Welcome to Room 606!

Welcome to room 606. My name is Mr. Schloss and this is my first year at Bok Tech. I look forward to interacting with my students and also with parents to make this a wonderful year! I can be reached at anytime via email rschloss@philasd.org

World History 1,2

Week 1
In our first week we looked at the origins of Mankind. We looked at Lucy, named after the Beatles song ‘Lucy in the Sky of Diamonds.’ We saw that Homo erectus was the first to leave Africa and how as our brain grew in size we were capable of performing more tasks like making tools and cultivating plants. During an Ice age we discovered how our first ancestors arrived to North America.
Week 2 In week two we learned that the ability to grow crops made life easier for us and as a result civilizations form. The spread of agriculture allowed early civilizations to have specialized labor that would benefit everyone. We saw similarities and differences in the four early civilizations (Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and China) and compared and contrasted the different political, social, and economic attributes of each civilization. We illustrated the characteristics in the form of a graphic organizer.

African American History
We began examining African American history from the origins. Students looked at the six major kingdoms of West Africa and compared and contrasted the different political, social, and economic elements of each. Some important attributes included religion (Christian, Islamic, Pagan), systems of rule, and the vast natural resources that made some kingdoms so wealthy.

In our second week we looked at how slavery changed once the Europeans arrived to trade with Africa. Slavery had become necessary in the colonies of the new world and unlike African slavery made up predominantly of women and children, men were needed to harvest crops. We saw how slaves were captured, brought to port, held in factories, and the difficut journey aboard the slavers to the New World.

The assessment for the chapter is a narrative created by the students. The prompt reads: Imagine you are an African living in the interior. In 1-2 pages, typed, explain your trip to port, your experiences at sea, and what you encountered in the New World. Utilize the objectives and at personal incite. Incorporate as many facts as possible. The assessment will be due on Friday, October 2nd!

Objectives for weeks 1 and 2:

How did the arrival of Europeans affect Africa?
How was the slave trade different in Africa?
How did European demand for crops impact the slave trade?
Describe living conditions during the 'middle passage?'
What happened to Africans during the voyage across the Atlantic?
How did Africans resist captivity?
What was life like for women aboard the journey?