UNIT PLAN: FEUDAL CONSEQUENCES
DESCRIPTION: For most of the world, the middle ages were a time of decline and constant warring. Historians, however, point to this time period as one of chivalry, crusades, and consequences. To teach these ideas, this unit begins by having students prepare a 15 minute presentation on a topic that had positive and negative consequences during medieval times. These presentations will coincide with 15 to 20 minute lectures that give students the historical background necessary to understand the often chaotic time known as the middle ages. After roughly two weeks of lecture and presentations, students will then help create questions for a board game that will also serve as their unit test. This game will be created by students who create a card for their specific event, person, or social structure from the middle ages. Each card will have a true/false question, multiple choice question, and short answer question. The second period class will use the cards created by third period and the third period will use the cards created by second period. The goal is for students to score 200 points in order to receive an A on the final test.
DATES: February 12th-February 23th, 2007
OBJECTIVES: The following state standards will be met in this unit.
STATE STANDARDS:
CONCEPT 1: RESEARCH SKILLS FOR HISTORY
PO 4. Construct graphs, tables, timelines, charts, and narrative to interpret historical data.
PO 5. Evaluate primary and secondary sources for:
a. authors' main points
b. purpose and perspective
c. facts vs. opinions
d. different points of view on the same historical event
e. credibility and validity
PO 6. Apply the skills of historical analysis to current, social, political, geographic, and economic issues facing the world.
CONCEPT 3: EARLY CIVILIZATIONS
PO 1. Contrast the fall of Rome with the development of the Byzantine and Arab Empires (e.g., religion, culture, language, governmental structure)
PO 2. Compare feudalism in Europe with its connection with religious and cultural institutions.
PO 4. Describe the interaction of European and Asian civilizations from the 12th to the 16th centuries:
- Crusades
- Commerce and the Silk Road
- Impact on culture
- Plague
LESSON # 1: Introduction to Unit and Pre-Test
Date: Monday (February 12, 2007)
Bell Work: Students will listen to a NPR commentary on the destruction and resurrection of Irbil in Iraq. Using a Think/Pair/Share structure, students will listen to the commentary and then share one idea that they found interesting in the story. Students will right down one thing they learned and receive one point added to their bell work.
Objective: Students will be able to:
Identify one event, structure, or person from the Middle Ages.
Examine secondary documents to find key ideas about one event, structure, or person from the Middle Ages.Procedure: Students will be grouped with a pre-assigned partner and decide what topic they want to create a 15 minute presentation for. After deciding on their topic, they will then proceed to examine secondary literature, movies and plays about their topic. This literature will be provided in three different stations.
Evaluation: Students will present their topic to the class during their designated topic date. See "Middle Ages Pair Assignment"
LESSON # 2: Library
Date: Tuesday (February 13, 2007)
Bell Work: Introduce new quote for their weekly journal. "An earthly kingdom cannot exist without inequality of persons. Some must be free, some serfs, some rulers, some subjects." Martin Luther. Students will begin by using a Think/Pair/Share structure and explain to the person to their left what they think this quote means. Following this exercise, teacher will lead a brief discussion about the quote and who Martin Luther is and why he might have said this. Finally, students will have 5 minutes in class to begin their journal entry.Objective: Students will be able to:
Find specific information on a topic related to the Middle Ages.Procedure: Students will go to the library and use the internet to find research on their topic.
Evaluation: Students will present their topic to the class during their designated topic date. See "Middle Ages Pair Assignment"
LESSON # 3: Chess, Feudalism, and Charlemagne
Group Presentation: Knighthood/Chivalry
Date: Thursday (February 15, 2007)
Bell Work: Continue journal entry.
Objective: Students will be able to:
Identify the different pieces of a chess board and how they relate to the structure of Feudalism.
