A story filled with greed, competition, power struggles, and notorious leaders may sound like a blockbuster movie, however all of these characteristics and more actually make up the history of human civilization. In this ongoing class, students will learn about how ancient people in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, India, China and Rome lived. Please see the below schedule for a detailed description of topics that will be discussed each week. The people and events that led to both the rise and fall of these civilizations will be focal point of each lesson.  
    Classes will open with an introduction to the topic for the day and an open invitation for students to share any prior knowledge that they may have on the topic or something that they would like to learn. Students are encouraged but never required to participate in this discussion. This discussion time allows for all students to enter the classroom before the lesson officially begins. Each lesson will include a "setting the stage" element which prepares 
students for new information that will be covered. While lessons will be done in chronological order, each class will include a review of necessary information, which allows for new students to pick up on the topic at any point during the 25- week duration of the course. The lessons will begin again after all 25 lessons have been completed. 
     The main portion of each lesson will include a story telling style of lecture along with music and videos relevant to the topic. Learning history is an opportunity to hear some of the most incredible and often unbelievable stories ever told. What makes them unique of course is that these stories actually happened. My goal is to spark interest in each student so that they are inspired to ask questions and continue to learn even after class has ended. A timeline worksheet and a map will be available on the class page for student to fill out during class. The map will be used to better understand the part of the world being discussed and the timeline will be used to organize events. Each timeline will also have space for student to draw a picture and/or write anything that they feel is especially interesting about each event. 
       Lessons end with a fun quiz in which each student can test their knowledge of the topic covered. These quizzes are only intended to encourage information retention and students are never forced to participate. Class will conclude with a brief summary and critical thinking questions for students to consider for the next week's topic. 
        It is always my goal to make every learner feel included and inspired by history. Objectivity is my highest priority and topics will be taught with multiple perspectives represented. 

Topics for this course are as follows:
September 4, 2023- Mesopotamia:The Sumerians
September 11, 2023- Mesopotamia: The Babylonians
September 18, 2023- Cyrus the Great
September 25, 2023- Alexander the great and the fall of the Persian Empire
October 2, 2023- Old Kingdom and the first Pyramids
October 9, 2023- The New Kingdom and Egypt's famous rulers
October 16, 2023-Egypt: Persian invasion
October 23, 2023- Greek Mythology
October 29, 2023- Athens, Sparta
November 5, 2023- Olympics
November 12, 2023- Alexander the Great
November 27, 2023- Rome: The founding of an empire
December 4, 2023- Rome: Gladiators (emphasis on Spartacus)
December 11, 2023- Julius Ceasar
December 18, 2023- Emperor Nero
January 8, 2024- Constantine
January 15, 2024- The fall of Rome
January 22, 2024- Ancient India: The Indus Valley civilization
January 29, 2024- The Iron Age
February 5, 2024- The Mauryan Empire 
February 12, 2024- The Gupta Empire
February 19, 2024- Ancient China: Earliest settlers and the Yellow Emperor
February 26, 2024- Confucius 
March 5, 2024- Qin and Han
March 12 2024-Overview and comparison of Ancient Civilizations