

modified by Dr. Cude & Dr. Taylor Jaffee 9/13