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Cultural Perspectives |
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| Ancient Olympics |
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About the Site
This site is a part of Tufts University's Perseus Project, a digital library providing resources about the ancient world. The site provides students with links to stories about individual Olympic athletes.
Lesson Objectives
Suggested Additional Activities
Have students think about the differences between the ancient Olympics and the games held today. Were the ancient athletes amateurs or professionals? How does the purpose of today’s Olympics differ from that of the ancient games? Have students develop their own version of the Olympics: what sports would they include? Why?
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About the Site
Events of an Olympiad provides a day-by-day description of a typical Olympiad in the 4th century B.C. The page is a part of the presentation, Olympics Through Time, and is maintained by a large site that offers information relating to the foundation of the Hellenic World. Details about the origin of the Games, the events, and the ceremonies should be of interest to students and set the stage for class discussion.
What to Do
Have students discuss the competitions, the ceremonies, and the rules of the ancient Olympics. You may wish to have students click Introduction of Games to see when different events were added to the competition.
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Find Out More |
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| Modern Olympics |
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About the Site
This site contains information about Olympic sports. It is the official site for the United states Olympic Commitee.
Lesson Objectives
Suggested Additional Activities
Have students prepare a short presentation on the sport they have researched. If time permits, plan an Olympic afternoon – organize the students into teams, play games and hand out ‘medals.’
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About the Site
This special sections of the Web site of the Washington Post highlights the past 70 years of the Winter Olympic games. The time line takes a little while to load, but it is the best place to begin navigating the site with students. The time line features highlights of the games from each year, vital statistics, and a picture of a prominent athlete from that year.
What to Do
Preview the site. You may want to select a year for students to explore. After students have examined one year, ask questions such as:
- Where were the Olympics held that year?
- How many athletes competed?
- Who were the outstanding athletes?
Ask students why there may have been no games held in 1940 or 1944. Have them click 1948 to find out why.
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Leveled Books |
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| Overcoming Challenges |
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About the Site
Nelson Mandela began work on his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom in prison in 1974. Open Book Systems has put together a page with excerpts and pictures from Mandela's book. Although everything on the front page links to the proper section, once inside the actual excerpt many of the links are inactive, and some take you to an outside site without warning. Instruct students to read the excerpts without following any links inside of the article.
What to Do
Ask the students if they know what apartheid means. Explain to students what it means to be a political prisoner. Have students read about Nelson Mandela's childhood and the last three paragraphs under It was during those long and lonely years. The excerpts are long, so you may want to preview the site to find the sections you would like students to read. You may want to ask students what they think Nelson Mandela means when he says "the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed"?
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About the Site
The information about Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan is from the Web site of the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). You will find biographical information about Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan in the Fact Sheets and plenty of additional information under The Helen Keller Archival Collection. The Helen Keller Photograph Collection provides extensive photographs of Helen Keller, Anne Sullivan, and other important people in Helen's life.
What to Do
Ask students to name some things a person might not do because of being blind. What if the person were deaf, too? If necessary, help the class navigate to and read the specified sections about Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Mansfield Sullivan Macy. A shorter page on Helen Keller, complete with pictures, can be found at http://www.bham.net/keller/story.html.
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