Overview

Lesson Procedure

60-75 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Start with a summary students give every day.

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "A friend missed yesterday's assembly and asks what happened. You could say: 'The principal announced a new recycling program, explained where the bins will go, and said classes will compete to recycle the most.' Or you could say: 'The principal talked forever, it was so boring, and I already knew about recycling from my old school.' Which answer tells your friend what the assembly was about? What is wrong with the other one?"

   Take a few answers. The first answer is a summary: it gives the main point and the key details. The second mixes in an opinion (a judgment such as "so boring") and prior knowledge (what the speaker knew before the assembly). Today students write summaries of history sources that a reader could trust.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Part 1: The source. Marco Polo traveled from Venice to the court of the Great Kaan and lived in his empire for many years in the late 1200s; after he came home, his book was written down in about 1298. It is a primary source for what Polo saw and heard there. The English translation is by Henry Yule. Words in square brackets that are not [...] are Yule's: they mark lines found in only one early version of Polo's book. Gloss before reading: "mint" (the place where money is made), "bast" (the soft inner layer of bark), "vermilion" (a bright red color), "pass current" (be accepted as money) and "bezant" (a gold coin).

   1The Emperor’s Mint then is in this same City of Cambaluc, and the way it is wrought is such that you might say he hath the Secret of Alchemy in perfection, and you would be right! For he makes his money after this fashion.

   2He makes them take of the bark of a certain tree, in fact of the Mulberry Tree, the leaves of which are the food of the silkworms,—these trees being so numerous that whole districts are full of them. What they take is a certain fine white bast or skin which lies between the wood of the tree and the thick outer bark, and this they make into something resembling sheets of paper, but black. When these sheets have been prepared they are cut up into pieces of different sizes. [...] All these pieces of paper are [issued with as much solemnity and authority as if they were of pure gold or silver; and on every piece a variety of officials, whose duty it is, have to write their names, and to put their seals. And when all is prepared duly, the chief officer deputed by the Kaan smears the Seal entrusted to him with vermilion, and impresses it on the paper, so that the form of the Seal remains printed upon it in red; the Money is then authentic. Any one forging it would be punished with death.] And the Kaan causes every year to be made such a vast quantity of this money, which costs him nothing, that it must equal in amount all the treasure in the world.

   3With these pieces of paper, made as I have described, he causes all payments on his own account to be made; and he makes them to pass current universally over all his kingdoms and provinces and territories, and whithersoever his power and sovereignty extends. And nobody, however important he may think himself, dares to refuse them on pain of death. And indeed everybody takes them readily, for wheresoever a person may go throughout the Great Kaan’s dominions he shall find these pieces of paper current, and shall be able to transact all sales and purchases of goods by means of them just as well as if they were coins of pure gold. And all the while they are so light that ten bezants’ worth does not weigh one golden bezant.

   Part 2: Four tests for a summary. Put these on the board and keep them up all period.

   Four tests for an accurate summary

   Test	Question to ask	If the answer is no
   Central idea	Does every paragraph help to show this point?	Find a bigger point that covers them all
   Key detail	Would the central idea be weaker without it?	Leave it out as a minor detail
   Prior knowledge	Did the source say this?	Leave it out, even if it is true
   Opinion	Is this the source's view, and do I say whose it is?	Leave out your own opinion; name the author's

   • Finding the central idea (Source 1)

     Question: What is Source 1 mostly about? Test each paragraph: what does every paragraph help to show?

     Result: Central idea: the Great Kaan makes money out of tree bark, and everyone in his lands must accept it. Paragraph 2 tells how the money is made, and paragraph 3 tells how it is used: the Kaan "makes them to pass current universally over all his kingdoms" (paragraph 3). A central idea is the main point that the whole passage supports, not one fact from it.

   • Key details and minor details (Source 1, paragraph 2)

     Which of these belongs in a short summary: "the leaves of which are the food of the silkworms" or "Any one forging it would be punished with death"?

     Result: The punishment for forging is a key detail: it explains why nobody dared to make fake notes, which supports the central idea. The silkworms are a minor detail: they tell us about mulberry trees, not about money. A summary keeps the key details and leaves out the minor ones.

