Collapse and Restructuring
Driving Question: How have societies restructured after the collapse of empires?
After the fall of empires like Rome and Han China, the societies they once ruled didn’t collapse, they adapted: rebuilding, restructuring, and even entering new golden ages. This lesson challenges the idea of a universal decline and highlights the resilience of people across the world.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how historians create narratives to explain how societies rise and fall.
- Use close-reading skills to evaluate how communities and networks expanded and contracted during this period.
Vocab Terms:
Did you know: Medieval scribes sometimes filled otherwise serious manuscripts with killer rabbits, sword-fighting snails, and other bits of fantasy. Even during the so-called Dark Ages, bored students were doodling weird stuff in the margins. Check out who wins in the epic battle of Knight v. Snail at the British Library.
New vocabulary? No problem! Let’s see what you know by matching up new words with previous knowledge and experiences.
If you ask your students to complete the Unit Notebook, ensure that they do it now so that they can see how much they learned in this unit when they return to the notebook at the end. Great for activating prior knowledge; even better for self-reflection.
Agree or disagree? Evaluate some statements before you dive into Unit 5—then see how accurate you were when you get to the end of the unit.
Most students can identify with the idea that it’s possible to receive too much advice from adults. This video uses the story of one particularly overbearing medieval mother to highlight how Europe restructured in the centuries after the fall of Rome. Stories like these help students see themselves in historical themes.
Sometimes endings are really beginnings. Empires come and go, but new societies and authorities emerge.
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Guiding Questions
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Guiding Questions
The communities and networks frames can help us understand the causes of societal collapse and the ways that communities restructured after.
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Guiding Questions
This activity gives you a chance to reflect on what you’ve learned about social collapse in this lesson by stepping into the shoes of a person from the time.
By suggesting revisions to someone else’s writing, you’ll get much better at identifying what makes strong writing. Make suggestions for improving claim and focus—and then keep those suggestions in mind the next time you write.