Background: The pawns on the chess board represent serfs, or laborers. There are more of them than any other piece on the board, and often they are sacrificed to save the more valuable pieces. In medieval times, serfs were considered no more than property of landowners, or chattel. Life was brutally hard for serfs during this era of history. They worked hard and died young. They were often left unprotected while wars raged around them. They could be traded, used as a diversion, or even sacrificed to allow the landowners to escape harm. The castle piece on a chess board is the home, or the refuge, just as it was a home in medieval times. In chess, each side has two castles, or rooks, as they are sometimes called. The knight on a chess board represents the professional soldier of medieval times whose job it was to protect persons of rank, and there are two of them per each side in a game of chess. Knights in a game of chess are more important than pawns, but less important than bishops, kings, or queens. Their purpose in the game of chess is to protect the more important pieces, and they can be sacrificed to save those pieces just as pawns can. There is a bishop in the game of chess, who represents the church. The church was a rich and mighty force in medieval times, and religion played a large part in every person’s life. It is no wonder that a figure that represented the concept of religion found its way into the game. A bishop was the name for a priest in the Catholic church who had risen through the ranks to a more powerful position. In the game of chess, there are two bishops for each side. The queen is the only piece on the board during a chess game that represents a woman, and she is the most powerful piece of the game. In the game of chess, there is only one queen for each side. Many people do not realize that queens in medieval times often held a powerful, yet precarious, position. The king was often guided by her advice, and in many cases the queen played games of intrigue at court. But kings could set wives aside or even imprison them in nunneries with the approval of the church (and without the queen’s approval), and many women schemed merely to hold her place at court. The machinations of queens working either for or against their kings are well noted in history throughout medieval times, and often she held more power than the king did. The king is the tallest piece on the board, and is as well defended on the chessboard as in medieval life. In medieval times, the surrender of the king would mean the loss of the kingdom to invading armies and that could mean change for the worse. It was to everyone’s advantage, from the lowest serf to the highest-ranking official, to keep the king safe from harm. The king is the most important, but not the most powerful piece in chess. If you do not protect your king, you lose the game.
Procedure: Begin class with a discussion on Feudalism using the Feudalism/Manorlism graphic organizer. Read the different ways people lived according to the Feudal system (princess, daughter of a lord, a peasant girl and peasant man). After completing the graphic organizer, teacher will compare feudalism with the game of chess, identifying each player, why they are situated where they are on a chess board, and what powers they have. Students will complete the graphic organizer that corresponds to this discussion.Evaluation: Divide the class into three groups and have them position pieces on a chess board and then play a game of chess, if time permits.
LESSON # 4: Charlemagne and the Vikings
Date: Friday (February 16, 2007)
Bell Work: Five minutes of journal work.Background: Charlemagne was a Frank King who killed thousands of Saxon pagans who refused to believe in Christianity. Although he united much of Europe and was named emperor by the Pope, his legacy is a conflicted one.
Objective: Students will be able to:
Explain who Charlemagne was and how he developed a relationship between the church and his empire.
Identify where the Vikings lived and explored.
Understand that the Battle of Hastings was the last time England was occupied by a foreign nation and how it lead to the conflict between England and France in later years.
Procedure: After journal work, students will watch a film about Charlemagne that reenacts his life and legacy. Following the movie, students will complete a one-page postcard about the adventures of Charlemagne. Each pair of students will present their work to the class. Following the presentations, the teacher will lead a discussion based on the idea that the “Ends justify the means.” If there is time still available after this exercise, the Viking group or groups will present their information. This information will be followed up with a brief lecture on the Vikings as they take notes in a timeline format (see transparency) and the importance of the Battle at Hastings.Evaluation: Students will create a one-page postcard that explains some aspect of the Charlemagne legacy.
LESSON # 5: The Magna Carta and the Roman Catholic Church
Group Presentation: The Prophet Muhammad
Date: Tuesday (February 20, 2007)
Bell Work: Students will listen to a NPR article on the difference between the Shia and Suni sects of Islam and their relationship to the Prophet Mohammad. This exercise will lay same groundwork for our examination of the Prophet Mohammad and the student presentation later in the lesson. Again, students will answer some questions related to the NPR program and then turn this in for 1 point that will be added to their journal entry.
