Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions

Unit 1 Lesson 7

Content Expectations

6 and 7 Describe and use cultural institutions to study an era and a region

(political,

H1.4.1: economic, religion/belief, science/technology, written language,

education, family).

Common Core State Standards

RH.6-8.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and

secondary sources.

RH.6-8.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,

including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.

RH.6-8.10: By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend history/social studies

texts in the grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions #1

Remember the ways that historians organize and analyze events:

Significance, social institutions, time, and space

Turn and Talk: Jot down four ways discussed in the previous lesson

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions

LEARNING TARGETS:

1. I can describe the four tools that historians use to organize information include significance, social institutions, time, and space.

2. I can explain that long-lasting patterns of meeting these basic social needs result in the creation of social institutions such as an economy, government, family, education, religion, and language.

3. I can justify that using social institutions to organize and analyze an account is important for both the historian and reader.

4. I can conclude that analyzing and describing social institutions enables comparisons among societies.

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions #2

Take notes – write in your own words:

We will be investigating “social institutions.”

1. All human societies address basic needs in order to survive for more than one generation.

2. Long-lasting patterns of meeting these basic social needs result in the creation of social institutions such as an economy, government, family, education, religion, and language.

3. Although societies may vary in how they address these needs, the point is that all societies do address them.

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions #3

Brainstorm the answer in your SS Notebook:

List what would a group of people need for them to survive as a group for at least 100 years or for at least three generations? A generation is defined as the average it takes for people to grow up and produce their own offspring.

Turn and Share – you may add to your list

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions #4

Every society which has survived at least three or more generations has found a way to meet each of the following needs:

Self check against what you wrote in your SS notebook.

Needs of Societies

1. To make a living, produce, and

distribute food and shelter

2. Law and order or systems to

protect each other

3. Learning and transmitting

culture

4. Shared ideas and beliefs

5. Shared system of

communication and self-

expression

6. Ways to care for and raise

children

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions #5

• For societies to survive, they had to establish certain ways to meet these needs.

• Long-lasting patterns of meeting basic social needs are what we call “social institutions.”

There are six social institutions that we will use in the course:

1. Economy: the system or way people in a society produce and distribute goods and services

2. Government: the system or way people in a society provide and keep order

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions #5

3. Education: the system or way people in a society share knowledge and learning

4. Religion: a shared set of beliefs and practices through which people in a society understand and relate to their world, including its supernatural aspects

5. Language / Art: the system or way people in a society create and use a shared system of communication and self-expression

6. Family: the system or way people in a society care for and raise children

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions #6

Conversation Line Instructions:

1. Students form two lines facing each other.

2. One side of the line talks for two minutes on the questions to the person standing across from them.

3. Then, the other side of the line discusses the questions for two minutes.

4. Students then shuffle down so that they are facing another student and again take turns answering the questions, two minutes per side.

5. Repeat the process a third time.

6. One side of the line should be talking while the other side is listening throughout the process.

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions #6

Conversation Line- Answer the following questions:

• Do you think each of these social institutions address “needs?”

–Are these necessary elements in human culture or society: Why or why not?

• How has our society met societal needs?

–Do we have some variation in these? Model with student volunteer

Using Social Institutions

Conversation Line- Answer the following questions:

*Do you think each of these social institutions address “needs?”

– Are these necessary elements in human culture or society: Why or why not?

*How has our society met societal needs?

– Do we have some variation in these?

• Economy: the system or way people in a society produce and distribute goods and services

• Government: the system or way people in a society provide and keep order

• Education: the system or way people in a society share knowledge and learning

• Religion: a shared set of beliefs and practices through which people in a society understand and relate to their world, including its supernatural aspects

• Language / Art: the system or way people in a society create and use a shared system of communication and self-expression

• Family: the system or way people in a society care for and raise children

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions #7

Debrief Conversation Line – Discuss:

• Share how your thinking of needs of societies or social institutions was challenged, modified, or extended through the conversation line.

• What did you notice about your thinking? About your answers?

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions #8

In your SS Notebook: • Write “Social Institutions”

• List the six institutions we have been learning about:

1. economy

2. government

3. religion

4. education

5. language

6. family

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions #9

1. List examples for each of the six social institutions.

2. Identify any societal symbols that are associated with each.

• For example: the American flag might represent government.

3. Discuss

4. Create a visual representation (mini poster)

Draw a symbol for each and label ???

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions #10

Read through the passage once:

“In the Past- Life Among the Iroquois Nations”

Read the passage a second time denoting (indicating) evidence of the six social institutions.

*HIGHLIGHT THE EVIDENCE & PUT THE LETTER(S) IN THE MARGIN

Have copies of In the Past… handout and Reading Key for each student

Discuss students’ finding with the whole class

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions

Lesson Example

Lesson Example

Lesson Example

Understanding social institutions and the needs they fulfill can make it easier to understand the past using the following questions:

1. Social institutions are defined as long lasting patterns of meeting basic social needs. What other social institutions should we consider?

2. Why do you think historians use social institutions or organize and analyze societies?

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions #11

3. Why might it be important for the institution to be enduring or lasting more than three generations? Why do historians distinguish between long-lasting patterns and fleeting patterns?

4. How would you describe the relationship between social institutions and society?

5. How can a comparison of social institutions of several societies during the same period of history help us understand the past? How may geography play a role in this analysis?

Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Social Institutions #11

Answer the questions

Understanding social institutions and the needs they fulfill can make it easier to

understand the past using the following questions:

1. Social institutions are defined as long lasting patterns of

meeting basic social needs. What other social institutions

should we consider?

2. Why do you think historians use social institutions or

organize and analyze societies?

3. Why might it be important for the institution to be enduring or

lasting more than three generations? Why do historians

distinguish between long-lasting patterns and fleeting patterns?

4. How would you describe the relationship between social

institutions and society?

5. How can a comparison of social institutions of several

societies during the same period of history help us understand

the past? How may geography play a role in this analysis?