Alison Jasonides, Leo Gontzes, Middle School Faculty

"Of all the characteristics of civilization, writing is perhaps the most significant. In Social Studies, 6th graders learn to describe what makes a civilization, and are guided to acknowledge how writing, specifically, structures this concept. As we discuss the first ancient civilization, Mesopotamia, students explore humanity's oldest writing system, cuneiform. They do this academically as well as tactilely and through their senses. Using the same resource Sumerians had available to create their tablets, students practice forming wet clay into shapes and sizes that will suit the purpose of their written message. They choose a message to etch in the clay using a stylus, and then practice forming these unique and unfamiliar wedge-shaped characters of the cuneiform "alphabet." Like our own modern structure, the Sumerian class system had upper, middle and lower classes, and the 6th graders reflected on their roles as "middle class" scribes, working to further the development of government and trade in their society. The pride and excitement our students experienced by having their own words deciphered from this ancient text, as well as creating something by hand that recalls a milestone in human development was an engaging lesson for all of us."