Students investigate how Roman laws shaped daily life and use that understanding to design a fair, practical set of rules for their own community. Through primary-source comparisons, collaborative discussion, peer critique, and revision, they examine how written laws reflect values, maintain order, and affect people differently. The work builds historical understanding of Roman law and government while strengthening speaking, listening, problem-solving, and shared decision-making. The project culminates in a public poster gallery and presentation where students explain the Roman ideas behind their rules and defend how their choices support a respectful, workable community.

Students will analyze short excerpts from the Roman Twelve Tables and Justinian Code to explain how Roman law shaped daily life, citizenship, and community order, and connect those ideas to the legacy of Roman law today. They will collaborate in discussions and design a group rule set that is clear, fair, and practical, using evidence from Roman sources and feedback from peers and a community mediator to revise their work. Students will present and defend their final poster gallery piece by explaining how each rule supports shared responsibility, respectful problem-solving, and a healthy community. They will also reflect on how listening, compromise, and self-monitoring helped them contribute to the group and improve their thinking.

Students will create annotated draft rule lists, comparison notes from short excerpts of the Twelve Tables and Justinian Code, and feedback sticky notes from the gallery walk and peer critique rounds. In teams, they will produce a final poster gallery piece that presents a clear set of community or classroom rules, explains which Roman law ideas influenced each rule, and shows how the rules support fairness, order, and daily life. Students will also prepare short oral presentations and question-and-answer responses for the Roman Rules Expo with classmates, families, and a community mediator or restorative practices specialist. Individual reflection notes on how collaboration, discussion, and revision shaped the final product will document learning across the week.

Begin with an Ancient to Today Walkthrough using short excerpts, images, and artifacts tied to the Roman Twelve Tables and Justinian Code placed around the room. In teams, students rotate through stations, discuss what each law suggests about daily life and order in Rome, and connect those ideas to rules they experience in classrooms, sports, and community spaces. End with a quick whole-class debrief around the questions, “What makes a rule fair?” and “How do rules help or harm a community?” then introduce the challenge of creating a clear, fair group rule set based on Roman legal ideas.

Host a Roman Rules Expo where student groups display their poster galleries and present their final rule sets to classmates, families, and a community mediator or restorative practices specialist. Each group gives a short explanation of which ideas from the Twelve Tables and Justinian Code shaped their rules, why their rules are fair and useful in daily life, and how peer feedback helped them revise. Audience members ask questions about fairness, community impact, and historical connections, and students respond using evidence from the Roman sources and their collaboration process. Include a simple feedback form or sticky-note station so visitors can leave comments celebrating clear communication, practical thinking, and respectful problem-solving.