Lesson plans for Woven Truth Region 1 – Asia (Russia, China, Korea, Japan, Tibet mostly). Kindly note, in the interest of using less paper, the homework can be done in a student notebook or on loose-leaf or online or google docs….if you want to make a worksheet – copy paste the questions into a document of your choice.
Middle school (grades 6 & 7 – World Geography)
Important – teach this lesson before the relevant subjects from the textbook that is being used.
Day 1.
Ask students to share what they know about this region. You can use a globe, pull down map or the very first slide (before the title)
Ask students to write down two things that they already know and one thing that they want to learn. Answers should be complete sentences, clearly expressing the information.
Show the rest of the PowerPoint. It is recommended that teacher reads and clarifies the information presented on each slide. After the PP, ask students to refer back to the thing they wanted to learn. They should answer whether or not they learned it, and add one more thing that was new that they had not thought about before. Again, answers should be complete, clear, informative sentences. Pass papers forward. This should be graded on completion only. recommended 2 points (1 if answers are very minimal, 2 if answers are thorough)
Sample student paper:
Sample Student
Grade 6 Social Studies
September 10, 2021
The two things I already know about Asia are that rice and silk come from China, also a lot of cheap products. Korea is divided into two parts North and South.
I want to learn more about Japan, like how did the people get there?
People got to Japan by sailing from China.
Day 2.
Ask students to read from The Woven Truth, Volume 2, pages 19 to the top of page 22. Depending on their reading skills – round robin, or with a partner in a whisper.
Stretch & Sit*, while teacher returns papers from yesterday to students.
Once they are seated, ask them to raise hands if they think the Bricklayer had questions similar to theirs?
Ask students to read the gold section: Region 1; pages 22- 26. Start in class, finish as homework. As they are reading, for today’s homework, write a bullet list of 7-12 things they learned while reading (on same paper). Have it in class tomorrow.
Sample Student Paper: Sample Student
Grade 6 Social Studies
September 10, 2021
The two things I already know about Asia are that rice and silk come from China, also a lot of cheap products. Korea is divided into two parts North and South.
I want to learn more about Japan, like how did the people get there?
September 11, 2021
While I was reading, I learned:
-
Descendants of Adam by 10,000 BCE
-
Silk started in China & been made since 3630 BCE
-
200 BCE silk got to Korea & beginning of Silk Road
-
Buddhism started in 220 CE and was the main religion
-
Chinese invented gunpowder, fireworks, paper, wheelbarrow, wagon mill
-
Best invention ship building and sailing by 1 CE
-
The great wall and great canal by 5th century
-
Sa’ad ibn Waqqas brought Islam to China
-
Japan settled by Jomon people
-
Prince Shotoku united Japan in the 5th Century
-
Korea’s capital Pyongyang (still is today!)
-
Korea invented metal printing, their own paper, underground heating.
-
Korea made people pay taxes or join the army
-
Story of Dalai Lama who saw a Muslim praying and shot a bunch of arrows in all directions. He gave all that land to the Muslims for their own.
-
Atilla the Hun controlled Mongolia in the 4th Century
-
And Russia was not together yet.
Day 3.
Ask students to hold up their list of bullet points. (Teacher can quickly walk around and put a colored check mark on those who have their list at the beginning of class.
Class discussion, ask students to volunteer one thing they learned.
Teacher writes on board. Continue until all students have contributed or run out of ideas. Teacher may introduce a few ideas… “What do you think about xxx? is this new information or did we already know this?”
Homework: Read relevant material for time and place from textbook. Students should add the vocabulary words from the textbook (and their definitions to the paper.)
Day 4.
Students may work in quiet small groups or with a partner. Using both the Woven Truth and the textbook – compare information. Find 3 instances where the information from both sources matches up, and three instances where it does not. Note why you think each instance matches or not. Turn in at the end of class, both partners names on the paper. This should be collected (copied so that each student will get one back!) and graded carefully, correcting any mistaken assumptions. Must be returned at least one day before Quiz can be given.
Possible Quiz Questions (blend in with textbook questions to meet state standards).
Note answers are green (if copy pasting be sure to remove answers)
1. Name two countries that are entirely or partially in the region referred to as East Asia. (China, Korea, Japan, Tibet – Russia and Mongolia ½ credit)
2. What very special item was the backbone of trade in this region? Silk
3. Post Flood, the area was settled by which branch of Prophet Nuh’s(Noah) family? Japeth – referred to genetically as the Joman people
4. What was the predominate religion of the region around 200-1000 CE? Buddhism (Confucianism and Taoism to a lesser degree)
5. How did Islam return to the region after the death of Prophet Muhammad (632 CE)? Traders, especially on the Silk Road, into Tibet by 14th Century. Bonus points for the story about the 5th Dalai Lama.
