Middle Ages 1 - Historical Jigsaw Group Work
"Let's away with study, Folly's sweet. / Treasure all the pleasure Of our youth: Time enough for age To think on Truth." Let's Away with Study (12th century song)
Middle Ages Historical Background Jigsaw Group Work: This group work has the entire classroom reading primary documents from the Middle Ages and collaborating on them to try and get an idea of what life was like at that time (after having read their intro to the Middle Ages in their text book) - before they begin to tackle that period's literature.
Lesson Overview
This is a Jigsaw-style Group Work. The students will do a cold reading on primary documents (they will be assigned which document - there are 5: A-E). They will have time to read the document - cover it with their notes (they will have the Group Work focusing questions, so that should help a lot with their note taking). And then all of the A's will get together, the B's etc. They will compare notes on what they came up with (thereby the entire class really collaborating) - and then they will get back (or this may be for the first time, depending on how you approach this - there can be an initial question that they could answer and start off in their groups, before getting with their like primary document letters.
Once in those groups they will answer the remainder of the Group Work questions - utilizing what they came up with in their like-letter groups, as well as what they came up with on their own, when they were reading and taking notes.
There are so many valuable things that take place in this lesson:
Learning about the Middle Ages second hand after reading a summary in their text book. (One big take away will be that some of the things that they believe the modern world has a monopoly on - are actually very old.
Working on their note taking skills (especially under a controlled "friendly" pressure situation
Listening and Learning from other students both in and out of their group.
Working together with a different group (the teacher will put the Group together to make sure their are ideally 5 members (one for each Primary Document) - you may have to have 6 in a few - in that case, just double up one of the letters (spread that around the room)
Learning about what Primary Documents are and what they can tell us that other histories cannot.
Getting prepared for their Middle Ages Unit - The Canterbury Tales has a lot more meaning when the students know about things like the clergy (and how rotten they could be), misogyny, antisemitism, what student life was like, the hypocrisy of the Chivalry - and more.
Here are the Primary Sources Topics: A: Women, B: The Clergy & student life, C: Knights, Chivalry, and the treatment of Jews, D: The Normans & the peasants, E: The Crusades, The Children’s Crusade
And here are the 3 parts of this Group Work: 1) student reads their respective Primary Source, cover it with notes (12 to 15 minutes) 2) Students get together with like letters (6 minutes) and compare what they came up 3) Students get with their Groups (the rest of the period) and answer the questions using what they found on their own and with other like letter students.
In the past I have handout out little paper squares OR even better the Primary Documents with their Group and Primary Document Letter on the Primary Document reading or the paper square as the students enter the room. This makes grouping a lot easier. You have the Documents or Paper Squares in the right order: 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E; 2A, 2B, etc. Time is of the essence and this helps a lot logistically.
Handouts
Most Recent Handouts & Quizzes
The Group Work (Intro to Middle Ages Jigsaw): Docx PDF
PRIMARY DOCUMENTS: DOC A DOC B DOC C DOC D DOC E
Group Work for REMOTE (with special directions for getting into their Remote Break Out Rooms) Docx PDF
Reading Test: Introduction to the Middle Ages (from their Text Book) Docx PDF - note it is worth 200 points (more reading more credit) ALSO Historical Background Readings are always tougher than fiction quizzes (not sure why - though I think research shows nonfiction is harder (hence they are always trying to get rid of fiction and replace it with nonfiction).
Remote Enhancements
Please see the Group Work handout above - designed specifically for Remote Classes.
Links
Class Recordings (for registered members)
Audio
Video
Ballads - The Songs of Our Lives -One of the most important (fun, and well-remembered classes of the year). A lesson on Ballads - the ones from the Middle Ages, from our own lives - and they intertwince. We listen to songs, act out ballads, and hear a story that reaches across the years in my classroom.
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Thoughts on the Lesson
This is one of those exercises that the process is as important and the product. The students help and work with each other. Which is great - because there are some pretty big things to mentally process here - and by sharing reactions (and their notetaking skills) they can learn so much more than they could on their own.