   • Leaving out prior knowledge (Source 1, paragraph 1)

     A student's summary says: "Cambaluc stood where Beijing is today." The sentence is true. Does it belong?

     Result: No. Source 1 names "this same City of Cambaluc" (paragraph 1) but never says where it was or what it is called now. Prior knowledge is what a reader already knew before reading. It can help the reader understand, but a summary of the source must report only what the source says.

   • Leaving out opinions, and reporting the author's (Source 1, paragraphs 1-2)

     Which sentence belongs in a summary: "The Kaan cheated his people," or "Polo says the Kaan's mint works so well that you might think he knew the secret of alchemy"?

     Result: The second. "The Kaan cheated his people" is the student's own opinion, a judgment the source never makes. Polo's own view is part of the source, so a summary may report it if it says whose view it is: Polo writes that "you might say he hath the Secret of Alchemy in perfection" (paragraph 1). Alchemy was the old attempt to turn ordinary metals into gold.

   • A model summary of Source 1 (70 words)

     Task: write a summary of Source 1 in 70 words or fewer, with the central idea and key details, and without prior knowledge or opinions.

     Result: Marco Polo describes the paper money of the Great Kaan. Workers make black sheets from the inner bark of mulberry trees and cut them into notes of different sizes. Officials sign each note and an officer stamps it with a red seal, and forging one is punished by death. Everyone in the Kaan's lands must accept the notes, and Polo says they buy goods as well as gold coins do.

   Show Diagram 1 and Diagram 2. Point out that the model summary uses the source's numbers and facts exactly and adds nothing, and that it names Polo whenever it reports his view.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Read Source 2 together. It is a secondary source: van Loon wrote it in 1921, more than 450 years after the events. Gloss "monopoly" (control by one group only), "privileged" (having special rights) and "humanism" (the Renaissance movement to study the writers of ancient Greece and Rome). Pairs write the central idea in one sentence, then list three key details with paragraph numbers.

   1In Germany, in the city of Mainz, Johann zum Gansefleisch, commonly known as Johann Gutenberg, had just invented a new method of copying books. He had studied the old woodcuts and had perfected a system by which individual letters of soft lead could be placed in such a way that they formed words and whole pages. It is true, he soon lost all his money in a law-suit which had to do with the original invention of the press. He died in poverty, but the "expression" of his particular inventive genius lived after him.

   2Soon Aldus in Venice and Etienne in Paris and Plantin in Antwerp and Froben in Basel were flooding the world with carefully edited editions of the classics printed in the Gothic letters of the Gutenberg Bible, or printed in the Italian type which we use in this book, or printed in Greek letters, or in Hebrew.

   3Then the whole world became the eager audience of those who had something to say. The day when learning had been a monopoly of a privileged few came to an end. And the last excuse for ignorance was removed from this world, when Elzevier of Haarlem began to print his cheap and popular editions. Then Aristotle and Plato, Virgil and Horace and Pliny, all the goodly company of the ancient authors and philosophers and scientists, offered to become man's faithful friend in exchange for a few paltry pennies. Humanism had made all men free and equal before the printed word.

   Teacher model for the pair work: Central idea: van Loon says that Gutenberg's way of printing with separate letters let printers make many cheap books, so learning no longer belonged to a few people. Key details: Gutenberg's letters "could be placed in such a way that they formed words and whole pages" (paragraph 1); printers in Venice, Paris, Antwerp and Basel soon produced "carefully edited editions of the classics" (paragraph 2); and "The day when learning had been a monopoly of a privileged few came to an end" (paragraph 3). Van Loon's last sentence, "Humanism had made all men free and equal before the printed word," is his judgment, so a summary reports it as his: "Van Loon argues that ..."

   Practice summary for Activity 2. The summary below was written for this page. It contains four deliberate problems. Pairs will test it against Source 2.

