This assessment is a creative writing exercise where students write from the perspective of an ancient personality and engage with the debate / dilemma relating to one of the major turning points of history.
o An example of the type of question might be: “you are the Cartheginian general Hannibal in 216BC, should you march your army on Rome?”
• Students engage with ancient texts as wells as modern scholarly debates on this issue.
• As it is written in 1st person perspective (eg as a speech, letter or journal entry) the students have to understand the topic but then write it in the appropriate tense and context.
• The format and genre of this activity
o Ensures that students cannot plagiarise.
o Makes them think critically about the topic and the sources.
o Allows them to engage with the debates and debunk theories.
o Makes the assignment a little bit different from those in other units.
o Students realise that they cannot just do this at the last minute – engages them in research.
o Makes research and assignment writing less scary.