I. Curricular Framework

Concept:

Transformation

Essential Question:

How is feudal fragmentation during the Middle Ages directly related to the development of this cent

Bridge:

Family Hierarchy

Content:

European Middle Ages

Outcomes:

II. Standards Aligned

III. Instruction and Assessment

1. Connect: Connecting to the Concept Experientially

Objective: To get the students to see how transformation works.

Activity: Each group will stand in front of a large sheet of chart paper. The paper will have a line or shape drawn on it. Taking turns, the group members will draw on the paper, basing their addition on what is already on the paper. The only two rules are:
1)Once a student places his/her marker on the paper, the turn starts; and once the marker leaves the paper, the turn ends and the next person comes up.
2)There is to be absolutely no talking or signaling going on.
While this is going on, play a tape with a variety of musical styles on it. (Note: I created a tape that lasts about 20 minutes. On it I put excerpts from Gregorian chant, baroque, classical, romantic, jazz, classic rock and modern rock. Your musical students will sense the transformation in the music). The drawing will continue for about 15-20 minutes and is to end when the music ends.

Assessment:Student involvement in the process

2. Attend: Attending to the Connection

Objective: Students will discuss what happened in the drawing exercise.

Activity: Groups should discuss what they observed during the drawing exercise. The main point that they should pick up is that the drawing changed as each new person added his/her own new perspective. Therefore, a single shape was transformed several times into something quite different. Be sure to ask them about the effect of the music on the process-the transformation in musical style will likely have an effect on what they draw.

Assessment: Have each student write down a response to assure full group participation.

Assessment, Phase One, Level of Engagement, Fascination:

3. Image: Creating a Mental Picture

Objective: Students will see how the concept of transformation works in relationships that change over time.

Activity: Have students create a series of family relationship drawings or charts. The designs should go from the family before the birth the child in the class, to the family as it changed right up until current. The idea is for the students to see how the relationships in the family changed as new members were added or grew older. Emphasize that the charts should not only show the names of family members but should also show the flow of authority, etc. You could point out how sometimes a crisis in a family can significantly change who has authority and/or power. It might be some students will note who has authority ( a parent, for instance) and someone else who wilds the real power (a grandparent, aunt or other relative). This, of course, did occur in medieval Europe as sometimes the kids were surpassed by their barons or the church in terms of personal power.

Assessment:Level of involvement by the students.

Assessment, Phase Two, Seeing the Big Picture:

4. Inform: Receiving Facts & Knowledge

Objective: To examine the social, political, religious and economic transformations that characterize the European Middle Ages.

Activity: The focus of this section is to give a factual overview showing a variety of transformations in the Middle Ages.
Social: The goal of this section is for students to note how the hierarchy of the medieval social structure changed. It will be important to tie the political and economic material into this. This is also an excellent time to introduce the students to Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales as a picture of medieval society. You certainly want your students to see the evolution of the middle class as capitalism develops. Another major transformation will be the development of strong kings at the top of the social order as the power of the landed nobility begins to decrease.
A good way to demonstrate this transformation is to have students create human sculptures to show how medieval society changed.
You can do this exercise twice. The first time you should assign current roles in society and have them arrange themselves. The second time, at the end of the unit, assign the members of each group to be King, Baron, Merchant, Pope and Peasant. Have each group arrange itself to show the relationship of each of these to the other in 1000AD, Then have them show how the relationship might have changed by 1500 AD.
The kids have a good time visually demonstrating the change in power relationships. I’d suggest that you make this a part of an interactive lecture about medieval society.
Political: The goal here will be to show students how medieval Europe went from the centralization of the Roman Empire and Charlemagne’s empire, through the de-centralization of the feudal system, to the centralization of government as nationalism developed in England and France. You should also help students see the international picture by looking at the Crusades and the Hundred Years War. Both of these international events have a transforming effect on medieval society.
Religious: The goal of this is to see how the power of the church is transformed during the middle ages. Students should see the enormous power developed by 1200 AD and attested to in the struggles between Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII over lay investiture; as well as the struggle between King Henry II and Thomas Becket. Challenge the kids to think about what factors led to the loss of that power as the middle ages moved towards a close.
Cultural: In this section you should focus on the changes seen in architecture and music. In the area of architecture, focus on the trans formation from Romanesque to the Gothic in church design. An excellent resource for this is the video Cathedral. This video combines a fictional, animated story of the building of a gothic cathedral, with actual footage and documentary style material about Europe’s cathedrals. Even better, if you live anywhere near a gothic cathedral – go there with your class to visit. In the New York City area I recommend the Cathedral of St. John Divine, St. Patrick’s Cathedral or the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Newark.
In the study of music the goal is to understand the development of church music starting with Gregorian chant. It is important that students hear this music and understand the symbolism of its form. CD’s of chant are readility available in libraries and music sotres. In addition Perntic Hall publishes an excellent series on the history of music in the West along with CD’s for demonstration purposes. I usually start this lesson by playing a monophonic chant, then moving to a polyphonic chant and finally to the Kyrie Eleison from the Mass in B Minor of Bach. Have the students listen to each of these in order and then comment on the differences they hear.) Be sure to select the Kyrie from each of the selections so that the words are all the same and they can concentrate on the musical form.)
Economic: The goal here will be to show students how the economy of Europe changed from the manorial system which was based on a strict hierarchy(or landed aristocracy) to the beginnings of a capitalist system with the increasing powerful bourgeoisie. In the process, students should be aware of the movement towards defining wealth by amount of money, rather than amount of land. At the conclusion of this section, you should return to the human sculptures exercise to see the effect of the new middle class on European society.
This is a good place to use videotapes. Several that I use are Cathedral, (noted above) and a series titled Timeline. This series of tapes is set up like the ABC News show Nightline, except that the setting is medieval Europe. Particularly good are the episodes on the Crusades and the Black Death.

