This week-long activity is best used at the beginning of the school year, or the end of the school year. Here, you will be teaching your students about how history builds upon itself. In other words, every event and person was influenced by some other event or person before them, and those events were affected by other events before them. The same goes with looking forward to history. This will help them build their critical thinking skills and will allow them to understand the background behind larger events in history. Now imagine you are in a classroom and about to teach this lesson:
Day 1 – Genealogy: Okay class, this week we are going to learn about whatever you want. Truly, you have control over this week and which path your studies go, except, that you are going to teach yourself through an activity called, the Genealogy of History.
I want you to open your journal and write down these questions written on the board: “1. What is your favorite thing to learn about in history?” Is it an invention, wars, love stories, tragedies, treaties, heroes, destruction, or natural disasters? “2. What, in this category, do you want to learn more about?” Write down what you think the greatest thing to learn about would be? What is one example of this type of event you wrote down, that you really like (one event or invention that was built)? Write that down. Now, take 5 minutes to write down what you know about this one topic (event, person, object). I want you to fill at least half a page about it. If you do not know what was happening back then, then write a few questions that you have, and what you would like to find out.
5 minutes later – How many of you know what genealogy is? It is the study of our ancestors and how they are related to us. If you have seen this before, it is called a family tree or a pedigree chart. It shows the relationship between you and your relatives. I am related to my parents; they are related to their parents, and so on.
Now, if you are the center of your family tree, you would write down your parents, their parents, and each of their parents, until it looks like a large tree of all your ancestors. You know, let us do this as an activity.
Activity #1: Go home tonight and trace your family tree, as well as you can. Some may not know one of their parents or grandparents. That is okay not to know, because the fact that you don’t know helps you understand the history of your family. You will probably need help to do this assignment, so ask your parents or even your grandparents about where you came from. If you were adopted, try mapping out your adopted family’s history. Whomever you ask to help, ask them questions about their parents and grandparents, and maybe learn a little more than just their names. Take this worksheet home and see how far you can get with the names on your own, then ask your parents and see how far back they can go; and if your grandparents are available, see how far back they might know. There are not a lot of generations in this chart, so you should be able to get the tree started. and then you can go back as far as you want.
Let us begin by filling out this chart in class. Place your name in the rectangle marked “You.” Now, write in the next two rectangles – your mom’s name and your dad’s name. If you do not know either one, that is okay. That may be something to ask your parent. Now, how many of you know your grandparents actual name, and not just ‘grandma’ or ‘grandpa’? Write those down. Now put these in your journal, and work on them at home.
Preview: Tomorrow we will explore the part of history you really like, and let you take it in the direction you want to study it.
Day 2 – History Pedigree Chart: Consider what you did last night. Please bring out your Family Trees and take a look at them. You came from your parents, each of them came from their parents, and so forth. Now, take out your journal. What was the one thing you liked learning about in history class? What was the one example of the type of event, of which you wrote down? Now, you can take a second, and if you thought of a better example and want to change it, you can. Take a second pedigree chart, and write in the “You” rectangle the name of that one event you liked. Now, under the Mother and Father section, write in something that influenced the individual, object, discovery, or event that possibly caused this event to happen, or make that person great. Write it in the pedigree chart. What made them do what they did; what caused this event to happen? You do not have to be right, because you don’t know what they were thinking (unless they wrote that in a journal), but surmise why it happened, from the events leading up to it. If you struggle, try using an earlier person, invention, or event that caused the original event. This time, you need to study up and find out how each of these occurred. I will grade them accordingly. As I am reviewing them, I will make notes of other things that may have occurred, if I know of any.
Activity #2: Tonight’s homework is to fill all these boxes. Hint: Red flags will go off if the events are not in chronological order, or they do not flow within a timeline. Please take your time and put a little research into what caused each of these events, so we can learn how cause and effect influences history.
Next, I want you to study the first rectangle, the “You” rectangle, and tell us what happened to make it significant. Please write this in your journal on the next page, titled “Day 2.” I want you to learn more about this one event, and become a mini-expert on that one event. We will talk about it tomorrow.
Now when did these occur? Or, if a person, that significant event in that person’s life that took place, or person in their life, which influenced what they did. Find out what you can do to learn about that event, and why that occurred.
Example: I would pick Marie Curie. She was a great scientist, who discovered many different cures using radiation. She was influenced by Pierre Curie, a well-known physicist, who later became her husband, and Henri Poincaré. Now there were many others who influenced her, but I will just focus on these two. The others I will list under the Mother and Father Rectangles at the bottom of the page, for extra credit. As for Henri Poincaré, placed in the mother rectangle, I now need to know who he was, and what he was doing? As a preview, tomorrow you will study either the Mother or the Father. Now as for Henri Poincaré, besides working on radiation, he was also known for his work on the Theory of Relativity, which is the geometric (mathematical) understanding and theory of gravity. You know who else was studying it? Albert Einstein. Now you can put all those in the rectangles.
Preview: Tonight, work on this history pedigree chart, and how history built on itself. Tomorrow, we will learn more about the events that you wrote into the parent column of the pedigree chart. We want to know a little more on how they influenced your topic to happen.
The activity tomorrow will be the creation of another pedigree chart, and looking forward in history to what this caused to happen, learning about topics that influenced our initial event or person, and then we will build on that, going forward in history. We need to find out what was influenced by this one event we chose. How did it affect the entire world and the history that transpired?
Day 3 – Cause and Effect Day: I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s activity. Now it is time to report back. We will take 2 minutes per student to discover more about this event. The student with the earliest event in history will start first. Okay, whose event was that.
Figure out whose event was first, by having everyone return their History Pedigree Chart (HPC) and placing them on your desk in order. Then, as the presenter comes up, they can grab their HPC and present their one event, and how it was influenced by those they wrote down. Make a list of the order they presented, so they may present again tomorrow.
Future Group Discussion: After presenting, and while the students are starting their next activity, list your students in groups of similar themes or events that lined up with other events. This will be for tomorrow’s assignment.
Journal Entry: I would like each of you to report, in your journal – titled “Day 3” – how your chosen event was influenced by an early historic event. What do you know about the two events, and how they worked together, or why they caused your event to happen. Think deep into how one event influences another event to occur. Now research the event that occurred after your chosen event, why it was important, and how it was influenced by your event and/or the next event in the pedigree chart.
Activity: Now reverse the Pedigree chart. Where did this event lead? Take your chosen event forward in time and see if there are events, inventions, or people influenced, because of this event. Find out who, and what, was influenced because of this happening. List as many as you can find. Hint: You should be able to fill out this pedigree chart.
Example: Let me give you another example. How I love learning about Rome. I went there once, and it was amazing to see all of the art, sculptures, and ruins. Anyone who knows Rome, knows about the assassination of Julius Caesar and the coming of the Second Triumvirate. This is the group of three well-positioned friends and supporters (Octavian – future emperor Augustus, Mark Antony, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus), who took revenge on those who killed Caesar, and took back Rome. They then divided the kingdom into three regions, each to be ruled over by one of them. Now Augustus took the capital, and sent the others to their areas. A rivalry soon pursued between the three, and Lepidus was exiled, with Octavian taking his third. Mark Antony was left with no funding, as a war was underway in the area around Israel. Now, Mark Antony, who had fallen in love with Cleopatra, an Egyptian born Greek, asked her to fund his purchase of an army, to join Herod the Great’s Siege of Jerusalem, in taking back Jerusalem from the Hasmoneans. After Judea had settled, and the people were back to living their lives, a census was called upon the entire land of Judea, to find out who was in this region, and then tax them. This is what leads to the Christ story. So, you can see the cause and effect of all these events, and how they all worked together to create another event, or events.
Take one of the lines and write up a summary, in your journal, on how the original event caused another event to happen, then the next event in the line, and another event, and then, the final event. How did one event help form a more recent event?
Preview: Tomorrow, you will be able to choose an alternative reality, and figure out what would have happened if the event ended differently. How would the world have changed if that event ended differently? Would it have been the end of the world? Would someone else end up resolving the conflict? Would anyone have noticed? What do you think?
Day 4 – Alternative Reality: I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s activity! Now it is time to report back. We will take 2 minutes, per student, to discover more about your original event, moving forward in history. Okay, whose event was first (Since, yesterday, you learned the order of events and made a list of the order of student presentations)? Now have them report again in the same order. Have them share how each of their events lined up. Were there any that listed each other’s events in their Historical Pedigree Chart? Consider lining those presentations together, and have them presented one after another.
Activity #4: Today you will reach a little deeper into your thinking. We want you to take your original event and create an alternative reality with it. This is how things could have turned out, if things had gone differently. On a fourth pedigree chart, I would like you to write multiple scenarios that may have occurred, if things had gone different in the original event.
Journal Entry: Now in your journal, in a new page, titled “Day 4,” I would like you to write down the original event that occurred, and how it would have influenced a change in the timeline. Use what you found in the last History Family Tree, and find out how it would have changed that timeline. What did you find out about the timeline, and what did you learn about yourself? How do you believe those would have affected the world?
Group Discussion: Group those students with similar events together, to discuss possible outcomes that could have happened in each of their scenarios. This is a group activity, to help each student consider how the world would have changed if their event had ended differently.
Example: I would like to give you an example. I have always been interested in World War II, and how it influenced the formation of a split German country, with a wall that separated East from West Germany; then the Cold War occurred between the United States and Russia, with President Ronald Reagan telling Gorbachev to “Tear Down that Wall,” which led to the spread of Western ideology into all of Germany, creating a freer society. But, what may have happened instead: say the united Allies and Russia did not make it to Germany, but instead, Germany took over Moscow – as it tried to do – and the United Kingdom, which is where they were heading before D-Day occurred. What would have happened? For one thing, Germany would not have been split. The greatest opposition to Germany’s power, after they tried to take Moscow, was Russia and the Allied Forces (U.S., Canada, British, Irish, Scottish, etc). What if Pearl Harbor never happened, and Japan never spurred President Roosevelt and the United States to finally enter the war? What if Germany never tried to take Russia, and they were still allies in the war? It is easy to surmise that Germany and Italy would have taken all of Europe and Africa. Russia, Japan, and China would have taken everything from Asia to the Pacific Islands, and Australia. The war would have spread, eventually, to North and South America. The Holocaust would have spread throughout the world, and millions more Jews, Christians, and those with disabilities would have been murdered. The advancements of the United States would have been halted, and more technological advances would have turned militarily, instead of the emphasis that had been put on medicine, the environment, and technology.
This is only an example of how the world is globally connected, and how events spur other events to occur, to the eventual outcome that we have today. If your original event had changed, how would it have changed the world, in any specific way?
Preview: Tomorrow, we will talk about what you want your history to look like, and focus on a boy who was picked on in school, and yet, become the wealthiest man in the world.
Day 5 – Your Future Career: I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s activity. Now it is time to report back. We will take 2 minutes, per student, to discover more about what would have happened if your original event had a different outcome, looking forward into history, as it may have been. Okay, whose event was last?
Since you made a list of the order of student presentations, you can reverse the order. Now have them report again, with the last being first. Have them share how each of their events lined up. Were there any that listed each other’s events in their Historical Pedigree Chart? Again, have those with similar events present after each other.
Journal Entry: Now, please write down in your journal, on a new page, titled “Day 5,” what five careers you would be happy with, in the future. Then list, out of those five careers, which one you would really like to have. What are the 5 reasons you want that specific career? Then ask 5 questions you would have about that career. Please take 10 minutes to fill out your journal today.