6. What additional inventions came from China by the time of the Prophet? (7th Century)
Ship building & sailing, The Great Wall. Great Canal
7. Which country’s capital has been Pyongyang since the 5th Century – and still is today? (Korea or North Korea)
8. Prince Shotoku united which country in the 5th Century? Japan
*Stretch & Sit Breaks – Students should be trained in this at the beginning of the year.
3 minutes to stretch and talk, but stay close to desk. 30 seconds to be seated quietly. If they seat themselves in time (use a timer or stop watch in training) they can have another stretch break, next time. If they fail to seat quietly, in time; no breaks for two days.
High school (grades 10-12) world history and world geography)
Important – please teach this lesson before the relevant subjects from the textbook being used.
Do not make resources slide available to students until after the unit is complete. High school students may also skip the first slide, as hopefully they know this already.
Day 1.
Show the PowerPoint, letting students take turns reading from the slides.
Ask students to take notes, to jot down things they did not know already.
Homework: Students should read from The Woven Truth, Volume 2, pages 19 to the top of page 26. Start in class, finish at home. As they are reading, they should continue taking notes on the same paper and bring it to class tomorrow.
Day 2.
Check student papers for completion before class discussion, ask students to volunteer one thing they learned. Continue until all students have contributed or run out of ideas. Teacher may introduce a few ideas… “What do you think about xxx ? is this new information or did we already know this?”
Homework: Read relevant material for time and place from textbook.
Day 3.
Students may work quietly with a partner (internet needed!). Using both the Woven Truth and the textbook – compare information. Make a list of 8 things you think need some proof – and each partner look up four things. Start in class and complete at home. Write up the things you wanted proof for, and the proof(s) that you found – or could not find. Make a bibliography – list of sources from your research.
Each student will write their own paper, put the partner’s name underneath their own in parentheses.
List each question that the partners wanted a proof for as a complete sentence.
The second sentence should be the sources that the individual student used. If more than one, please list all. Kindly use reliable sources- note Wikipedia is not!
Finally, use at least 3 sentences for the conclusion you reached for each item.
Do a good job, this counts as assessment.
Sample: Note that students set it up how they chose, copy pasted some information – but did give credit to the websites they used. On a scale of 1-5 (5 being full points); the score for 1. = 5; 2.=5 (if they actually added textbook information)
First Partner (Second Partner) Gr 11 World History
September 13, 2021
Four Things We Wanted Proof For:
The information I found is listed under the item and my response is the second paragraph under each item
1. We would like proof that the region was settled by 10,000 BCE by a group of people descended from Japheth and that they were referred to as Jomon.
Shows genetic proof for group called Jomon settling in east Asia by 10,000 or even earlier. During Paleolithic, Japan possibly connected to mainland by marshes.
https://freemaninstitute.com/RTGham.htm
. Seven Sons of Japheth (see map below):
1. Javan (Greece, Romans, Romance -- French, Italians, Spanish, Portuguese)
2. Magog (Scythians, Slavs, Russians, Bulgarians, Bohemians, Poles, Slovaks, Croatians)
3. Madai (Indians & Iranic: Medes, Persians, Afghans, Kurds)
4. Tubal (South of Black Sea)
5. Tiras (Thracians, Teutons, Germans, Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon, Jutes)
6. Meshech (Russia)
7. Gomer (Celtic)
Shows that groups from Europe/Russian area migrated into East Asia. The first article shows that the Jomon people came from Russia, either north of Tibet or south of Tibet.
I could find a lot of information with genetic proof about Japanese specifically and East Asian in general being descendants of Joman people. Archeologists trace Jomon people as having migrated into the area from Europe, either north of Tibet or south of Tibet. Of the listed sons of Japheth, from the northern part of Europe were Meshech and Magog, from the southern parts were Madai and Tubal. The information about descendants of Japheth was harder to find.
2. We would like to know about how the Silk Road began – and where it was?
https://www.worldhistory.org/Silk_Road/
The Silk Road was a network of ancient trade routes, formally established during the Han Dynasty of China in 130 BCE, which linked the regions of the ancient world in commerce between 130 BCE-1453 CE. The Silk Road was not a single route from east to west and so historians favor the name 'Silk Routes', though 'Silk Road' is commonly used. The articles shows how the trade routes developed slowly over time, but came to be called the Silk Road, or Silk Routes because of the importance of the silk trade.
The statement in the Woven Truth is basically correct, slightly simplified to make the story a reasonable length. According to the textbook; blah blah blah. This seems like accurate information and it is easy to find from many sources.
3. We would like to know if the Chinese ever reached south or north American continents before 5th Century CE.
4. We would like to know if the story about the 5th Dalai Lama is really true or not?
Our method was to use the internet and to type the question statement into the search bar for each item. (Students could also try to use the information in the sources section of the Woven Truth!).