Mosaic projects

The mosaic is a very special historical artifact of the Byzantine
Empire and soon the world. The legacy was a powerful and simple one
so that us kids as a class can make one also. The student mosaics were made out of everyday materials. The class brought in many examples like some made of stones, tile, glass, paper, felt, and marble. In the Byzantine time they used mosaics for religious purposes. Now mosaics are used for home decorations, parties, pools, and hallways. They will continue to be used this way for 1000 years or more thanks to the very simple and powerful legacy that Emperor Justinian put for our world today.
-David
The Byzantine Empire created an extraordinary art style that has remained popular throughout the generations and still is today. This art form, called a mosaic, is a picture made by other smaller pieces of things, usually glass or quartz. In this project, we were to create a mosaic of anything we wanted. The purpose of creating our own mosaic was to better understand and appreciate the art form. We thought it was very fun and the finished products looked really cool. Although, it definitely requires a lot of patience to create the pieces, getting each piece to a respectable size, then fitting them all together into the desired shape or design.
Mosaics are very beautiful works of art, I recently saw some at a church I visited. Also looking at some really famous ones like in the Hagia Sophia, makes me really think about how much time, effort, and hard work it must have taken to produce such a magnificent and lasting impression that this kind of art has.
-Samantha

It has been three years now that Mr. Shulman has been presenting mosaics as part of our understanding of the Byzantine Empire. It is a well known fact that mosaics were an important part of Byzantine culture. Although the mosaics did not originate with the Byzantine Empire, we have learned that the Byzantines created great art and architecture. We had a marvelous turnout of mosaics this year. Mr. Shulman did us the honor of demonstrating his craft with mosaics and really got the seventh graders motivated to go above and beyond their aesthetic skills. Thank you Mr. Shulman for giving us the inspiration to keep the legacy alive.

Thematic Maps

Here are the finished products for the thematic maps. Everyone did a wonderful job with their finished products. Different cultures around the Mediterranean influenced one another through trade, travel, and wars.
These thematic maps show how exchanges made when two cultures meet. Students created a thematic map showing the cultural interaction between Persia, Rome, China, and India. Students drew symbols to represent goods, inventions, and ideas exchanged lines that show important routes arrows to show the direction of movement.

The mystery of Written and Non written sources

The lesson on Primary, secondary, and non written sources taught us how sources can be applied to a historical event that has happened in the past. We can look at any event and give our own opinion about what may and may not have happened, but in the case of an event that happens, we turn to written and non written sources to give facts and details about an event that occurred in the past. Some people may ask why we place so much importance of primary and secondary sources.
People can barely remember what happens one week ago, so how would we remember what happened a long time ago. All these sources can describe and specify an event that could have happened a while ago or recently. Without the discovery of these resources, documenting an actual event would be hard to do, and we can make a big mess of history with any bias we may hold. Written and non-written sources could be like playing the telephone game. When playing telephone, one person whispers something in a friend's ear that they have to repeat to another friend, and so on. The message gets passes along correctly with the first few people, but the chance of someone getting it wrong increases with the number of people who repeat a message. Going back to primary sources is like going back to the first person in the telephone game because you are more like to get a more accurate source from the person who witnessed the event. Secondary sources are great to get a different perspective of the same event, but if we are not careful, we can pick up some exaggerated or biased information. Non written sources can also prove whether a point is true or not, based on the amount of information the source can give.

All in all, written and non written sources come in handy when you have something in history you want to document or save for later. We can always rely on these pieces of information to give us a glimpse into history. As the saying goes, "History is a cyclic poem written by Time upon the memories of man." History tells us what happens in the past, and if we use it wisely, it will help us make a better future.

-By Stephanie

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year