STUDENT GUIDE

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Roman Roads

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How did a complex road system impact the Roman society?

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Table of Contents

Skills Focus

• Build Your Vocabulary: Map a Word
• Cornell Notes: Understanding a Topic Through Multiple Texts

Overview and Connect

• Find Your Purpose for Learning
• Share Your Personal Connection

Read and Check

• Share Your Reflections
• Test Prep Strategy: Prediction (Optional)

Analyze / Engage with the Text

• Highlight and Annotate

Summarize

• Write a Summary

Develop / Build Your Argument

• Share Your Argument Builder

Draft and Review / Create your CERCA

• Peer Editing Activity
• Reflect on Your Writing

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Extension Activities

• Design Activity: Transportation System Improvement
• Inquiry to Research: Asking Questions of the Texts

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SKILLS FOCUS

Build Your Vocabulary: �Map a Word — Groma�

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Synonym (similar or like word)

Antonym (opposite word)

Picture of Vocabulary Word

Vocabulary Word and Definition

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Part of Speech

Root Word or Origin

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Sentence Using Vocabulary Word

Instructions: Analyzing key vocabulary words will help you better understand the texts you are reading. Word mapping can also help the words "stick" in your memory. Complete the map below with the vocabulary word provided in the title. Use a dictionary if necessary. Fill as many boxes as you can.

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SKILLS FOCUS

Cornell Notes: Understanding a Topic Through Multiple Texts

Instructions: Take notes on the Direct Instruction lesson using the organizer below. Then summarize and reflect on the next page.

Complete the Direct Instruction lesson online at learn.thinkcerca.com

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SKILLS FOCUS

Cornell Notes: Understanding a Topic Through Multiple Texts

Summarize and Reflect

In your own words and in complete sentences, write a 3–4 sentence summary of this Direct Instruction lesson. An accurate summary will cover the lesson's central ideas and include important details to support those ideas.

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Record your summary here:

OVERVIEW AND CONNECT

Find Your Purpose for Learning

Instructions: When you have finished reading the Overview for this lesson, answer the following questions in the space below:

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What more would you like to learn about how a transportation system could benefit one community while potentially harming another? What would you like to know about human-made structures from the past?

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Read the Overview provided at learn.thinkcerca.com

OVERVIEW AND CONNECT

Share Your Personal Connection

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Complete the Connect section for this selection at learn.thinkcerca.com

Instructions:�

1. Think: On your own, think about your experiences related to the topic.
2. Pair & Share: With a partner, group, or a trusted listener, share the parts of your response that you feel comfortable sharing.
3. Reflect: If time permits, reflect on your experience. What ideas did others share that you hadn't considered? How were your ideas alike?

READ

Share Your Reflections

Instructions: During or after you have finished reading, find the questions in the text marked Pause and Reflect. These questions may help you understand the text, or they may help you connect the text to yourself, to other texts, or to the world around you.

Use the space on the left below to answer the reflection questions. Then discuss your answers, noting how they were similar or different.

Record “Pause and Reflect” answers here:

Record discussion reflections here:

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Refer to the Pause and Reflect questions within the Read section of the lesson at learn.thinkcerca.com.

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CHECK

Test Prep Strategy: Prediction

One way to prepare for assessments is to practice looking for the answers in the text before looking at the answer choices. Use prediction strategies as an opportunity to read a text more carefully.

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Read each multiple choice question. In your own words, record your prediction of the correct response in the chart below.

Refer to the multiple choice questions for this lesson at learn.thinkcerca.com.

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ANALYZE / ENGAGE WITH THE TEXT

Highlight and Annotate

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In this step, you will analyze the text closely, then discuss your findings to begin developing reasoning for your argument.

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1. Read the text again, highlighting and annotating important details. ��Follow the prompts provided. The highlighting prompts will help you with the final writing task. ��You will find evidence to support your own argument or informational piece, as well as models of excellence that will help you better understand a writer’s craft in narratives and poetry. The evidence you highlight will be available when you begin building your draft in the next step.

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2. If time permits, pair and share your highlights and annotations with a classmate. Pay close attention to this conversation! Your thinking is important reasoning that you may include in your final draft.

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Return to learn.thinkcerca.com to complete Analyze / Engage with the Text.

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SUMMARIZE

Write a Summary

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Summaries help you process your thinking about a text and are often a great way to start off an argumentative or informational essay. A good summary shows you have knowledge about a topic.

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Practicing summarizing also helps you prepare for the main idea questions posed on many standardized assessments. In addition, summarizing is a helpful skill for working with others, such as when you need to confirm your understanding of what someone else has said. That's a useful skill for all parts of life.

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1. Use the sentence stems provided in the online lesson to summarize the text. Your summary should:
1. Be brief
2. Include the main idea and key details
3. Represent these ideas fairly and accurately �
2. If time permits, pair and share with a classmate. Read each other’s summary, and discuss how they are similar or different. What did you say were the main idea and key details? Were your summaries fair and accurate? Why?

