In my AP World class I am just getting into Unit 2: Networks of Exchange between 1200 CE and 1450 CE. It is tempting to push through the course’s earlier units and get to heavier content quicker. However, I like to slow down and take advantage of the lighter content to unpack the skills, particularly primary source comprehension and analysis. Primary sources are harder to find for earlier time periods, but there are plenty of good resources available online. This post includes several activities and resources I have used over the years to do this. There are a lot of links coming…
Trade Route Map Project
I have used this project for a few years to anchor my teaching plan for Unit 2. It is a great opportunity to massage grades after a challenging Unit 1 exam and offers opportunities for students to unlock their creativity.
One of my favorite parts of the project is asking students to create travel narratives for specific locations along their assigned trade route. These narratives must be based on primary source research and allow students practice at source analysis and interpretation. I ask students to record these and place them on their projects using QR codes. Historically, these have been a great source of humor and creativity as well as evidence of skill proficiency.
This post from a couple years ago also details how I have used this project as a spine for the unit. I have since updated my rubric for the project. It is now a single-point rubric that more clearly outlines expectations.
Ibn Battuta Post Cards
I have not used this assignment since I started using the previously mentioned trade route project. The Ibn Battuta postcard assignment offers similar opportunities for primary source analysis and interpretation while having the benefit of fitting a tighter schedule. The requirements are flexible and can be easily adjusted to fit other necessary requirements.
Another teacher passed the original version of this assignment to me, so I can’t take credit for it. Whoever created it likely did so to specifically align with the fantastic Travels of Ibn Battuta website run by Berkeley. The site is easily navigable based on location, and it includes both general context as well as excerpts from Ibn Battuta’s journals. I still use this website as a resource for my trade route map project. At my previous school I would print out all the postcards and use them to make a large annotated trade route map on one of my hallway bulletin boards. The assignment always came due around the same time as parent-teacher conferences, so the display made a great visual of what we did in class.
Primary Source Gallery Walk
Xuanzang’s Silk Road travels are a little early for the post-2019 AP World timeline, but his narratives still exemplify many of the key concepts from Unit 2. Asia for Educators has produced a great set of sources from his travels. This link is a pdf of just these specific sources, which I have presented as a gallery walk around the essential question. This “Unit Q” is part of a larger lesson set that can be found on their website. I highly recommend exploring their site to see everything they have to offer. Most of it is ready to go and needs only minimal modification to fit your style and needs.
Asia for Educators has another great set of lessons around the Mongols and their impact on the Silk Roads. I have also adapted some of these sources for a gallery walk. I like to use gallery walks as opportunities to unpack a lot of content while practicing primary source analysis.
Primary Source Caches
- If you are looking for a large cache of primary source narratives, check out this site on the Silk Road run by the University of Washington. I have used the text from John of Pian de Carpine and William Rubruck when doing the Trial of Genghis Khan activity. Others offer some great excerpts for content specific HIPP/HAPP practice.
- I frequently use the Asia for Educators website to find lesson resources. Their primary sources are modified and truncated well, and their DBQs often come with some useful guiding analysis questions. With a bit of context, they provide the backbone of a great source analysis activity or lesson.
- If you are looking for some great images of Silk Road artifacts, art, or archaeological photographs, check out the Dunhuang Programme website from the British Museum. I was lucky enough to lead a student trip to Dunhuang last year, and there is tremendous value in using visual sources. The terracotta monkey playing a lute-like instrument pictured below is from this site.
- Fordham Online Sourcebook is well known if not commonly used. I suspect a lot of teachers overlook it because using it is not “teacher friendly.” Finding a good source takes time, requires me to make my own excerpt and write some decent guiding questions. Despite this, there are some great sources available.
One final thought…One of my favorite books is Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. The fictionalized conversations between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo are fantastic to read, though there is not any real history in them. I have always wanted to find a way to integrate some of my favorite chapters and excerpts, but have never really committed to doing it. Maybe this will be the year I decide to use it as an after-AP exam assignment. I want to believe there is someone else out there who has done this already…