Roman Times

A WebQuest

Introduction	Task	Process	Resources
Evaluation	Conclusion	Teacher Notes	Standards

Introduction

The fall of Ancient Rome occurred long ago, but its influence is still felt today in our language, government, architecture and mathematics, to name a few. Ancient Rome was a powerful empire that influenced much of the world.

Task

You are a cracker jack reporter for your school newspaper. You have been asked to join forces with 5 other reporters to research and write about Rome's influence on the modern world. Each person in your group will be assigned to report on a specific aspect of Ancient Rome.

Process

Step 1: as a team select reporter specialties from the table below.

People and Places	Reports on famous people and places and their influence on civilization.
Religion and Mythology	Reports on history of religion, with emphasis on role of mythologies influence on civilization.
Daily Life and Customs	Reports on the day to day life of all citizens of Rome and their customs.
$math.gif (6095 bytes)$ Education and Writing	Reports on the system of education and importance of writing in Ancient Rome.
Architecture	Reports on the style of architecture, break through in technology during Roman times and the influence it had on civilization.
Government	Reports on the system of government used by Rome and its influence on civilization.

Step 2: Visit the resource section of this web quest and begin searching for information on your topic.
Step 3: Take notes on the information you find and record them in your journal. All cracker jack reporters keep detailed notes. Be sure to cite your resources with your notes.
Step 4: Meet regularly with your team to discuss progress of research.
Step 5: Web an outline of your article using Inspiration.
Step 6: Write a rough draft of your article once you have completed your research.
Step 7: Conference with your team and edit each other's articles.
Step 8: Publish your special edition of the newspaper using Microsoft Publisher, including images that correspond with your article topic.
Step 9: Present your finished newspaper to your editor (teacher) and fellow colleagues (classmates).

Resources

Internet Resources

BBC Education - The Romans	Roman History	Ancient Rome	Daily Life in Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome Project	Virtual Tour: Rome, Italy	The Coliseum of Ancient Rome	The Forum Romanum
Odyssey Online - Rome	Roman Calendar	Nova Online: Roman Baths	Julius Caesar
Empires Past - Rome	Rome Past and Present	A Visual Compendium of Roman Emperors	Aqueducts
Pages Through the Ages - Rome	Roma	Roman Board Games	All Roads Lead to Rome
Concrete	Roman History	Roman Numerals	Roman Resources
The Rise of Rome	The Roman Empire	Roman Timeline	Victori - The Roman Military
Socrates	Alexander the Great	Julius Caesar	Augustus Caesar
Cleopatra

Book Resources

Chisholm, Jane. Living in Roman Times. London: Usborne Publishing Ltd., 1982.

Chrisp, Peter. Journey into Civilization: The Romans. New York: Chelsea Juniors, 1993.

Chrisp, Peter. The Roman Empire. Chicago: World Book Inc., 1996.

Corbishley, Mike. Cultural Atlas for Young People: Ancient Rome. New York: Oxford, 1989.

Cox, Phil Roxbee. Who Were the Romans? London: Usborne Publishing Ltd., 1993.

Eyewitness Visual Dictionaries. The Visual Dictionary of Ancient Civilizations. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1994.

Goor, Roger and Nancy. Pompeii: Exploring A Roman Ghost Town. U.S.A.: Harper Collins Publisher, 1986.

Guittard, Charles and Martin, Annie-Claude. The Romans: Life in the Empire. Connecticut: The Millbrook Press, 1992.

Guy, John. Roman Life. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1998.

James, Simon. la antigua Roma. London: Dorling Kindersley Limited, 1990.

Langley, Andrew and De Souza, Philip. The Roman News. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 1996.

Macaulay, David. City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974.

MacDonald, Fiona and Wood, Gerald. A Roman Fort. New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1993.

Marks, Anthony & Tingay, Graham. The Romans. London: Usborne Publishing Ltd., 1990.

Steele, Philip. Food and Feasts in Ancient Rome. New York: New Discovery Books, 1994.

Evaluation

You will be given three (2) grades for this project:

Individual Grade: Your article for the newspaper will be graded using the Six Trait Writing Rubric. You will need to visit each of the six categories to review how your work will be assessed.

Ideas and Content Word Choice Sentence Fluency Organization Voice Conventions

Project/Presentation Grade: Your newspaper and group will be graded using the following rubric:

	Gladiator	Plebian	Senator	Caesar
Organization	Audience cannot understand presentation because there is no sequence of information.	Audience has difficulty following presentation because student jumps around.	Student presents information in logical sequence which audience can follow.	Student presents information in logical, interesting sequence which audience can follow.
Subject Knowledge	Student does not have grasp of information; student cannot answer questions about subject.	Student is uncomfortable with information and is able to answer only rudimentary questions.	Student is at ease with expected answers to all questions, but fails to elaborate.	Student demonstrates full knowledge (more than required) by answering all class questions with explanations and elaboration.
Graphics	Student uses superfluous graphics or no graphics	Student occasionally uses graphics that rarely support text and presentation.	Student's graphics relate to text and presentation.	Student's graphics explain and reinforce screen text and presentation.
Mechanics	Student's presentation has four or more spelling errors and/or grammatical errors.	Presentation has three misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	Presentation has no more than two misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	Presentation has no misspellings or grammatical errors.
Eye Contact	Student reads all of report with no eye contact.	Student occasionally uses eye contact, but still reads most of report.	Student maintains eye contact most of the time but frequently returns to notes.	Student maintains eye contact with audience, seldom returning to notes.
Elocution	Student mumbles, incorrectly pronounces terms, and speaks too quietly for students in the back of class to hear.	Student's voice is low. Student incorrectly pronounces terms. Audience members have difficulty hearing presentation.	Student's voice is clear. Student pronounces most words correctly. Most audience members can hear presentation.	Student uses a clear voice and correct, precise pronunciation of terms so that all audience members can hear presentation.

Rubric adapted from Office of Assessment and Institutional Research

Conclusion

As you have found out, much of who and what we are today has been influenced by Ancient Rome. Hopefully you gained a new understanding and appreciation of Rome's influence on the modern world.

Graphics on this web quest found at:

Ancient Roman Tiles