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Return to learn.thinkcerca.com to complete Summarize.

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DEVELOP / BUILD YOUR ARGUMENT

Share your Argument Builder

When you’ve completed the argument building step, share your results with others, and listen to how they responded to the same question. Ask questions, and give feedback to help strengthen your partners’ reasons and evidence.

Complete Develop / Build Your Argument to begin building your argument at learn.thinkcerca.com

DRAFT AND REVIEW / CREATE YOUR CERCA

Peer Editing Activity

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1. Do a self-assessment of your CERCA. Use the online rubric for the lesson on learn.thinkcerca.com, checking each box where you find evidence that you have achieved the criteria.�
2. Next, collaborate with a classmate to read each other’s drafts. Again, use the rubric to evaluate each other’s work.�
3. Share insights into what might make your pieces stronger. Find two positive attributes and one area of growth for each draft you review.�
4. Revise your piece using what you learned from your self-assessment and the feedback from your peers.

Complete your Draft at learn.thinkcerca.com

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DRAFT AND REVIEW / CREATE YOUR CERCA

Reflect on Your Writing

Before you submit your final CERCA, write a brief reflection describing your experience.

An area for growth for me on this piece or in my writing in general is…

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The strongest areas of this piece of writing are…

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Through self-assessment and/or peer editing, I learned…

Extension Activities

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The following activities can be used as extensions to this lesson.

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OPTIONAL EXTENSION : DESIGN ACTIVITY

Transportation System Improvement

Background

Throughout history, civilizations around the world have developed transportation systems to move goods, people, and information. On top of the needs of the civilizations’ people, these systems were planned with considerations for the cost of materials, operations, maintenance, and the challenges of construction in diverse environments. Some transportation systems were marvels of engineering that rocketed civilizations towards new economic, social, and political heights while others suffered from faulty planning, mismanagement, and poor maintenance. In many cases, the success of these systems had a significant human cost.

In this exercise, you will take on the role of an urban planner whose job is to improve an existing transportation system in your community. You will evaluate the system as it is, and develop an improvement plan, and sketch a new design that you can then share with your town or city (In this case, your classmates).

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Materials Needed

• Access to a school-approved search engine
• Access to a printer
• Problem|Solution Organizer
• Poster Board or Chart Paper
• Colored Pencils or Markers

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Research

• Using Google Maps, find a map of your community.
• Using the school approved search engine research your local transportation system.

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Plan & Design

• Using the Problem|Solution Organizer on page 3, plan how you will improve the transportation system that you have chosen.
• Using colored pencils or markers, design your improved transportation system.

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Share

• With your teacher’s permission, share your new design and plan with your classmates. Allow them to ask questions, just as members of a community might when faced with a new project that will affect them.

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OPTIONAL EXTENSION : DESIGN ACTIVITY

Transportation System Improvement: Research

Directions:

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• Using Google Maps, find a map of your community. Pay careful attention to:
• Where roads lead to
• Where trains stop if they run through your community
• Where buses stop if they run through your community
• Where people in your community may need to get to for work, school, groceries, healthcare services, etc.
• Print the map.
• Using a school-approved search engine, research a transportation system in your community that could use improvements. Some helpful research tips:
• Look for town websites that feature comments from residents. Generally, forums and comments sections are places where residents share their opinions about town services and projects.
• Look up the service and maintenance status of a transit system in your community by checking the system’s website. Service and maintenance alerts are a good indicator of problems that the system is experiencing.

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OPTIONAL EXTENSION : DESIGN ACTIVITY

Transportation System Improvement: Planning

Directions:

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• Now that you have done some research, use the organizer below to identify issues that your local transportation system is experiencing and how you might be able to resolve it.
• Use as many “Problem” and “Solution” spaces as you need to.

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OPTIONAL EXTENSION : DESIGN ACTIVITY

Transportation System Improvement: Design & Present

Directions:

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• Using colored pencils or markers, the map of your community for reference, and the chart paper or poster board, draft a design for an improved version of the transportation system that you have chosen. Include:

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• A basic community map of the specific area that your transportation system will service

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• Make sure to include a map key to explain what certain icons are on the map!

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• Labels to explain how a certain feature of the system has been improved

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• Present your design to your community (your classmates). Give your community members an opportunity to ask questions. If you do not have answers for them, that’s okay– you’re still in the design phase! Think about how you might consider their questions and feedback for a future design!

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OPTIONAL EXTENSION : INQUIRY TO RESEARCH

Ask Questions of the Texts

As you engage with texts in any subject, you can actively ask questions about the author’s purpose, intended audience, and occasion to understand the message. The table below provides examples.

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OPTIONAL EXTENSION : INQUIRY TO RESEARCH

Ask Questions of the Texts (continued)

Use the table below to record questions about the text you read.

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