"The stories are fun and make the people memorable . . . I never knew history could be so interesting."
Student
"Not only does my class get started right away [but] all of my students are practicing higher level thinking skills."
9th Grade Teacher
"You'd be amazed at how good my students are at predicting this stuff!"
6th Grade Teacher
"I know I have told you this before, but I will tell you again. You guys are the best support system of any teaching resources! Thank you so much for making my job easier and better."
HS Teacher
1. Fall of the Roman Empire . . . . page 7
Julius Caesar . . . Roman general who ended the Republic.
Antony & Cleopatra . . . Roman general who fell in love with the Queen of Egypt
Augustus . . . The first Roman emperor.
Jesus of Nazareth . . . Founder of Christianity.
St. Peter . . . One of the twelve apostles of Jesus.
St. Paul . . . Spread Christianity throughout the Roman Empire.
St. Mark . . . Wrote the first Gospel in the Bible.
Caligula . . . The Emperor who was insane.
Claudius . . . Roman emperor who conquered Britain.
Nero . . . The first Roman emperor to persecute the Christians.
The Diaspora . . . What happened when the Jews revolted against Roman rule.
Ptolemy . . . Astronomer who believed the sun revolves around the earth.
Diocletian . . . Roman emperor who divided the Roman Empire.
Constantine the Great . . . Roman emperor who allowed religious tolerance.
Alaric . . . Led the barbarians in the sack of Rome.
St. Augustine . . . The first Christian theologian.
Attila the Hun . . . Barbarian who invaded Central and Eastern Europe.
Justinian & Theodora . . . First emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
2. Islam in the Middle Ages . . . . page 27
Muhammad . . . Founder of the religion of Islam.
Muslim merchants . . . Trade along the Silk Road financed the Golden Age of Islam.
Harun al-Rashid . . . The greatest caliph of Baghdad.
Muhammad al-Khowarizmi . . . The "Father of Algebra."
The Moors . . . Conquered Spain and ruled it for 700 years.
Avicenna . . . Arab physician and philosopher.
Omar Khayyam . . . Persian poet.
Averroes . . . Arab philosopher who preserved and popularized Aristotle.
Maimonides . . . Jewish philosopher who influenced the non-Jewish world.
Saladin . . . The greatest Muslim warrior during the Crusades.
The Nasrid dynasty . . . The last Muslim dynasty in Spain.
Ibn Battuta Arab . . . geographer who explored the Islamic empire.
The Ottomans . . . They conquered the Byzantine empire.
3. Africa in the Middle Ages . . . . page 41
Sundiata . . . The Lion King. Empire of Mali.
The griots . . . Learned storytellers and oral historians.
Mansa Musa . . . The ideal Muslim king. Empire of Mali.
4. China in the Middle Ages . . . . page 45
The Han dynasty . . . The Chinese invented paper!
The Sui dynasty . . . The Chinese invented gunpowder!
The Tang dynasty . . . The Chinese invented printing!
The Song dynasty . . . The Chinese invented the compass!
Genghis Khan . . . Mongol ruler who conquered China.
Kublai Khan . . . Mongol ruler of China who met Marco Polo.
Zheng He . . . Great sea captain who made China the world’s No. 1 sea power.
5. Medieval Japan . . . . page 53
Prince Shotoku . . . Introduced Chinese culture into Japan.
Lady Murasaki . . . Author of the world’s first novel, Tale of Genji.
The Fujiwara . . . The actual ruling family of Japan.
The Taira vs the Minamoto . . . Civil war in Japan.
The samurai . . . Medieval knights in Japan.
Yoritomo . . . Japan’s first shogun.
Hideyoshi . . . As shogun, he ended a century of civil war.
The Tokugawa . . . Ruled Japan when Queen Elizabeth ruled England.
6. Medieval Europe . . . . page 63
The barbarians . . . Barbarians ruled Europe in the Dark Ages.
The missionaries . . . Spread Christianity throughout northern Europe.
St. Patrick . . . Missionary who converted Ireland to Christianity.