Assessment: Level of participation in multi-modal lectures and activities

Assessment, Phase Three, Success with Acquiring Knowledge:

5. Practice: Developing Skills

Objective: For the students to reinforce the material in step 4 through questions, quizzes, maps, etc.

Activity: Assign the questions from the chapters on the Middle Ages in your textbook. I would recommend that each student be required to create a concept map based on the concept of transformation. If this is kept up to date with each reading, remembering the material will be much easier.
This is a good time to have them use current magazines to produce a collage of medieval society. The collage should include the major social classes (political, religious, economic) and show the relationship of each to the other. This can be a group project if you assign students the task of cutting out representational pictures as homework.
Each student will be assigned a person from the Middle Ages to research. The goal of this research will be to determine how each character helped transform a part of medieval society. Some people to use would be Pope Gregory I, Charlmagne, Pope Gregory VII, Pope Innocent III, Pope Boniface VII, King Henry II of Eng., King John I of Eng., King Philip II and Philip IV of France, Emperor Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire, St. Benedict, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Bernard of Clarivaux, St. Tomas Aquinas. Be sure that students know that the 8.5x11 poster they created must demonstrate how their person transformed society or thinking. I take 2-3 days for this project. Day 1 is spent in the library, day 2 library and classroom research, day 3 presentations.
Students must complete a series of maps showing the transforming face of Europe from the time of Charlemagne through the end of the 15th century. Have them note the development of national boundaries in Eng. and France. Also be sure they see the fragmentation existing in Italy and the Holy Roman Empire.

Assessment: Test on Middle Ages.

Assessment, Phase Four, Success with Acquiring Skills:

6. Extend: Extending Learning to the Outside World

Objective: That the students apply the idea of transformation to events in their own lives or current society.

Activity: The goal in this section is for students to apply the study of transformation to their understanding of American society. Each student should do some research to show how American society has been transformed in some area. For instance – look at the most recent national elections and determine how the political makeup of Congress or the Presidency (or state governments) was changed. In economic life, research the change in the Stock Market over the decade of the 90’s. How did the market reflect the transformation of businesses in America? Students could gather statistics from almanacs on the changing patterns of wealth in America over the past 10 years. How have social classes changed? Another topic to investigate could be the changing demographics in the country of the geographic area in which you live. Students could create some area maps to show the changes over the past 10-15 years. In the area of religion, they could investigate anything from how their own church membership has changed in the past decade to how church worship style has been transformed.
Another possible project could be for students to examine the changes that have occurred in popular music- maybe look at a particular group whose musical style has changed over a number of years.
Students will have their choice of presenting this visually (with written explanation), in the form of a research essay, orally with visual or musical aids

Assessment: Have the students create rubrics for excellent projects. You should look for factual accuracy and the ability to understand data tables. What impact did the project have on the listeners/viewers? Creativity will be important in any visual presentation. If students write essays, require MLA or some other form to be utilized and assess, in part, based on adherence to that form. The other area you need to assess is whether the student has indeed shown a transformation in whatever area of society or life he/she has investigated.

7. Refine: Refining the Extension

Objective: Students will evaluate and revise projects from previous steps.

Activity: Students will talk with each other about their project idea, list of resources, ideas for presentation and get feedback. Each student should also talk briefly with the instructor since the types of data they may be using could be confusing.

Assessment: Students ability to evaluate peer work

8. Perform: Creative Manifestation of Material Learned

Objective: The students present their modernization or transformation projects.

Activity: This would be a good time to invite parents to come to school to participate in these presentations. Since the theme is transformation, you might even ask the students to dress up and provide some refreshments-transforming the classroom into a more professional setting. Each student should be given about 5 minutes to present his/her project.

Assessment: Use the rubrics created previously to evaluate the level of understanding of the concept and the ability to articulate how the concept can be seen today

Assessment, Phase Five,Performance, Creative Use of Material Learned: