Introduction
For Unit 6 we will be exploring the Middle Ages (5th-14th centuries) in Europe. While we will research and investigate major moments in medieval history this unit, we need to first understand what life was like in Europe during this time.
What was life really like for people during the Middle Ages? When studying the topic in history class or reading a book about it, many people wonder if they could have lived during that time period.
In this WebQuest, you and your partners will discover what life was really like during the Middle Ages. Each of you will draw at random your place in society. You will be either a King/Queen, Lord, Knight, Clergyman, or a Serf. Independently, you will research whichever lifestyle you draw and write a narrative about your life. When finished, you will join with your group and research/discuss what a Medieval village may have looked like.
Good luck and hopefully you can avoid the Plague!
Task
- You will research your assigned role in society.
- You will write a 2 page (double spaced) minimum narrative paper on how your life would have been lived during the time period.
- You will design a village with your group (Teacher assigned).
- Your group will present the village you created.
- You will briefly tell the class what your place was in society and how you lived.
Process
1. Research Phase
A. You will draw a lifestyle at random.
B. Once you have it, click on the links below to research how life was during the Middle Ages. The links will have specific sections on the various lifestyles.
C. Have a piece of paper, Word, or google doc open to jot down notes on what you may like to write about.
Links: http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/life-in-middle-ages.htm
http://www.medieval-life.net/life_main.htm
http://www.historyonthenet.com/Medieval_Life/feudalism.htm
http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/normans.htm
http://www.kathimitchell.com/middleages.htm
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/medieval/
http://www.learner.org/interactives/middleages/feudal.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/love.html
http://www.cybrary.org/medieval.htm
http://www.britainexpress.com/History/Townlife.htm
2. Narrative Writing Phase
A. You will write a minimum 2 page paper on how your life would have been like during this time period.
B. Information you write about must be factually and historically accurate. Terminology must be used correctly. For example, using a cell phone to snapchat your bff is not accurate.
C. Be creative with the writing, try to step back and think in this time period. You may want to write about where you lived in Europe, married, children, wars, farming, house, extended family, etc.
D. The font size will be 12 in Times New Roman.
E. The paper will be double spaced.
F. A rubric will be used to grade the narrative.
3. Village Development Phase
A. After the class has finished the narrative writing phase, you will split into assigned groups.
B. Look at the websites listed below on how villages may have been layed out.
C. A poster board will be provided to draw your village.
D. On the poster board, draw a blue print of how the village would have looked. Include a castle, fields, common green, church, lakes, etc. Be sure to use color pencils, markers, or crayons.
E. Group members will grade each other, taking into account how much each member participated in all aspects of the project including the design and presentation.
Links: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval_towns.htm
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gbetcher/373/MedTowns.htm
http://www.britainexpress.com/History/Townlife.htm
http://www.medieval-spell.com/Medieval-Towns/
http://www.aedificium.org/Maps/index.html
4 Presentation Phase
A. Each group will discuss your village and why you chose to set it up as you did.
B. The presentation will last about 7 minutes.
C. The poster board must be completed and each member will speak.
D. As each group is presenting the town, each member will briefly discuss their position in society and what their narrative was about.
E. A rubric will be used to grade the presentation.
Evaluation
You will be assigned two quiz grades for this project. One quiz grade will be an independent grade for your narrative writing piece. The second quiz grade will be a group grade based on your completion of village/presentation and peer-evaluation rubrics for groupwork.
See rubrics attached to assignment on class webpage.
Conclusion
As you researched your place in society and how villages were developed, I hope you got a deeper understanding of how life was during the Middle Ages. This is a very interesting time period in history. If you are interested in finding out more about the Middle Ages, the following website links would be very helpful.
Links: http://eands.caltech.edu/articles/Brown%20Feature.pdf
http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam031/00065116.pdf
http://www.pims.ca/pdf/dmrme1.pdf
http://www.catholicintl.com/articles/Myths_of_the_Middle_Ages.pdf
http://www.multcolib.org/schoolcorps/lists/MiddleAges_Renaissance_Fiction_6-8.pdf