St. Augustine of Canterbury . . . Missionary who converted Britain to Christianity.
The monks . . . Monks in monasteries copied ancient manuscripts.
Clovis . . . First king of the Franks.
Charles Martel . . . Warrior who prevented the Muslims from invading Europe.
Charlemagne . . . Conquered Western Europe and spread feudalism.
The Church . . . Why was it so powerful in the Middle Ages?
The peasants . . . Serfs were bound to the soil.
The Vikings . . . Barbarians in boats.
Batu . . . The Mongol conquest of Russia.
Beowulf . . . Hero of an epic poem that glorified the warrior.
The Song of Roland . . . Hero of an epic poem that glorified the warrior.
Pope vs Patriarch . . . The Great Schism in the Christian church.
Lady Godiva . . . A medieval Englishwoman gave rise to a legend.
William the Conqueror . . . The Norman Conquest of England.
El Cid . . . A Christian military leader in Spain.
Pope Gregory VII . . . Popes were more powerful than kings.
Pope Urban II . . . The pope who launched the Crusades.
Abelard & Heloise . . . A tragic love affair.
Frederick I (Barbarossa) . . . Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
Henry II . . . English king who set up the legal system.
Eleanor of Aquitaine . . . Queen of England (and half of France).
Thomas Becket . . . The Archbishop of Canterbury was assassinated.
Richard the Lion-Hearted . . . English king who fought in the Crusades.
Bad King John . . . English king who was forced to sign the Magna Carta.
Robin Hood . . . Legendary folk hero of medieval England.
St. Francis of Assisi . . . The most popular saint of the Middle Ages.
St. Thomas Aquinas . . . The greatest intellectual of the Middle Ages.
The Inquisition . . . The Catholic church persecuted heretics.
Marco Polo . . . Merchant of Venice who traveled to China.
The townsmen . . . During the High Middle Ages towns arose throughout Europe.
The middle class . . . Craftsmen were well-to-do; merchants were wealthy.
Victims of the Black Death . . . The bubonic plague.
Wat Tyler . . . Leader of the Peasants' Revolt in England.
Dante . . . Author of The Divine Comedy ("Dante's Inferno").
Chaucer . . . Author of The Canterbury Tales.
Joan of Arc . . . Rescued France from defeat in the Hundred Years' War.
King Arthur . . . Legendary king of the Britons.
Ferdinand & Isabella . . . The very Catholic king and queen of Spain.
Torquemada . . . Leader of the Spanish Inquisition.
The last knight . . . The Middle Ages eventually came to an end.
A great way to begin class!
Have you ever herded bunnies?
Then you know how difficult it is to make students come to order at the beginning of class.
A gong works exceedingly well.
But how about a story?
71 stories!
Imagine your startled students - whether fifth graders or seniors - when you begin class with:
“Once upon a time . . .”
Storytelling
It’s hard to remember historical figures, much less why each became famous.
Storytelling can make each historical figure an individual and therefore memorable.
How it works
You tell a brief story about the person, then students predict why he or she became world famous.
Or, you tell about the problems the person faced and students predict the solutions he or she chose.
Childhood . . .
Around twelve, students begin to form their “world view.”
That is, they begin to shape their views on race and class, religion and politics.
The same is true for a boy or girl who grows up to become a famous person.
If you know about his or her childhood, you can predict what he or she will do as an adult.
Don’t take our word. Try it!
A fine summary
After hearing stories of the famous people, students will learn the historical era’s major concepts,
people and events, terms and definitions.
Great practice in Bloom’s taxonomy!
Students who practice critical thinking do exceedingly well on standardized tests.
These stories call upon students to exercise all six levels of Bloom’s taxonomy:
1. Recall The colorful stories help students recall the facts.
2. Interpret Listening to the stories, students learn how to read between the lines.
3. Apply Since the stories tell of each person’s childhood, students can easily relate.
4. Analyze Students can analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each historical figure.
5. Synthesize Students are called upon to add up the facts and predict. (This is pure synthesis.)
6. Evaluate After hearing story after story, students learn how to evaluate an historical figure.
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