Comparison of Economic Exchange
Driving Question: How were networks of exchange similar and different between c. 1200 and 1450 CE?
Now that you have learned about the networks of interregional trade that connected societies between c. 1200 and 1450, it’s time to show what you know. Revisit the course themes, identify the claim and contextualization in a writing sample, and focus on argumentation and comparison in an end-of-unit writing assessment.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify how networks of exchange were similar and different between c. 1200 and 1450.
- Create and support arguments using historical evidence to assess the similarities and differences in networks of exchange from 1200 to 1450 CE.
Vocab Terms:
You can break this activity into smaller tasks by identifying the thesis in the sample essay as a whole group, having student pairs underline areas of the essay that have contextualization, and then asking students to individually suggest some ways to improve contextualization.
Sometimes, seeing an example before attempting to do something can be very helpful. In this case, you will check out a sample essay to identify its thesis and contextualization.
Assess your students’ historical writing skills by having them highlight their LEQ or DBQ response based on the rubric categories. They’ll highlight their thesis in one color, contextualization in another color, their evidence and sourcing in a different color, and finally, their reasoning (complexity) in yet another color.
Want students to work on their claim-writing skills? Have them write their thesis statement, and then enter it into an AI agent to get help refining and strengthening their claims.
With all the content and skills you learned in this unit, doing a Long Essay Question should be a snap! It’s time for you to show what you know!
Help students work on their writing skills by providing sentence starters. You can even post these around the classroom to help students throughout the year. Some examples are:
- This article/lesson/video discusses …
- In this lesson …
- For instance …
- In contrast to …
- As a result of …
You’ve read and analyzed a bunch of articles and documents! It’s time to use them to address a Document Based Question on the similarities and differences between networks of exchange from c. 1200 to 1450 CE!