Provide hands-on activities for practice and mastery. Check for understanding of concepts and skills by using relevant standard materials, i.e. worksheets, text problems, workbooks, teacher prepared exercises, etc.

Note-taking and expansion of mind maps

Objective: To reinforce major concepts taught.

Activity: Students maintain notebooks of their notes from readings and classroom presentations, answers to textbook and teacher-posed questions, and handouts used during the unit of study. Students become involved in one or two teacher-directed activities designed to reinforce concepts, review vocabulary, and develop thinking skills. Suggested activities are: 1. Formulating a crossword puzzle about medieval life to be exchanged with classmates. 2. Developing categories and creating answer cards for a Jeopardy-type game to be played by the class. 3. Designing a class tapestry showing the growth pattern of a medieval town. 4. Creating a classroom timeline showing important dates, events, and developments of the Middle Ages. 5. Writing a letter home describing your experiences as a page in service at the king's castle, or writing a diary account of your day's activities as lord or lady of the manor. 6. Solving logic puzzles with a medieval theme. In cooperative groups, students expand the mindmap developed in Step Three to include everything they now know about "Life in the Middle Ages." The teacher develops a composite mindmap as students contribute the major topics/ideas of the unit. Students write their own unit test based on the major topics/ideas covered. Teams of two students are assigned a major topic/idea for which they are to write test questions and the types of questions and number of each type to be submitted. Teams must also provide the answers to the questions they develop. The teacher compiles the class unit test using the student-developed questions and answers.

Assessment: Quality group work, student notebooks, student products, and test questions. Contributions to the mindmap.