6th Grade World Cultures Activity (African Kingdoms Unit)

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.