By now, most of the kids are getting a little tired of the Wheel of Time landing on something in Ancient History and we were getting some groans that it happened again. After a few presentations were given, we did a simulation to learn some history organizations. I dumped several containers of colored pencils, crayons, and markers on a table. Then I invited all of them up to the table to organize all them some way. After they did it one way (I think sorting by color), I told them to organize them another way. So they separated the different mediums. Again, I told them to organize them another way. This went on several times until they didn't think they could organize it any differently then they had before. We brainstormed a little and found at least one more way before I put them away. Then I compared the colors to the different ways in which historians organized all the information they found.
I pointed out the obvious one that we use the most frequently - TIME - Millenia, Centuries, Decades, Years, Months, Days, Hours, Minutes, & Seconds. Then I pointed out how to organize in TIME-ish manners (relating to a specific time trend but not limited to our calendar) - Dispensations, Caeculum, eras, epochs. The still understood periods that depicted a CHANGE IN THINKING worldwide - Ancients, Medieval, Rennaissance, & modern. Then I introduced an organization by DEVELOPMENT - Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age. I handed out the timeline picture depicting the collapse of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age. Similarly we discussed how history was organized by it PROGRESS or PROSPERITY - Golden Age vs. Dark Age. Here I hand out the timeline picture depicting the Greek Dark Ages when the mycenaean civilization died out and transitioned into city-states. We discussed how PEOPLE were often the organizational method of choice - such as Culture (polynesian/Hispanic), or Religion (Jew-Gentile), or Nations, Families, or Tribes. I handed out the pictures of King David (David & Goliath), King Solomon (Solomon's Temple), and the Division of Israel. Finally we discussed how RULERS were often the method used to organize history - Such as Dynasties (Shang), Kingdoms (Israel), Empires (Roman), or labels (Victorian period). I explained how Zhou Dynasty was during this time period.
I have to admit, this concept of how historians organize all the facets of events from the past was new to my understanding as well. I actually enjoyed teaching this one because I got something completely new from it.