   In this passage from The Story of Mankind, van Loon explains how printing changed who could get books. Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, Germany, invented a way to print with separate metal letters that could be set into words and whole pages. He printed his famous Bible around 1455. Gutenberg was the most important inventor in history. Soon printers in Venice, Paris, Antwerp and Basel were printing carefully edited books in several kinds of letters. Gutenberg became very rich from his invention. Because printed books became cheap, learning no longer belonged only to a small group of people. It is sad that such a great man was treated so badly.

4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes

   Students read two more sources, then answer the quiz, which uses both. As they read, they write the central idea of each source in the margin and number its key details. Source 3 is Polo's chapter on the Kaan's posts; gloss "despatches" (official messages) and "in sooth" (in truth). Source 4 comes from van Loon's chapter on the great voyages of discovery; gloss "mortality" (deaths) and "scurvy" (a disease of sailors on long voyages).

   1Now you must know that from this city of Cambaluc proceed many roads and highways leading to a variety of provinces, one to one province, another to another; and each road receives the name of the province to which it leads; and it is a very sensible plan. And the messengers of the Emperor in travelling from Cambaluc, be the road whichsoever they will, find at every twenty-five miles of the journey a station which they call Yamb, or, as we should say, the “Horse-Post-House.” And at each of those stations used by the messengers, there is a large and handsome building for them to put up at, in which they find all the rooms furnished with fine beds and all other necessary articles in rich silk, and where they are provided with everything they can want. If even a king were to arrive at one of these, he would find himself well lodged.

   [...]

   2And in sooth this is a thing done on the greatest scale of magnificence that ever was seen. Never had emperor, king, or lord, such wealth as this manifests! For it is a fact that on all these posts taken together there are more than 300,000 horses kept up, specially for the use of the messengers. And the great buildings that I have mentioned are more than 10,000 in number, all richly furnished, as I told you. The thing is on a scale so wonderful and costly that it is hard to bring oneself to describe it.

   3[...] You must know that by the Great Kaan’s orders there has been established between those post-houses, at every interval of three miles, a little fort with some forty houses round about it, in which dwell the people who act as the Emperor’s foot-runners. Every one of those runners wears a great wide belt, set all over with bells, so that as they run the three miles from post to post their bells are heard jingling a long way off. And thus on reaching the post the runner finds another man similarly equipt, and all ready to take his place, who instantly takes over whatsoever he has in charge, and with it receives a slip of paper from the clerk, who is always at hand for the purpose; and so the new man sets off and runs his three miles. [...] And in this way the Emperor, who has an immense number of these runners, receives despatches with news from places ten days’ journey off in one day and night; or, if need be, news from a hundred days off in ten days and nights; and that is no small matter! [...]

   1Of course, there was always the possibility of making the voyage by sea. But the sea was very unpopular in the Middle Ages and for many very good reasons. In the first place, ships were very small. The vessels on which Magellan made his famous trip around the world, which lasted many years, were not as large as a modern ferryboat. They carried from twenty to fifty men, who lived in dingy quarters (too low to allow any of them to stand up straight) and the sailors were obliged to eat poorly cooked food as the kitchen arrangements were very bad and no fire could be made whenever the weather was the least bit rough. The mediaeval world knew how to pickle herring and how to dry fish. But there were no canned goods and fresh vegetables were never seen on the bill of fare as soon as the coast had been left behind. Water was carried in small barrels. It soon became stale and then tasted of rotten wood and iron rust and was full of slimy growing things. As the people of the Middle Ages knew nothing about microbes [...] they often drank unclean water and sometimes the whole crew died of typhoid fever. Indeed the mortality on board the ships of the earliest navigators was terrible. Of the two hundred sailors who in the year 1519 left Seville to accompany Magellan on his famous voyage around the world, only eighteen returned. [...] The greater part of these victims died of scurvy, a disease which is caused by lack of fresh vegetables and which affects the gums and poisons the blood until the patient dies of sheer exhaustion.

   2Under those circumstances you will understand that the sea did not attract the best elements of the population. Famous discoverers like Magellan and Columbus and Vasco da Gama travelled at the head of crews that were almost entirely composed of ex-jailbirds, future murderers and pickpockets out of a Job.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: On an index card, write the central idea of Source 1 or Source 2 in one sentence. Then write one true sentence about the topic that you knew before reading and explain why it does not belong in a summary of the source.

