Small Groups:

Students will go into small groups. Each group will read “The Pact of Umar: Regulating the Status on non-Muslims under Muslim Rule”.

After reading, students will circle key words and underline important ideas.

Students will have a set of 5 comprehension questions to answer as a group.

After gaining a basic understanding of the reading, students will research common and interesting laws that we have explored in class so far and compare them to the aspects of the pact. Students are also allowed to research new laws that we have not learned about in class.

They will identify similarities and differences between the policies.

They will write down their finding and share in the larger group.

Assessment:

Students will engage in a group Kahoot based on their understanding of the article.

Responses should be written in an argumentative response of at least 5 paragraphs in length, be grammatically correct, and include proper citations and a bibliography. 

Background knowledge

I will ask students if they know what a pact is? They will think pair share with their shoulder partner and come up with ideas or times they have seen or came up with a pact. They will share out loud.

I will then give them the appropriate definition and introduce the topic.

KWL Chart:

We will proceed by working on an KWL (know, want to know, learned) chart. I will ask students if they have heard of the pact of Umar and write it down on their chart. Then, together we will come up with questions that we want to know.

Reading:

We will read a grade level text on the Pact of Umar. (this might mean I have to create a student friendly version if I can't find any). I will remind students that as we are reading we have to think about the questions we asked and highlight the answers on the text as we read. When we finish we will go back to the KWL chart and fill out the learned section of it. 

Writing (independent work):

For the independent work, students will write a narrative of a time they had to make a pact and compare it to the Pact of Umar. They will start off with a Venn Diagram to brainstorm their work. 

Then write a three paragraph essay.

Homework from Previous Night: Read and annotate Pact of Umar and be prepared to discuss its contents in class tomorrow

Power Up (Do First): Discuss with your table group:

1. What is a pact? 
2. What is the purpose of a pact? 
3. Can you think of an example of a pact you might make?

Come back together as a whole class and discuss answers, then have students fill in the definition of Pact on their guided notes handout. 

Pact - A formal agreement between individuals or groups

Activity:

1. Compare and Contrast Activity:
   1. Discuss the Pact of Umar (students will have read and annotated it the night before for homework) using the guiding questions.
   2. Next, read and annotate the Reuters article Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso Sign Sahel Security Pact as a class. 
   3. Students will work in groups to compare and contrast these two pacts (one from the medieval era and one from modern times) using the comparison chart. 
      1. WHO is the pact between?
      2. WHY is the pact necessary?
      3. WHAT does the pact say each group will do?
      4. WHAT is the consequence if the pact is broken?
2. Open-Note Check for Understanding:
   1. Using the notes from your comparison chart, answer the following question in 4-6 complete sentences:
      1. Are the Pact of Umar (medieval period) and the Alliance of Sahel States (modern period) more alike or more different? Use evidence from both documents to support your answer. 

Begin the lesson by asking students to define the words “treaty” and “pact”? First, students will write their answers independently and then share with their tablemates.  Each table will write their definition of both words on a post-it and when finished post-its will be placed on the front board.

Collectively, write one definition for each word.  Ask students if there is a similarity between them.

What do students know about the Treaty of Versailles?

Independently students will respond to the question on a padlet.  Review the answers and ask students in table groups to find similarities and group them together.

Show students the following YouTube video (The Treaty of Versailles, What Did the Big Three Want? 1/2) explaining the key concepts of the Treaty.

Review the areas of Alsace and Lorraine on the map of France in the classroom.  Discuss the losses France suffered from WWI.  Ask students to consider why France wanted the most harsh punishments placed on Germany.  Students will first answer individually and then share with tablemates.  Finally, each table group will share their answers with the class.

Review class definition of a “pact.”  Discuss how the Treaty of Versailles was a pact between nations. First ask students how countries were impacted by the Treaty of Versailles.  Then, ask how individual people were impacted by it.

Introduce the Pact of Umar.  In groups, students will read the article: The Pact of Umar Regulating the Status of Non-Muslims Under Muslim Rule.  As a table, students will write five key concepts in their own words.

Tables will report out their five key concepts while I add them to a google doc displayed on the screen.  

I will show another YouTube video briefly explaining the Pact called “9th Century Pact of Umar.” 

After watching the video, the class will discuss ways in which the Treaty and the Pact are similar and different.  

Students will be asked to create a "sketchnotes" document that compares and contrasts the Treaty of Versailles and the Pact of Umar.

Bring your response to class on . Students will be paired to share their ideas and then report out to the class so we can all learn from each other and move the conversation forward.

• Brainstorm as a class:  What are some things that people believe in strongly.  (No ideas are wrong.  They don’t have to necessarily pertain to you.)
• Each student independently chooses one of the ideas we brainstormed or another idea people have strong beliefs about. (They should check with me if it is not already written on the whiteboard.)
• Give students the following scenario:
  1. People live in a town where everyone believes the same way. Other people take over the town, and they don’t share those beliefs.  The people of the town don’t want to change their beliefs.  What are some general rules the town might make to ensure that they are able to maintain their beliefs and still get along with the newcomers?
• Once students have written rules independently, I will have them share out at their tables. Each table will share their list of rules.
• Everyone else in the class will be listening, and they will cross off rules they have that are the same. If any of the rules are unclear, I will ask for clarification or for the purpose of the rule.  I will only have students share if they have a different idea.
• I will record the rules they’ve generated on a Google Doc.
• After this activity, students will read, the beginning of “The Pact of Umar: Regulating the Status of Non-Muslims Under Muslim Rule.”  (website shared from “The Jewish Virtual Library.”)
• I’ll ask students to consider the activity they just engaged in and how this scenario might differ from what they just brainstormed based on the context.
• Then, students will make a t-chart including similarities and differences between the rules generated by the class and the rules presented in the Pact.
• For rules that are different, I will ask students to consider why that might be the case based on the context. Students should record ideas for why each of these rules exists.
• Then, because students are studying the Bill of Rights in seventh grade social studies, students will work as a group to create a visual or graphic to display the differences and similarities between the two documents.  Even though the context is different, I will encourage them to think about the overall function of each rule.
• Finally, the students will write a metaphor to describe the similarities OR differences between the Pact and the Bill of Rights. The metaphor should include at least two reasons for the comparison.