Aztecs-Student Page

A WebQuest for Language Arts and Social Studies

Introduction

Who is responsible for the collapse of the Aztec Empire?

You have just been transported back in time to a court room in the year A.D. 1521. The Aztec Empire has recently fallen to Hernán Cortés, the famous Spanish Conquistador. Tlatoani Montezuma ruled the Aztec Empire, which was made of several smaller tribes, including his arch enemies the Tlaxcalan Indians. Your mission is to defend a particular defendant in the trial and find out who is responsible for the collapse of the Aztec Empire.

The Task

You have been selected to defend one of the many people indicted in this trial. You will be asked to argue a particular position (guilty or not guilty) for your client by preparing a legal brief. The acquittal (a not quilty verdict) or the conviction (a guilty verdict) of your client depends on the quality of your legal brief and how well you are able to persuade the jury to believe your point-of-view.

You will be required to gather facts and evidence to present at your clients trial, which means you will be linking to other sites on the internet to gather this information. The more evidence you find and the stronger your argument is will determine the fate of your client. Good Luck!

The Process

La Malinche

Hernán Cortéz

King Charles V

Montezuma

1. The first thing you must do is familiarize yourself with the history surrounding the conquest of the Aztecs. To accomplish this you must read Background Information.

We suggest you visit at least two other web-sites listed below to gather more evidence to support your future plea. Click on links below:

2. Next, your teacher will appoint you a defendant for the trial. Once you know which of the accused you are to defend, click on the picture of your defendant to gather biographical information.

3. Now you must review the accusations made against your client. Click on Indictments to view all the charges against all of the defendants. Pay special attention to your client's charges, remember your mission is to argue their case in court.

4. Next, you need to decide on the position (guilty or not guilty) your client will take. To decide on a stance you must review the evidence and weigh the charges against your client before entering a plea. Is he/she guilty or not guilty? To figure this out complete the Evidence Chart and then make a decision. It is a good idea to visit some of the links listed above to gather more evidence to support your plea. Think about the following questions while making your decision.

If your client is not guilty, how will you prove it?
If your client is guilty, to what extent are they guilty? Did your client act alone so it is all their fault? Or did your client have accomplices? If there were accomplices what were their involvement in the crime? Maybe your client doesn't have to take all the blame.

Rule: If you choose to plead guilty for your client then you must accuse at least one other defendant. You cannot claim sole responsibility.

5. You are now ready to begin writing your legal brief that will be presented at the trial. Follow the step-by-step procedures on the Legal Brief Sheet. Take a close look at the evaluation rubric below for Create a Legal Brief. Follow the rubric closely for an exemplary legal brief.

6. Now that your legal brief is complete you need to get ready for the trial. Take a close look at the evaluation rubric below for Presentation. Follow the rubic closely for an exemplary presentation.

7. You are now ready for the trial. Your teacher will explain the procedure. May the verdict be in your favor!

Evaluation

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4
Create a Legal Brief	Student's brief is a superficial account that is more descriptive than analytical or creative. There is a fragmented account of facts/ideas or glib generalizations. Student may be beginning to formulate a point-of-view and to convince an audience to recognize the validity of their position.	Student's brief reflects some in-depth and personalized point of view where there is supported theory, but has insufficient or inadequate evidence and argument. Student may be beginning to effectively convince an audience to recognize the validity of their position.	Student's brief demonstrates an atypical and revealing character's point-of-view. Student is able to make subtle connections that are well supported by argument and evidence and is able to somewhat convince an audience to recognize the validity of their position.	Student's brief demonstrates a thorough, elegant, and inventive account that is fully supported, verified, and justified. Student has a clear understanding of a particular character's point-of-view, and is able to effectively convince an audience to recognize the validity of their position.
Presentation	Presentation can only be performed through coaching. Student is unable to organized presentation thoroghly. Student is unable to capture audience through eye contact or personal voice. Visuals are non-existentant and/or of varying quality.	Presentation is thorough and student uses a limited repetoire of routines. There is limited creativity, organization and coherency. Student is unable to capture audience through eye contact or personal voice. Includes some visuals of varying quality.	Presentation is competent, organized and coherent. Student is able to capture audience majority of the time through eye contact and personal voice. Includes some outstanding visuals.	Presentation is fluent, logical, organized, creative and coherent. Student is able to capture audience through eye contact and personal voice. Includes outstanding visuals.

Organization of Brief	Brief may not contain all four paragraphs: summary, client's plea, list of evidence, or closing comments. Information may be exhibited in inappropriate parargraphs. Student has a beginning understanding of the logical order of a brief.	Brief may not contain all four paragraphs: summary, client's plea, list of evidence, or closing comments. Information may be exhibited in inappropriate parargraphs. Student has a developing understanding of the logical order of a brief.	Brief contains all four paragraphs: summary, client's plea, list of evidence, and closing comments. Information may be exhibited in inappropriate parargraphs. Student has an accomplished understanding of the logical order of a brief.	Brief contains all four paragraphs: summary, client's plea, list of evidence, and closing comments. Student has an exemplary understanding of the importance of the logical order of a brief.
Conventions of Brief	Demonstrates virtually no understanding of sentence structure or grammar. Very few words spelled correctly often unintelligible.	Sentences are often choppy, incomplete and/or run-ons. Regular/frequent grammatical and spelling errors that indicate a struggle with both.	Uses somewhat varied sentence structures. May have some grammatical or spelling errors, but demonstrates a sound command of both.	Sentences are well built with consistently strong and varied structure. Demonstrates an outstanding command of grammar and spelling with virtually no errors.

You will be evaluated based on your understanding of the character you defend.
You will also be evaluated on how well you are able to organized your brief.
You will also be evaluated on how well you are able to explain your client's point-of-view in your brief.
You will also be evaluated based on your presentation in court. Can you effectively convince the jury your client is innocent?

Conclusion

The last part of your mission is to present your client's plea in a mock trial in your classroom. A mock court is a make-believe court, but can give you a very real experience of what it might have been like if this trial was to have really taken place. We hope this lesson has made you think about the fall of the Aztec Empire and the people who may have contributed to it's fall.

Credits & References

Many of the resources we used were from the internet. Please visit each link for further information and credit.

The beautiful images came from : Indigenous Mexican Images

Books used were: Rethinking Columbus- The Next 500 Years by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson; The Teacher Curriculum Institute (TCI)