   Teacher note on the sources and their language: The passages are quoted exactly as translated or printed, with older words such as "hath," "whithersoever," "equipt" and "mediaeval." Yule's square brackets (not the [...] marks) show lines he took from Ramusio's Italian version of Polo's book. Van Loon wrote for children in 1921 and makes confident claims without sources; some are wrong or simplified. The Elzevier (Elzevir) printers worked mainly in Leiden and Amsterdam, not Haarlem (Haarlem was the town of Laurens Janszoon Coster, whom Dutch tradition once credited with inventing printing, which may explain the slip); Gutenberg's type was cast from a lead alloy; and in 1465 the Archbishop of Mainz gave Gutenberg a yearly allowance, so "died in poverty" may be too strong. Historians count about 240 to 270 men on Magellan's ships in 1519, of whom 18 came back on the Victoria in 1522. Van Loon's phrase "ex-jailbirds, future murderers and pickpockets" is an insulting exaggeration about whole crews; discuss it as his opinion. None of the passages contains a slur. Polo's large numbers (300,000 horses, 10,000 buildings) are his own figures and cannot be checked from the text; Chinese records do confirm that the Mongol government ran a large system of post stations and issued paper money.

   Homework passages. Polo's chapter on how the Kaan helped people in years of dearth (a shortage of food) and murrain (a disease of cattle), Source 5, and a practice summary of it written for this page.

   1Now you must know that the Emperor sends his Messengers over all his Lands and Kingdoms and Provinces, to ascertain from his officers if the people are afflicted by any dearth through unfavourable seasons, or storms or locusts, or other like calamity; and from those who have suffered in this way no taxes are exacted for that year; nay more, he causes them to be supplied with corn of his own for food and seed. Now this is undoubtedly a great bounty on his part. And when winter comes, he causes inquiry to be made as to those who have lost their cattle, whether by murrain or other mishap, and such persons not only go scot free, but get presents of cattle. And thus, as I tell you, the Lord every year helps and fosters the people subject to him.

   2[There is another trait of the Great Kaan I should tell you; and that is, that if a chance shot from his bow strike any herd or flock, whether belonging to one person or to many, and however big the flock may be, he takes no tithe thereof for three years. In like manner, if the arrow strike a boat full of goods, that boat-load pays no duty; for it is thought unlucky that an arrow strike any one’s property; and the Great Kaan says it would be an abomination before God, were such property, that has been struck by the divine wrath, to enter into his Treasury.]

   Marco Polo describes how the Great Kaan helped his people when times were hard. The Kaan sent messengers to find out where people were suffering from dearth caused by bad seasons, storms or locusts. People who had suffered paid no taxes that year and were given grain for food and seed. Kublai Khan was the grandson of Genghis Khan. In winter, people who had lost cattle were given cattle as presents. The Kaan was the kindest ruler who has ever lived.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which sentence best states the central idea of Source 4?

   AMedieval sea travel was so hard and deadly that few wanted to go BMagellan's ships were smaller than a modern ferryboat of van Loon's own day CScurvy is a disease caused by a lack of fresh vegetables DSailors of the Middle Ages ate pickled herring and dried fish

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 4, why did sailors eat poorly cooked food?

   AThe cooks on board were mostly former prisoners BKitchens were bad, and no fire could be made in rough weather CTheir captains would not allow any cooking on long ocean voyages DThey had no salt to keep their fish and meat fresh

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which detail from Source 4 best supports the claim that bad water made sailors sick?

   A"Water was carried in small barrels" B"The mediaeval world knew how to pickle herring and how to dry fish" C"They carried from twenty to fifty men" D"they often drank unclean water and sometimes the whole crew died of typhoid fever"

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Van Loon writes that of the "two hundred sailors" who left Seville with Magellan in 1519, "only eighteen returned." By his numbers, what percent of the sailors came back?

   A18 percent B82 percent C9 percent D91 percent

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which detail from Source 4 is too minor to include in a short summary?

   AThe ships were very small BFood and water soon went bad once the ships were far from land CThe sailors' quarters were too low to stand up straight DMany sailors died of disease, especially scurvy

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A student's summary of Source 4 says: "All the sailors were criminals." Why does this sentence misrepresent the source?

   AIt changes "almost entirely" to "all" and states van Loon's judgment as fact BIt uses prior knowledge about Columbus that the source does not give CIt leaves out the names of Magellan, Columbus and Vasco da Gama, the famous discoverers DIt is too short to be part of a summary

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which sentence is an accurate summary of what Source 4 says about Magellan's ships?

   AThey were larger than modern ferryboats BThey were smaller than a modern ferryboat CThey were built in Seville in the year 1519 DThey carried hundreds of men on each ship

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 3, paragraph 1, how far apart were the horse-post-houses on the main roads?

   AAbout 3 miles BAbout 10 miles CAbout 25 miles DAbout 100 miles

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 3, paragraph 3, why did each foot-runner wear a belt covered with bells?

   ASo that his bells could be heard a long way off BSo that robbers on the road would be frightened CSo that people along the road knew he worked for the Emperor DSo that the Emperor could count his runners

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which detail from Source 3 best supports the idea that the post system was enormous?

    A"a slip of paper from the clerk, who is always at hand" B"each road receives the name of the province to which it leads" C"on all these posts taken together there are more than 300,000 horses" D"Every one of those runners wears a great wide belt"

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student's summary of Source 3 includes the sentence "Kublai Khan ruled from 1260 to 1294." The sentence is true. Why does it not belong in the summary?

    AIt is an opinion about the Kaan's rule BIt contradicts what Polo says about the Kaan in paragraph 2 CIt is a minor detail from paragraph 3 DIt is prior knowledge; Source 3 gives no dates

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which sentence in a student's summary of Source 3 is an opinion rather than information from the source?

    AEach runner handed over his load at the next post BThe runners must have been tired and miserable CPolo says there were more than 10,000 buildings DThe stations had rooms where messengers could rest

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Polo writes, "Never had emperor, king, or lord, such wealth as this manifests!" (Source 3, paragraph 2). How should a summary report this sentence?

    AAs a plain fact: the Kaan was the richest ruler in history BBy leaving out the whole paragraph, numbers and all CAs Polo's judgment: Polo says it showed unmatched wealth DAs the summary writer's own view of the Kaan's wealth

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which statement best compares the central ideas of Sources 3 and 4?

    ABoth passages mainly describe the dangers that travelers faced on long voyages at sea BBoth passages mainly argue that the rulers of their time treated travelers and workers cruelly CSource 3 mainly describes paper money in China, and Source 4 mainly describes Columbus's voyage DSource 3 describes a well-run system of travel on land; Source 4, the hardships of sea travel

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Using Source 3, paragraph 3, explain in 2-3 sentences how a message traveled from one foot-runner to the next. Include one quotation.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Polo says the Emperor gets news "from places ten days' journey off in one day and night" and "from a hundred days off in ten days and nights" (Source 3, paragraph 3). How many times faster than normal travel is this? Explain how the detail supports the central idea of Source 3.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    A student writes: "Source 4 shows that Columbus was a bad leader." Is this an accurate summary of what the source says? Explain, using the words of the source.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Van Loon writes that scurvy "is caused by lack of fresh vegetables" (Source 4, paragraph 1). Today we know that scurvy is caused by a lack of vitamin C, which is found in fresh fruit and vegetables. Should a summary of Source 4 say "scurvy is caused by a lack of vitamin C"? Explain.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    In Source 4, paragraph 2, van Loon writes, "Under those circumstances you will understand that the sea did not attract the best elements of the population." What are "those circumstances"? Why is this sentence important to the central idea?

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write a summary of Source 3 in 60-80 words that a classmate who has not read it could trust. Include the central idea and at least three key details, and leave out prior knowledge and opinions.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to RH.6-8.2: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.