The Middle Ages (Honors) – 1011

 

Vocabulary: anti-semitism; chivalry; communal; endemic; epidemic; fief; illuminated text; knight; lord; manor; monk; Papal; peasant; pogrom; serf; subsistence agriculture; vassal

 

9/20 – The Medieval Church

* Hand out “The Medieval Church” worksheet.  Have them work silently and alone. – 50 minutes

 

* Hand out “The Villager’s Way of Life” and the question packet.  It is due on Thursday September 23rd.  – 5 minutes

 

* Materials – “The Medieval Church” worksheet; “The Villager’s Way of Life” and questions packet.

 

 

9/21 – Intro the Middle Ages,

* Have my lame-o drawing of the manor up on the board.  Discuss what it all means and what it would have been like to live there.  Focus on self-sufficiency. – 20 minutes

 

* Graded Lecture: “Economics and Politics of the Middle Ages” Take time beforehand to discuss how to take notes.  Put the notes up and discuss afterwards. – 35 minutes

 

 

9/22 – Feudalism & Determinism

* Check out the green home books to every student.  Hand out the worksheet on “Qs for Feudalism, Manorialism, and the Church”, due on 9/27. – 10 minutes

 

* Draw the hierarchy of feudalism on the board (kings to serfs) and discuss the ideas of Lord, Vassal, Serf, and Fief.  Do the "who pays for a bridge" thing.  (Shows the loss of money and the failure to communicate orders over the system.)  – 15 minutes

 

* Do the layered and sub-divided map of an ideal feudal kingdom.  Discuss how land can have more than one "owner." – 10 minutes

 

* Brainstorm what things cause history to happen in particular ways.  Very quick speech on determinism.  Discuss all the things that might "determine" history (history is not an accident) (Get a brainstormed list of determinants.  Make sure to get the basic list: economic, ecological, gender, racial-ethnic, great man, religious, tradition, intellectual/cultural, political.) – remaining time

-Determine: to cause, affect, or control; fix or decide causally or to give direction or tendency to; push.

-Determinism: Something in history which determines (shapes) the flow of events.

 

* Materials – Green books; “Qs for Feudalism, Manorialism, and the Church”

 

 

9/23 – Villager’s Way of Life, From Manor to City, and a bit of the Plague

* Collect the “Villager’s Way of Life” homework.  Discuss.  - 15 minutes

 

* Lecture: “From Manor to City.” – 25 minutes

 

* Do a quick gloss of what the plague is and how it works. – remaining time

 

 

9/24 – Economic Recovery Sparks Change

* Hand out “Economic Recovery Sparks Change” worksheet.  Have them work silently and alone. – whole period

 

* Materials – “Economic Recovery Sparks Change” worksheet

 

 

9/27 –Women in the Middle Ages

* Collect the “Qs for Feudalism, Manorialism, and the Church” worksheet.

 

* Discuss the role of women and whether it is important to study.  What is important to study? – 10 minutes

 

* Watch Terry Jones’ Medieval Lives: The Damsel and do the worksheet. – 35 minutes

 

* Warn that there will be a unit test on Friday.  Explain what will be on it. – 5 minutes

 

* Materials – Terry Jones’ Medieval Lives: The Damsel and worksheet

 

 

9/28 – The Crusades and the Wider World

* Have the students readHand out “The Crusades and the Wider World” (pp.255-260) and take structured reading notes.  Explain what I’m looking for and how to do it. – whole period

 

 

9/29 – Art of Illuminated Texts - (35 min with early dismissal)

* Do the “Art of Illuminated Texts” slide show. – 30 minutes

 

* Assign their own illuminated text as extra credit due on Monday 9/21. – 5 minutes

 

* Materials –Slide show on illuminated texts

 

 

9/30 – Jews and the Plague

* Hand out the "Early Account of the Black Death."  Read and discuss. – 20 minutes

 

* Hand out "An Early Account of the Black Death;" "An Early Account of the Black Death;"   Remaining time.  Leave them a set to take home for the homework. – 20 minutes

 

* Quick-write homework: Had you been Jewish in one of the pogrom described, how would you have reacted had you seen an angry mob of Christians marching down your street to your home and family?  What would you have done? – 5 minutes

 

* Materials - "An Early Account of the Black Death;" "An Early Account of the Black Death;" “Confession of Agimet”

 

 

10/1 – Middle Ages Unit Test

* Hand out Machiavelli’s The Prince and assign the first question set due 10/4. – 10 minutes

 

* Unit Test – remaining time

 

* Materials – Unit test; Machiavelli’s The Prince and question set

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obsolete:

 

* Put the outline map of Europe up on the board and have them come up one by one and fill out something or another about what they know about the geography of Europe. – 7 minutes

 

* Have the students take out a sheet of paper and write a description of what life was like for each of the following people:

1. A commoner who works the land

2. The wife of a blacksmith

3. A knight (baron or duke)

Discuss what they wrote.  Why did they think what they did? – 20 minutes

 

* Map of Feudal Europe.  Hand out the maps and have them fill them in. – 25 minutes

 

* Hand out the history of the Jews in Europe from “The World Must Know” and have them read it silently. – 15 minutes