Teaching Venice

Pre-empt: Get students to understand why we are studying Venice

Google Maps:  overhead view of Venice

Images of Venice - modern life

Timeline - history

Present map of Europe for a brief summary of history

How much history: enough to provide a context for students to understand the rise of Venice.

Graphic organizer of concepts so students know where they are in terms of lesson frame

Trading Scenario to explain Giro banking and double-entry book-keeping (but keep it in the context of why they need to know this: the details of Giro and book-keeping are not important, but how Venice used these to prosper)

1. run a scenario where two traders have to exchange money in order to trade with each other

2. get students to suggest ideas to resolve this problem

Decline of Venice: Corruption 

Scenario: Three clans of survivors who lived through the Black Death

Clan election: Two groups (one poor and capable, one rich and incapable) vying for the vote of a third clan (poor and wants $$$)

Take away/exit slip: What characteristic do you see here as contributing to Venice's decline

Wrap up at the end of activity so that kids can relate to learning objectives

When we do introduce a source (text, image) related to content, also use a worksheet to interpret source to scaffold the activity and allow students to take notes.