Background: The Magna Carta was one of the first documents created that limited the powers of the king, and extended rights to freemen. Today this document is referenced when a new group of people gain new rights. These are the two main ideas that will be emphasized during the lesson. In addition to understanding the importance of the Magna Carta and its legacy, students will also learn about the power and influence of the Roman Catholic Church during this time period. Specifically, they will understand that the Roman Catholic Church emphasized the importance of sacraments and what happens when someone was excommunicated. Objective: Students will be able to:
Explain that the Magna Carta limited the power of the King.
Relate the Magna Carta to today and how it is often referenced when new groups obtain rights.
Define excommunication and when the Roman Catholic Church used it.
Understand why the ideas of the Roman Catholic Church appealed to the peasants.Procedure: Divide the class into three groups of 9 or 10 people. Each group will have a different task that relates somehow to the Magna Carta. Group 1 will reenact a fictional play about Robin Hood and the signing of the Magna Carta (see worksheet). Group 2 will complete the bubble boxes in a cartoon about the Magna Carta after they read through an explanation of this document and the document itself. Group 3 will examine primary documents related to the Roman Catholic Church. They will then answer questions related to these documents and create their own document from the point of view of a member of the church.
Evaluation:
Students will present their group work to the class on Friday following their bell work.
LESSON # 7: The Crusades
Group Presentation: The CrusadesDate: Wednesday (February 21, 2007)
Bell Work: Students will have 10 minutes to work on their journal entry for the week. This week’s quote is “If God did not exist it would be necessary to invent him.” Francois-Marie Antwonet Again, students will discuss this quote through a Think, Pair, Share exercise and a classroom discussion of the quote.Objective: Students will be able to:
Identify that the Crusades were instigated by Pope Urban II.
Understand that the term Crusade has a negative connotation in the Muslim world.
Explain the reasons why people joined the Crusades.
Apply their knowledge of the Crusades to the current conflict in Iraq.
Procedure: At the beginning of class the teacher will lead a discussion about the term Crusade and relate it to the term Jihad. Using the Socratic Method, the teacher will guide the students in a discussion about what people in the Muslim world might have thought after the President used the term crusade following 9-11. Students will then watch a movie about the crusades and complete a worksheet that they will turn in for a grade.
Evaluation: Students will complete a worksheet about the movie on the Crusades and write a short paragraph about its significance in today’s world.
LESSON # 8: Review of the Mayan world and the Crusades (Diversion Exercise for AIMS)
Group Presentations: Joan of Arc
Date: Thursday (February 22, 2007)
Bell Work: Students will have 5 minutes at the beginning of class to write in their journal on the topic for the week.Objective: Students will be able to:
Understand that the Mayan culture continues to exist today.Procedure: Using the Socratic method, the teacher will discuss with the students what they learned about the Mayan world in the last unit. Some key themes to touch on include: Mayan world was made up of city-states, Mayan literature was destroyed by the Spanish, the Mayan creation story is told in the Popol Vuh, the Mayan’s were inventive people who created a very accurate calendar and were the first civilization in the America’s to use the 0. Following this review, the teacher will assess student understanding pertaining to the Guatemalan civil war, where Guatemala is on a map, what it means to be a refugee, and how it feels to be forced to leave your home country. Following this discussion, students will listen to a lecture presented by Marian Vasquez and her life as an indigenous woman in Guatemala.Evaluation: Each student must ask one question of the guest speaker following her lecture.
LESSON # 9: The Magna Carta and the Catholic Church
Date: Friday (February 23, 2007)
Bell Work: Students will have 5 minutes for the journal entry for the week.
Objective: See Lesson 5
Procedure: Following bell work, the teacher will give a lecture a brief lecture on the Magna Carta. Key themes will be discussed such as how King John continuously raised taxes, who his enemies were, and why he was forced to sign the Magna Carta. Following the lecture, students will have 10 minutes to finish their group work from Tuesday. Each group will then present their work to the class. The group that created a “primary document” will go first, followed by the group that completed a cartoon about the Magna Carta, and ending with the group play about King John, Robin Hood, and the Magna Carta. Following the presentations, the teacher will reiterate that the Magna Carta was the first document that established rights for “freemen.”
Evaluation: Students will be evaluated on their presentation of their group work.
LESSON # 10: Women in Medieval Times and the 100 Years War
Group Presentations: Women in Islam
Date: Monday (February 26, 2007)
Bell Work: Students will listen to a NPR program about Joan of Arc and how her ashes hold secrets about her life and death. Like previous bell work, this one will begin with a Think, Pair, Share exercise and end with students writing down one thing they learned from the program. Following the bell work, students will complete a pre-assessment quiz on Joan of Arc, which will then be used in conjunction with the lecture notes for this subject.
Objective: Students will be able to:
Identify who fought in the Hundred Years War and why this conflict is related to feudalism.
Understand why Joan of Arc felt a need to fight for her country and define the term nationalism.
Identify the reasons Joan of Arc was killed for heresy.
Explain what war Joan of Arc fought in.
Background: Joan of Arc, also called the Maid of Orleans, was a patron saint of France and a national heroine who led the resistance to the English invasion of France in the Hundred Years War. Her childhood was spent attending her father's herds in the fields and learning religion and housekeeping skills from her mother. When Joan was about 12 years old, she began hearing "voices" of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret believing them to have been sent by God. These voices told her that it was her divine mission to free her country from the English and help the dauphin gain the French throne. They told her to cut her hair, dress in man's uniform and to pick up the arms. By 1429 the English with the help of their Burgundian allies occupied Paris and all of France north of the Loire. The resistance was minimal due to lack of leadership and a sense of hopelessness. Henry VI of England was claiming the French throne. Joan convinced the captain of the dauphin's forces, and then the dauphin himself of her calling. After passing an examination by a board of theologians, she was given troops to command and the rank of captain. At the battle of Orleans in May 1429, Joan led the troops to a miraculous victory over the English. She continued fighting the enemy in other locations along the Loire. Fear of troops under her leadership was so formidable that when she approached Lord Talbot's army at Patay, most of the English troops and Commander Sir John Fastolfe fled the battlefield. Fastolfe was later stripped of his Order of the Garter for this act of cowardice. Although Lord Talbot stood his ground, he lost the battle and was captured along with a hundred English noblemen and lost 1800 of his soldiers. Charles VII was crowned king of France on July 17, 1429 in Reims Cathedral. At the coronation, Joan was given a place of honor next to the king. Later, she was ennobled for her services to the country. In 1430 she was captured by the Burgundians while defending Compiegne near Paris and was sold to the English. The English, in turn, handed her over to the ecclesiastical court at Rouen led by Pierre Cauchon, a pro-English Bishop of Beauvais, to be tried for witchcraft and heresy. Much was made of her insistence on wearing male clothing. She was told that for a woman to wear men's clothing was a crime against God. Her determination to continue wearing it (because her voices hadn't yet told her to change, as well as for protection from sexual abuse by her jailors) was seen as defiance and finally sealed her fate. Joan was convicted after a fourteen-month interrogation and on May 30, 1431 she was burned at the stake in the Rouen marketplace. She was nineteen years old. Charles VII made no attempt to come to her rescue. In 1456 a second trial was held and she was pronounced innocent of the charges against her. She was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.
Procedure: Following the NPR article on Joan of Arc, distribute the pre-test on Joan of arc to the class. After student's take this quiz, they will then take some notes on the Hundred Years War and Joan of Arc (see notes). These notes will be augmented with maps and images from a PowerPoint presentation. Before proceeding to the portion of the lesson on Joan of Arc, the students will watch the movie trailer from the Messenger. This trailer will engage student's interest in Joan of Arc as they then proceed to take notes on her life and legacy. Following the notes on Joan of Arc, students will then watch a short piece from the documentary channel about her life.
Evaluation: For homework, students will correct their quiz and turn it in for a grade.
LESSON # 11: Crossword Puzzle Exercise
Date: Tuesday (February 27, 2007)
Bell Work: Students will be introduced to the new quote for the week. This week's quote is by Joan of Arc. She said, "One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying.”
Objective: Students will be able to:
Identify and complete ideas concerning the middle ages.Procedure: Distribute the crossword puzzle on the middle ages. Dividing students into pairs, have them complete the puzzle using research sources in class and in their lecture notes.
Evaluation: Students will be able to identify 100 different ideas about the middle ages. |
