Despite the fact that the gifted program at my school has been diminished and devalued in lieu of pumping AP classes as full as possible, I persevere in trying to bring higher education- which develops the sort of thinking skills that goes beyond test scores. Here is a nice activity helping kids understand translation in action- in a text such Gilgamesh, etc. The rationale for the activity comes after the jump.
Gilgamesh Deciphering Activity Revised
I wrote this “mystery strategy” -based activity not only because it deepens an understanding of the content area (Gilgamesh, Babylonian & Persian history/culture)- which is the focus of our AP classes; there are additonal goals in my gifted classroom.
Two relevant goals (which I strive for), alebeit not ones required by the AP Crurriculum:
1.) The activity also illuminates challenges and biases in any study of culture, and, most importantly, demands that students excercise problem solving skills, incorporate trial and error(I purposely gave little enough information, and even added some “omissions” to throw kids off), and-
2.) – in a skill too many gifted kids lack- the ability to communicate their own knowledge- explain the end result.
(I should probably add a metacognitive paragraph also where the kids describe the process, but, as you see, space was tight. I’ll probably give it orally.)
Feel free to adapt or steal!
Filed under: Advanced Placement (English Lang, mostly), Education, Poetry/Lyrics/Epics | Tagged: Education, AP, Gifted, Assignments, Gifted Education, Gilgamesh, Babylon, Babylonian, Persian, Lesson Plans, Codebreaking, Ciphering, Cuneiform, Mystery Strategy
