Provide "acknowledged body of knowledge" related to the concept. Emphasize the most significant aspects of the concept in an organized, organic manner. Present information sequentially so students see continuity. Draw attention to important, discrete details; don't swamp students with myriad facts.

The European Middle Ages

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