I. Curricular Framework

Concept:

Communication

Essential Question:

How have modern languages evolved from the time of Egyptian hieroglyphics?

Bridge:

Symbols with Meaning

Content:

Egyptian hieroglyphics

Outcomes:

II. Standards Aligned

III. Instruction and Assessment

1. Connect: Connecting to the Concept Experientially

Objective: Expose students to the idea that symbols stand for something and are used for communication.

Activity: You will need supplies for a treasure hunt. This will include a treasure map and clues to lead them to the final destination where the fortune cookies are buried in a box of some type (a small shoe box would work fine.) The area covered by the treasure hunt will depend on your available space. It’s nice to this outside on school grounds because of the noise factor, but that may not be an option. The interior of the school building would be the next choice. Be sure to notify fellow teachers and administration in advance of this activity.
Place symbols and words on student maps to help them locate their buried treasures. Be sure to include key objects on the school grounds to help students find their way.
It will work best if students are divided into small groups and sent out separately. Volunteers (parents, mentors, etc) and/or instructional aides could go with each group. You can give each group the same map or make up different maps. If this is not an option, keep the area to be covered where you can see the groups at all times. It can also be done with the whole class using the same treasure map. Give every student a copy.
You will need to bury the “treasure” which will be a fortune cookie for each student in the group. Inside the fortune cookie will need to be a message written in hieroglyphics. Talk to one of your local Chinese restaurants about making the cookies for you at a reduced price or as a donation. The hieroglyphic message can be anything from facts about the unit you are studying to the names of the students in the group. For example, we were studying Egypt at the time. So the messages were about Egyptian burial practices. One fact was that the brain was taken out through the nose during the embalming process! Write whatever message you think will best suit your lesson and students.
Send students on a treasure hunt. They have to decode the clues on the map to find the buried “treasure.” When treasure is found, students bring it back to the classroom for further instructions. Make sure students understand they are not to pen the box until everybody is back from the hunt.

Assessment: Successful completion of treasure hunt.

2. Attend: Attending to the Connection

Objective: Examine the symbols used in the treasure hunt and how they were used.

Activity: Students open their treasure box which contains the fortune cookies with the hieroglyphic messages inside. Students open the cookie. Then they decode the fortune. Let the students see if they can discover the system used to write the message. After sufficient time has elapsed for discovery and they haven’t broken the code, give them the key and let them decode it using the key. Decoding can be done individually or in groups. After the fortunes have been decoded, let the students eat the fortune cookies as a reward for a job well done.

Assessment: Students successfully decode the message contained in the fortune cookie

Assessment, Phase One, Level of Engagement, Fascination:

3. Image: Creating a Mental Picture

Objective: Give students a visual image of hieroglyphics and how they were used.

Activity: Students develop their own written communications system in which they will write messages to their friends. The message will need to be limited to a couple of sentences to start with. This because of the time it takes to develop their system and then to write the message.
I found out that good idea is to have each student draw a name for a classmate to write to. This keeps students from being left out. The messages also need to be positive, friendly, etc. No negative messages of any kind are allowed. Talk about how the message in the fortune cookie was written . Have students brainstorm other ideas for a code. Students are allowed to use some of the symbols from the fortune cookie message. If they use that system, they need to come up with a least 7-10 original symbols.
Students need to be reminded about making symbols for punctuation marks. For the students who have trouble getting started, get into a group with eme and write down the alphabet and give ideas for symbols for each letter. Students might need to write their messages first and go back and devise a system. If students are stuck on what kind of message to write, have suggestions ready. The messages can be very simple. Messages such as “Hello. Have a nice day. What is your favorite color?” are fine.
Students could also put a fact they have learned from the unit you are studying or ask a question about something they want to know concerning the unit you are studying. You don’t want the messages to be too complicated because students get wrapped up in writing the message and miss the point that symbols have meaning.
Be sure to remind students to sign their messages and that they need to make a key for the message. Have them turn the message and the key into you before giving it to the recipient. This allows monitoring of the message before the recipient sees it.
One idea I have found useful is to make overhead transparencies of each message. This way the whole class can seethe message as it is being explained. If students know the message will be made public, this helps to alleviate any problems with inappropriate messages. Give students sufficient time and have them share their system with the group. Question them a bout their system- why they used certain symbols, etc. and allow questions for the class. In order for every student’s message to be shared and explained, you will probably need to allow a couple of days, depending on the length of your class periods, for this portion of the lesson.

Assessment: Students will begin to associate symbols with letters and that those symbols can be used for communication.

Assessment, Phase Two, Seeing the Big Picture:

4. Inform: Receiving Facts & Knowledge

Objective: Define the term hieroglyphics and explain how they were used.

Activity: Methods such as lectures, textbooks, trade books, videos can be used. Students will need to understand that hieroglyphics were a method of communication used by the ancient Egyptians. Each symbol stands for a letter or a word. When written horizontally, characters could be read from left to right or from right to left. When written vertically, characters would be read from top to bottom in columns. You will need to decide what is most important for your students to know about hieroglyphics and then design your lesson around those points.

Assessment: Students will understand that hieroglyphics were used for communication and involved symbolism

Assessment, Phase Three, Success with Acquiring Knowledge:

5. Practice: Developing Skills

Objective: Apply knowledge about hieroglyphics.

Activity: Teacher’s choice of worksheet from outside sources such as textbooks, magazines, etc. One activity could be to create a hieroglyphic message as a class and post on the wall outside the classroom. Another activity would be a name poster. Students write their name in hieroglyphics and make a poster out of it. You could include everybody’s name into a mural.

Assessment:Students write hieroglyphics correctly.

Assessment, Phase Four, Success with Acquiring Skills:

6. Extend: Extending Learning to the Outside World

Objective: Extend knowledge of hieroglyphics to a personal project.

Activity: Give students a choice of one of the following projects:
1)Write a story or poem about something or someone they treasure using hieroglyphics
2)Research the history of hieroglyphics and present a report (oral or written)
3)Develop their own treasure hunt using hieroglyphics.
4)Create an ABC book of hieroglyphics with illustrations.

Assessment: I divided the work into 2 rubrics. The first is for the final project in regards to content of the project. The second rubric reflects the students’ progress through the course of preparing the final project. Both need to be presented to students at the onset and questions answered so students will be clear on what they should do to earn each specific grade. The second rubric could be used by group members to evaluate each other and self-evaluate.

7. Refine: Refining the Extension

Objective: Evaluate products.

Activity: Students will refine and edit their projects using self, peer and teacher feedback. Evaluations such as the attached rubrics are very helpful.

Assessment: Students are willing to listen to suggestions from peers and teachers and edit their projects accordingly

8. Perform: Creative Manifestation of Material Learned

Objective: Celebrate the completion of projects.

Activity: Celebration will vary according to projects. Some suggestions would be to have an Egyptian night where parents come and students present what they learned during the unit on Egypt (if this lesson was part of a unit), display stories/poems in hallway, research reports presented to class, parents, etc., send students/parents on a treasure hunt, read ABC book to younger students. Design a celebration that showcases the students’ projects and gives them a change to share what they have learned with a wider audience.

Assessment: Successful completion of project and celebration.

Assessment, Phase Five,Performance, Creative Use of Material Learned: