Mr. Dorrough’s History Class

As with most people, religion was very important to the Maya. They believed in a pantheon of gods, but the three most important gods were the god of rain, the god of corn, and the god of death.  The jaguar (the can, not the car) played an important role in their religion as well.

The Maya used the “Sacred Round” as a calander to determin what days to  plant, have religious ceremonies, and to go to war.

The Maya did not have an alphabet.  they uses hieroglyphs to write down important information.  These were usually carved in stone and painted.  Here are some of the ‘glyphs  that they used.

 Some of you have asked for the notes that we went over in class. Here is the PowerPoint presentation that I used in class.  you do not have to copy each slide word for word.  You may paraphrase or summarize the information.  Be sure to use the graphic orgonizers that are in the reading notes handout for chapter  23.

PowerPoint presentation for Chapter 23.

[slideshare id=324271&doc=reading-notes-chapter-23-1206643708376372-3&w=425]

If the slide show has trouble loading then go to Slideshare.

Today when people get married it is because they are “in love.” This is a fairly modern idea. Through out most of history marriages were arranged. When a marriage is arranged the parents of a prospective bride or groom would seek out the help of a matchmaker.

The Maya used matchmakers, called atanzahabs, to set up young men and women. Marriage was not about being attracted to each other. It was about how good a man was for his prospective bride, and how good a woman was for her prospective husband. Things that were considered during the match making process were health, work ethic, hunting and farming abilities, artisan skills, and wealth.

Parents payed the matchmaker to find the right person, but the parents had the final say. The bride and groom were able to meet, but they had no say in the matter.

In class today we read 23.4 and 23.5 for a warm up.

During class we played a game about The Maya matchmakers and took some notes.

For homework I assigned essential question #1.

First and Fifth periods were assigned essential questions 3 and 5.

Check the previous post for more information about what I will be collecting tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Friday March 28, I will collect the following items:

Periods 1 and 5

• Key terms definitions and sentences
• Key terms story
• Essential Questions 1,2,3,5,5 and 7

Periods 2,3,and 6

• Key terms definitions and sentences
• Essential Questions 2, 4, and 1

I will not be collecting the Reading notes for chapter 23 until we are finished.

If you are interested in the Olmec you should check out this wikipedia article.

Mayan civilization was divided into several social classes. These social “classes” were not like our school classes. They were groups of people were grouped together by the role they played in society. The Maya had five distinct social classes:

• First, there was the ruler. Today we might call him a king or a chief, but the Maya called him the “True Man.” He made all of the decisions about warfare, and he presided over some religious ceremonies.
• The second social class was comprised of nobles and priests. Nobles are people who have a lot of wealth and power. Priests were the people who were in charge of daily religious life. This was the only group of people who knew how to read and write. They were in charge of gathering taxes and supplies for the rest of the empire.
• The third social class was comprised of merchants and artisans. These were the “doers” of the empire. They built things, made things, bought and sold things, and,generally speaking, kept an economy going through out the empire. Merchants traveled extensively bringing products from all over the empire to various cities.
• The fourth social class in Mayan society was the peasantry. This group was made up of average ordinary people. They usually worked in the fields growing the food that was necessary for the empire. They build temples, pyramids, and they fought as soldiers.
• The bottom level of the social class system in the Mayan empire were the slaves. Slaves did the hard labor within the empire. A person could become a slave for several reasons. their parents could sell them into slavery. They could be captured during a war and then put into slavery. People who committed serious crimes could pe put into slavery as punishment for that crime.

In class today we read 23.3 as a warm up.

In first and fifth periods we did a geography challenge and took some notes in class.

We had essential question #1 as homework.
Name the present day countries in the area where the Mayan culture flourished. Describe the landscape of this region.

In second, third, and sixth periods we did the social pyramid expireintal and took some notes.

All classes has essential question # 4 as homework.
Explain the five levels of the Mayan social pyramid. What was daily life like for most Maya?

We now have a new way of “attacking” each chapter.

Starting today we are going to approach each chapter differently. We are going to use the standards guide to see what information we need to know in order to meet the CA content Standards.

First, lets look at the “Study Guide for Chapter 23.” I have renamed it a Standards Guide, because it is a guide to the content standards that we will be studying for the chapter. The standard guide has three parts: The Key Terms, Essential Questions, and Standards Addressed. Every Monday we will define the key terms. Some weeks I will assign only a few of the key terms for class work, but remember, you are responsible for knowing what they all mean.

The essential questions are an important part of the standards guide. If you can answer the essential questions then you can meet the standards. The questions are worded in ways that reflect the standards. I have not reworded them because the state department of education believes that a seventh grader should be able to read and understand the standards. If you do not understand the words or the questions feel free to ask at an appropriate time.

Finally, The Standards Addressed section has the actual state standards word for word. This section is simply for your information. If you know what the key terms mean, and you know the answers to the essential questions you will have a proficient understanding of the standards.

In class today we read 23.1 and 23.2 for a warm up.

We then discussed the standard guide for chapter 23.

We did the key termsDefinitions and sentences for classwork.

For homerek I asigned essental Question # 2.

Who were the Olmec? What were their accomplishments?

Over Spring Break our Art Teacher Alexander Merman passed away.

“Mr. Merman will be remembered as a warm, Caring and nurturing person. He was dedicated to his students and school and showed his care in many ways. He was the coordinator of our school yearbook, helped to create banners for school activities and was in the process of making a murial for our school.”

On a personal note, I got to know Mr. Merman last year during the “Stepping -Into Eighth Grade” program. He was a passionate teacher who believed very strongly in the power of Art as a trans formative force. He was the man responsible for the mosaic of student made tiles at the front desk. He worked with students after school to give them an outlet for their creativity.

He will be missed.

All students who want to use the LAUSD network must have an Acceptable Use Policy release form on File with the school.  Furthermore, if you want to use one of the computers in the class room I must have a copy of that form.  A dot on the back of your ID card will not be enough.  I will be passing them out this week, but you can get a copy from the district’s web site:  LAUSD AUP.

You need to review the Acceptable Use Policy and make sure you know what you can and can not do with a school computer.  For example, you can not use the district network to send malicious email.   That means that you can not send a mean spirited email.  You can not send a virus or any other software throughout the network that is meant to harm other peoples computers.   More important than that, you should read the AUP to learn  more about internet safety.

Feel free to discuss the Acceptable Use Policy in the class forums.

Well, I have counted the weeks that we have left in the school year and have decided that we will not have the symposium on the Crusades next week. It is unfortunate that we have run out of time. I think that some of you would really have enjoyed studying the Crusades. If you want more information about the Crusades check out the Wikipedia article. You should look up the Children’s Crusade in particular. This crusade was led by a Teenager and ended badly. We will begin Unit Six on Monday.

Unit Six covers the civilizations of The Americas. Basically we will be studying Mesoamerica. This unit will cover the civilizations that existed in Mexico and Central America before Columbus landed in the Americas. This includes the Incas, the Mayas, and the Aztecs.