Murder of Julius Caesar: INVESTIGATION

Among the events that occurred throughout the history of Ancient Rome, the assassination of Julius Caesar continues to stand out as both controversial and fascinating. As my students discovered and debated, there are many different theories for the reasoning behind the his murder by fellow senators the fateful day of March 15, 44 BC.  

This activity is NOT mine alone, it is a hybrid of two different activities that are FREE on the internet. I am sharing this as a resource to provide a further option for teachers and students to utilize in learning about the death of Julius Caesar.

I have combined the following accessible resources to make it more conducive to my classroom and students:

“Teach Like Magic” Cold Case: Rome: https://www.mrroughton.com/history-mystery-labs/cold-case-rome

I actually got the original idea to do this from the blog “To Engage Them All” as she did a similar adaptation of “Teach Like Magic’s” Boston Massacre case. I did that one in my American history class and students LOVED it. I then decided to adapt this one and the Disappearance of the Maya for my world history class.

“To Engage Them All” Blog: http://toengagethemall.blogspot.com/search?q=boston+massacre

Her Boston Massacre Files: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1v8mW2UpNVk22wHIYyemEe6T MfPXwhQVIXdtmOpyN0Q4/edit#slide=id.gcc7a552da_6_23

Through an investigation simulation, my students explored both primary and secondary sources that supported the different historical theories.

My FREE Investigation Packet.

If you liked this activity, check out my FREE Mayan Files Investigation HERE!

Roman Empire Autopsy

To analyze the fall of the Roman Empire, I have my students participate in an exploratory surgery and autopsy of their patient "Ancient Rome". This idea is NOT my own. For this activity I utilize two amazing resources, both available for purchase on TPT: 

Autopsy on Ancient Rome

Fall of Rome Stations

In my classroom, I merged elements and used worksheets from both of these resources to create my own rendition based on my student's needs. Below I have attached my adapted worksheets, which are available for free, however, I have NOT included the autopsy sheet or directions since those should be purchased from the above sources. If you would like to utilize this activity, please support the teacher's who created these amazing resources on TPT by clicking on the links above and purchasing these great products! 

My Additional Resources for the Roman Autopsy

In addition to the printed resources, I added boxes filled with cooked speghetti and red dye so that their "surgery" was hands-on and fun! I utilized our school's direction tools from the science classroom to "perform" our surgery. Providing students with gloves and a mask can add to the overall "hospital" environment (although, with COVID, the masks were already taken care of - ha!). 

Life as an Ancient Roman

COVID Friendly Option - Perform these outside! 

The daily lives of ancient Romans varied greatly depending on a person's level of status, citizenship, occupation, or gender. In order to explore the different aspects of Roman lives, students participated in a live-action character activity. 

In the year prior, my 6th graders participate in a historical Wax Museum where they choose a character, research and write biographical speeches, dress up, and perform these at the end of our year. This is a familiar project across elementary and middle school curriculums where students "freeze" and "come to life" when a person pushes a button or says a clue word. 

Taking from this idea, I have my 7th graders act out a "speed" wax museum where the biography speech is provided to them, the costumes are quickly created from a random costume box with sheets and scarves, and they "present" their character. Meanwhile, the other half of students are walking around, "waking" the characters up, and taking notes on what they are learning about life in ancient Rome.

If acting or time is an issue, these cards could also be used as task cards, set up around the classroom, and students could simply read them and follow the sheet. 

To access the Roman character cards and a student handout for learning, you can visit my TPT site.