World History · Week 1 · Foundations and Democratic Revolutions

Becoming a Historian

Students meet ancient thinkers in Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem who asked what a person owes others, then name the questions and curiosity they bring to history as young historians.

Self-awarenessGrade 10About 20 minutesGrade 10

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Students will: Students compare how Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem treated law, reason, faith, and duty to others, and explain what questions a historian asks about whose stories are remembered.
SEL skill: Name the curiosity and questions you bring to history
What it looks like: Students recognize the curiosity and questions they bring to history and name the feelings that come with them.
Content focus: Becoming a historian
Format: Think write pair share

Self-awareness

Self-awareness means noticing your own emotions, thoughts, values, and strengths and seeing how they shape what you do. More self-awareness activities

What you get

A teacher guide with what to say, step by step, plus student pages and a supports page for students with diverse learning needs, including those with IEPs. Print or Project it, or assign it in Google Forms and Google Docs for Google Classroom. Your first 10 activities are free.

Standards

10.1.1: CA History Social Science Content Standard, Grade 10: World History, Culture, and Geography: The Modern World (standard 10.1, item 1)
CA HSS Analysis Skill: HI3 Interpret past events in the context in which they unfolded rather than solely by present day norms and values. (Historical Interpretation)
C3 Framework (national): D2.His.1.9-12 Evaluate how historical events were shaped by the unique circumstances of time and place and by broader historical contexts.
Literacy in history: WHST.9-10.2 Write informative and explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events.

Fits these textbook chapters

Textbook names are used only to help you find activities that fit what you teach. RoseThread Connect is not affiliated with these publishers.

More self-awareness activities for World History

Ideas That Start Revolutions Self-awarenessStudents connect the ideas of Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Jefferson, and Bolívar to the revolutions they inspired and name the beliefs that drive their own choices.
Why Empires Expanded Self-awarenessStudents analyze how markets, resources, national rivalry, and beliefs of superiority drove the new imperialism and examine assumptions about who is better than whom.
Mapping Colonial Rule Self-awarenessStudents study maps of Africa and Asia before and after colonial rule and name the feelings that arise when borders are drawn by outsiders.
A Lost Generation Makes Art Self-awarenessStudents explore how writers and artists after the war expressed grief and disillusionment and use a quick sketch or poem to name a feeling of their own.

Next: Rule of Law, Not Rule of One

RoseThread Connect activities are drafted with the help of AI and shaped by educators. Students never have to share anything personal. Our five SEL skills are informed by CASEL's SEL Framework; RoseThread Learning is not affiliated with or endorsed by CASEL.