G7 Middle Ages Unit
I must confess that I love teaching and talking about the Middle Ages. In no way do I claim to be an expert on the topic, but every year that I’ve had the pleasure of teaching a unit or even mere aspects of European Medieval society is always a joy. It’s a truly fascinating period of history that often inspires discussions and arguments around societal life and structure. The unit below is a mixture of lessons and activities that I created as well as activities from my teaching partners and the internet.
Unit Title: Systems and Us
Statement of Inquiry: Political, social, and cultural systems are interdependent and influence identity and behaviour in ways that have contributed to both peace and conflict during the Middle Ages.
Global Context: Identities & Relationships
Key Concept: Systems
Inquiry Questions
Factual
What is the Feudal Pyramid?
What is the manor system system?
Conceptual
How did religion influence the systems of the Middle Ages?
Debatable
Do systems control our lives?
“Systems & Us” Unit Outline
This is a preview of the lesson outlines I helped prepare. Each lesson has a guiding question and language objective. Click on the image to see the full document.
The end goal of the unit has two main parts: a unit test including a source analysis and a role-play wax museum. Through both aspects, students are exploring the concept of systems and how systems impact daily life. In order to achieve these aims, throughout the unit we explore (1) daily life in the Middle Ages, (2) the feudal system, (3) the role of the Christian Church, (4) economic, political & social systems, (5) Tragedies & Big Events, (6) Source Analysis & Socratic Seminar, (7) Summative Prep & Work Time.
Selection of slides from unit PPT document.
Feudal Taxes Simulation Activity
One of my favourite activities from this unit is conducting this simulation regarding the unfair tax situation.
It usually takes about 5-10 minutes to set-up ahead of time and organize the candies within the cups. Upon entering the room, each student takes a cup. Since the roles are on the bottom of the cup, they don’t know who or what they are until later. As the lower classes lose more and more candies, you can feel student annoyance and upset. When the tax taking is over, I don’t allow students to re-distribute the candies which further enforces the unfairness and helps to drive home the main point: peasants had nothing and what they did had was often taken away by others.
