I think I have taught Petra different every single year. It doesn’t fit particularly well in the Content Area it was placed by College Board (Central and West Asia) but it also sits uncomfortably with Ancient Rome. Some years I have taught it with the Great Altar of Zeus and Athena from Pergamon, under the theme “The Greco-Roman World Expands” and other times I’ve had students complete an FFCC chart comparing it to another ancient world necropolis. Both were fine, but neither felt right to me. This year, I am tired and I don’t love my other plans, so I did a documentary & questions. I showed students the PBS NOVA film Petra: Lost City of Stone.
I have owned a DVD set with the Roman Colosseum, Petra, and Hagia Sophia for over a decade and, funny enough, I have never shown any of the episodes. Quite frankly, I rarely feel one piece in the 250 deserves that long in my classroom. The film is 53 minutes long, but I only have 40 minutes on a Wednesday so I just made sure I could get through the key information in the first 40 minutes. I can’t promise that this is a revolutionary lesson, and perhaps you have a better way to cover this image but, like I said, I’m tired and I had no better option.
Note: once a unit I excuse students from submitting separate notes on a piece in the 250 (I allow them to choose between digital notes and the classic notecards). Because I am having them complete questions while watching the film, this is the piece they are excused from in my Classical World Unit.
JMF
