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A long time ago in a galaxy far far away….

COMMON
CORE

Episode V.V

The Empire Strikes Endor

It is the end of your lesson on the the five motives behind imperialism.  The students have analyzed different primary documents that demonstrated at least one of the five motives – Economic, Ideological, Exploratory, Religious, and Political. You want to create a homework assignment that will reinforce the vocabulary that your freshman (or sophomores) have learned. You want to do something a bit different than normal that will reinforce the five motives to your students in an engaging way. Driven by the desire to also share with your students your love for the original STAR WARS trilogy and your district’s goal to align with the common core, you decide to have your students embark on a journey that will simply take the night….

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How can I really caption this without expressing the sheer delight it was to create. While Washington looks like a natural fit a Luke Skywalker, Hamilton as C3PO works for me on so many levels.

After aligning the assignment from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure to the Common Core last weekend, @squirrelfriend1 challenged me to relate the Star Wars to the new standards. My mind immediately went back to an essay that I wrote in high schoolcomparing the resistance to British rule during the Age of Imperialism to the Rebel Alliance’s resistance to The Galactic Empire. The essay itself was ill-received but I thoroughly enjoyed the process of writing it – also, it allowed me to put do one of my favorite things – blend history and movies.

The activity that I chose for this is not, however, from the Rebel Alliance point of view. It is from the perspective of the Empire; specifically, how they view the forest moon of Endor.

(I have a soft spot for Ewoks.)

This activity reinforces the following:

RH.9-10.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.

As stated in the imaginary scrolling text above, you have just had a lesson introducing the five motives for imperialism (political, ideological, exploratory, religious, and economic) in which students examine primary documents that demonstrate the motives. For the homework, students are to come up with the motives for the imperialism of the Galactic Empire – particularly related to the moon of Endor.

To stage the assignment provide some background on the Star Wars universe. Focus not on the personal saga, but instead the Empire. While their goals were a bit murky, we know that they wanted total control of the universe (although it seems like they exercised  indirect control rather than direct control). For the homework assignment, direct students to create a primary document from the perspective of the Empire indicating their motives for colonizing the Endor Moon. The primary document can be an advertisement, a political cartoon, a speech, or whatever else the students can create – but it must demonstrate a least one of the five motives that were discussed in class.

When class begins the next day, have the students display their newly created “primary documents” around the room. Then have all of the students go on a gallery walk where students guess what motive each “primary document” is attempting to demonstrate. When the students finish their walk, have the them each briefly present their document to the class.

By the end of this activity, students should have a deeper understanding of the motives behind imperialism.

Feel free to make an example of a primary document and share below!

Note: The “have students create primary documents” idea I learned at this years EdCamp Social Studies from Diane Laufenberg. Also, this activity could still work well without the Star Wars emphasis.