This presentation focuses on the long decline of the Byzantine Empire from the invasions of the Seljuk Turks and Battle of Manzikert to the dramatic siege and fall of Constantinople in 1453.
I like to present many of the more tragic/epic events in history as timed slide shows that tell the story through pictures and text. Making this especially effective is accompanying it with music to set the proper mood. The effect I'm trying to achieve is the sort that Ken Burns creates in his documentaries.
When I first tried this approach, I was surprised at how much my students liked it. Therefore I've applied it to my lessons on the Byzantine Empire, the Crusades, the disastrous process and results of colonization in Africa, and virtually all my art slide lectures and major wars in history. It can be run as a timed presentation on its own, presented slide by slide for discussion, or integrated into your other lectures.
This packet also contains a student reading, flowchart, and the author’s own research notes which contain lots of details and interesting trivia to spice up your class.
For more information on my flowcharts and approach to teaching history, please view my profile or visit my website at www.flowofhistory.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.
The detailed information was too much (dull) for middle school. Rewording the editorial and reformating the pictures was necessary before I could successfully use this with middle school.
February 14, 2010
I'm sorry this didn't meet your expectations. If text is repeated, that is my fault, and I'm constantly trying to catch and correct those mistakes. If pictures are reused, it's because of the limited quantity of quality pictures I can find to match with the subject. As far as being opinionated rather than fact based, I've included in the packet my reading notes from a variety of highly regarded scholars (notably seven pages of typed notes from "The Byzantine Revival" by Warren Treadgold). Overall, the Powerpoint format is dynamic enough that you can modify the presentation to meet your own needs, which apparently is what you did for your seventh graders. Other teachers working with older students have expressed appreciation for the greater amount of detail. The bottom line is that I put in a lot of detail so teachers can keep what they want and delete the rest. You're obviously a teacher that doesn't just take materials and follow them blindly, which is a quality I respect greatly. Thanks for keeping me on my toes. If you have any further comments, questions, or suggestions, feel free to email me: cbutler@flowofhistory.com
February 21, 2010
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For the last 27 years, I have taught at University High School, in Urbana, Illinois. During this time I have created a 4-year world history curriculum that breaks down as follows: Subfreshmen (7th and 8th grades combined): Prehistory and ancient civilizations, including India, China, and Japan. Freshmen: Western civilization and the Islamic world to 1500 Sophomores: World history from 1500 to 1945 Seniors: the world since 1945. All of these, except the senior course are required. The elective senior course is consistently filled to capacity of 30, usually with a waiting list.
