Rome Compare and Contrast Essay

What aspects of Roman culture still have relevance in our lives today? How have these evolved since Roman times? How similar are the lives of people in ancient and modern times?

The basic needs of a society remain constant through time; although, they are impacted by the progress, innovation and changing demands of culture.  Select a topic that you feel was significant in Roman daily life.  Identify and explain how your topic is relevant today and mention how and why it has evolved over time.  What were the reasons for the change? Why is it still a significant part of our society today?

Here is a guideline for the STRUCTURE of the essay:

INTRODUCTION: hook, background, mention your three body topics, thesis (The [insert topic here] of today is both alike and different from the [insert topic here] of Ancient Rome.)

BODY 1 : topic sentence, how is [insert sub-topic #1] in Rome similar to modern times?, how is it different from modern times?

BODY 2 : topic sentence that includes a transition from body 1, how is [insert sub-topic #2] in Rome similar to modern times?, how is it different from modern times?

BODY 3: topic sentence that includes a transition from body 2, how is [insert sub-topic #3] in Rome similar to modern times?, how is it different from modern times?

CONCLUSION: restate thesis, mention all three things again, something memorable

Click here to read an example on marriage. Click here to read an example on death.

Vocabulary #27 – The Roots -chrono- and -tempor-

Society for Creative Anachronism

anachronism

chronic

chronicle

chronological

contemporary

extemporaneous

synchronize

tempo

temporal

temporary

Homework

You have the choice of either doing the vocab. book packet, or doing the flashcards.

Flashcards should have the following information on them:

• Word
• Derivatives
• Definition
• Use it in a sentence (using contextual clues)
• Use the derivative(s) in a sentence (using contextual clues)
• Picture

In addition, you need to write a journal entry (a story for example) using all 10 words. The words should be written with context clues (show meaning).

Homework is due the day of the quiz

Friday (Day 2, F block)

Monday (Day 1, D block)

Rome – Compare & Contrast

As you begin your Rome compare and contrast assignment, it is helpful to create a mind-map to organize your thoughts and create a visual respresentation of your ideas. This will become the skeleton, the structure, of your essay. Everyone MUST create a mind map. You will turn in your mind map with your essay and even show it as a part of your presenatation.

Create a MIND MAP of your research topic.

Try these:

Inspiration (on the school computers)

• examples

Mindomo

Exam Time

Think Buzan

Evaluating Web Sites

Take a look at some of the following sites. Evaluate one of them and be prepared to tell the class what you think. What kind of site is it? Does it seem legitimate? Can you trust it? How can you tell?

Web Resources

• The Ova Prima Foundation
• Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie
• Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide
• Boilerplate: Mechanical Marvel of the 19th Century
• The Burmese
  Mountain Dog
• Buy an Ancestor Online
• California’s Velcro Crop under Challenge
• Case Analysis of a Historic Killer Tornado Event
  in Kansas on 10 June 1938
• Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division
• Feline Reactions to Bearded Men
• Google Job Opportunities
• Google Technology
• Jacopo di Poggibonsi
• History of the Fisher-Price Airplane
• Pacific
  Northwest Tree Octopus
• Taxonomy of Barney
• Visit Exciting Fredericton
• The First Male Pregnancy
• Patsy Cline Music Deemed ‘Dangerous’ to Women

Try these different search engines when looking for info:

Yippy.com

Dogpile

Ask Jeeves

DuckDuckGo

Bing

Mamma.com

How Roman Are We?

We are beginning a research project where you will research one part of Rome and compare it to something similar in today’s world.

Your first task will be to select a topic to research. Each student will chose a unique topic. Here are some possibilities.You may chose others, with Mr. Cole’s approval.

You should first do some pre-research to find out how much information is out there on your possible topic. While doing your pre-research, make sure your possible topic is interesting to you, and that there is plenty of sources of information to learn from.

Start HERE -BBC History

Then go HERE – World Book Online (isaaberdeen – worldbook)

Don’t just Google a topic and hope to get good, reliable information. You must come up with 3 subtopics, and have information about them, before your topic is approved.

Fill out this sheet first: Rome Compare and Contrast topic selection sheet

Here is an example: Rome Compare and Contrast topic selection sheet – with example thesis and sub topics

Here are the topics chosen by students. Have your topic in mind and start to search for information on your topic. After the break you’ll need to have a focussed thesis and three clearly defined sub-topics to focus on.

Create a MIND MAP of your research topic.

Try these:

Inspiration (on the school computers)

• examples

Mindomo

Exam Time

Think Buzan

The Roman Mysteries

|Homework

Part I – you need to read to the end of Part I by the following dates. Also do the first three pages of work in your packet.

• Thieves of Ostia = chapters/scrolls I – VII
• The Secrets of Vesuvius = chapter/scrolls I – XII

Due Dates

Tuesday (Day 1/D block)

Wednesday (Day 2/F block)

We will begin our new class novel this week. We will break the novel into thirds, with due-dates to be finished reading by. Students will be put in groups of 3 or 4 and will work through novel study elements together as they make sense of, and discuss, the book.

This will be great background information about ancient Rome, plus another valuable study of novels for English. Students will get AR points for reading the book, so it will count towards their reading grade. There will also be a quiz at the end of the novel that will count as an English grade. In addition, I will create a Vocab. quiz based on words from the novel identified by students as worthy of study.

I’m giving groups a choice of reading one of two books from the same series, “The Roman Mysteries.”

–          The Thieves of Ostia (book level 5.2, 6 AR points) – the first in the series

Or

–          The Secrets of Vesuvius (book level 5.0, 6 AR points) – the 2^nd in the series

I will read aloud the first chapter of each book to the class and let students discuss which book they’d like to read.

Here is the author’s website, complete with many great extension and supplementary activities and supports.

http://www.romanmysteries.com/

I’ve attached the novel study packet with the activities they’ll need to work on independently and in their groups. Some students may need some support and help with this.

Novel Study packet – grade 7

Roman Republic Quiz

We are half way through our study of Rome. We’ve looked at many aspects of the Roman Republic. Review the concepts below and be ready for a quiz in your social studies class.

Review these concepts (all have handouts or were discussed in detail in class)

• Map of Rome (detailed – be able to label a map of the surrounding areas as well)
• Romulus and Remus
• Advantages of Rome’s location
• Etruscans
• Tarquin
• The color purple
• Patricians and Plebians
• Veto
• Consuls
• Senators
• Dictator

Quiz Dates

Social Studies 1 (A block) – Friday

Social Studies 2 (E block) – Monday

Rome location map plus Romulus and Remus

Rome’s Ideal Location