Activity: Today’s activity, your fifth pedigree chart, will be to map out your future career. I want you to list what you would like to do in the future, specifically your career. What career would you like to have in the future? Pick one. Now that you have picked just one career, write “education requirements” in the mother’s rectangle and “experience required” in the father’s rectangle. Map what it would take for you to reach that education and experience level. We want to know, step by step, what it takes to get the career you so desire. There will be more requirements than can fit on the pedigree chart, but simply focus on the ones that are the most important. You will need to research the requirements you may have.
Example: Give the students an example of a famous person, and how they made their way to the career that they had. For our example, I will share the life history of Elon Musk. Elon is now an engineer and CEO of two companies, and Founder or Co-Founder of another three companies. But how did he get there? Let’s take his engineering degree, for example. To become a billionaire, he needed a few things: three separate bachelor degrees, in Engineering, Physics, and Economics. He received those from Stanford, University of Pennsylvania – as an undergraduate, Queen’s University in Canada, and the University of Pretoria in South Africa, where he began (he had his primary and secondary education in South Africa, where his parents divorced). Now as for work experience, Elon has a large ownership in five-billion-dollar companies, but this is not where he started. Before that, he co-founded X.com, an online bank that then merged with Confinity to form PayPal, which was purchased by eBay. X.com was designed thanks to the money he had previously raised from designing Zip2, out of a Stanford dorm. He was able to build this software company with his younger brother, and it was later acquired by Compaq. And yet, what got him started in computers, was that he taught himself programming from age 10, and created his first video game by 12, selling it for $500. And yet, while he attended school in South Africa, he was bullied, and even hospitalized, by other kids that thought he was different and threw him down a flight of stairs. This is everything that happened to a young man who would later become the wealthiest man in the world. Makes you think that you, too, could be as successful as he is – right?
Preview: Tomorrow will be the last step of this adventure. I hope you enjoyed it! We will be talking about where you want to see your life going and how you will get there. I know you will enjoy this one.
Day #6: I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s activity. Now it is time to report back. We will take 2 minutes, per student, to discover more about what career you want to have and what it would take with your education and experience to reach it. What did you find out about this career? Remember from our story about Elon Musk, how anyone can reach their dreams if they put their mind to it. So, I expect everyone to be respectful to everyone’s dreams. You never know, the one you tease may the person you come to, later in your life, for a job.
Now that it does not matter the order of the students and who presents first ask those that presented in the middle to present first. You want them to present their careers first.
Group Discussion: Group the same students together as the days prior and ask them to discuss different careers they are interested in pursuing. Have their group ask questions about their desired careers and see if there are other thoughts their classmates can come up with. They may have some great insight into each potential career.
Journal: Write in your journal, on a new page, titled “Day 6”, about the career you would like to take. Answer these two questions: 1) what may stand in your way from obtaining your goal? 2) What can you do that will keep those obstacles from stopping you from obtaining your goals? Pick potential scenarios that may get in your way and see how planning ahead could stop that opposition, before it even happens.
Activity: This next activity will not be presented to your classmates. Today’s activity is your personal treasure map. This is how you see your future looking. This will be your sixth and final pedigree chart, and you are to map out your future. This time it will be from the perspective of you living your life. You can map out what will happen with you in the future, if you take one path, or if you take another path. Pick different paths you may want to follow into the future. Take the rest of the class time to map out different scenarios. This is too personal to share with the rest of the class. If you need multiple pedigree charts, please ask.
Example: Give the students your life, as an example, and what you have experienced, what could have happened if you took a different path in your life, or moving forward some of the paths you could take that could change your life. Take time before class to design this chart for yourself. Anything that is too personal leave out; only map out thoughts that you want to share.
I hope you enjoyed this activity, and everything you learned about cause and effect in history – and how one decision or event can change the world forever. Likewise, in your own life, a decision you make can make a great difference in your future, and you can plan for things that may try to send you off course. You control your own future, and how you will react to opposition.