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The Aztecs
April 10, 2007

Mr. Burke began the presentation by telling us that since sixth grade, he had not thought that Aztecs have been given the credit they deserve. That is what prompted his interest in giving this presentation. Then, he and Mr. Bowerman gave a very informative presentation on the history of the Aztecs.

Because of their use of maps and the discussion of the issues of settlement, this presentation helped advance the course objective that states that students will learn how to

  • Analyze the unique geographical history of the regions/time-period covered by the course as well as the role geography played in those regions.

I must confess, however, that I primarily processed the presentation through the lens of ancient world history; a class I am preparing to teach during winter semester. For example, when information was being presented on Acamapichitli, the first Aztec leader, I thought it might be interesting to have a module where we use first leaders as a way to gain entree into various ancient world cultures. In addition to Acamapichitli, we could look at the life of Octavian Augustus Caesar of Rome and Quin Shihuang of China.

The second Aztec leader was Huitzilihuitl whom Mr. Burk and Mr. Bowerman described as being even more effective than his father. When they mentioned this, I thought that maybe a better module for ancient world history would be to compare some effective leaders.

Mr. Bowerman throwing candy.At the conclusion of their presentation, Mr. Burk gave an oral quiz. Mr. Bowerman gave a chocolate candy bar to the audience member who gave the correct answer. It is amazing how the room perked up as candy bars were being tossed around. When the quiz was over, Mr. Bowerman gave candy bars to all of us who had not won one.

After the quiz, the presentation ended with an explanation as to how chocolate was important to the Aztec culture.

Mr. Burke and Mr. Bowerman

Presenters:
Mike Burke
Jeff Bowerman

Responses

June 24, 2007

As part of the work in ENG 200, Mr. Putnam was asked to locate a film clip relevant to another student's project.

Screen capture of video.Ancient Warriors would have been a great add to the project presented by Mike Burke and Jeff Bowerman. It has a vast amount of useful information in it. Also I think this clip would be a great teaching tool for editing. The way these scenes blend together and the order of events makes this history lesson interesting. The fades and shots are all edited together with perfection; it makes this clip feel more important because of how professional it is.

          --Jason Putnam

June 25, 2007
As part of the work in ENG 200, Mr. Smith was asked to locate a film clip relevant to another student's project.

Please note: I had not posted Mr. Putnam's comments before Mr. Smith made his response.

Screen capture of video.I think Ancient Warriors shows a good example of what the Aztecs were like, it could be used as a visual reference.

          --Jake Smith


Steven L. Berg, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English and History
Schoolcraft College, 18600 Haggerty
Livonia, MI 48152
734-462-4400
sberg@schoolcraft.edu
This page was last updated on 26 June 2007.