Topic: The first projects of reforms.

Target group

6th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

XIII. The Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth in the first half of the 18th century. Pupil:

2) characterizes the system reform projects of Stanisław Leszczyński and Stanisław Konarski;

3) discusses the phenomena that show economic progress and the development of culture and education.

General aim of education

Students get acquainted with the systemic reform projects of Stanisław Konarski and Stanisław Leszczyński as well as phenomena that show economic progress, the development of culture and education in the Saxon era

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• to characterize the projects of the political reforms of the Saxon era;

• to explain the phenomena indicating the economic growth, cultural and educational development of Saxon times;

• to recognize the famous graduates of Collegium Nobilium.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

1. The teacher asks the students to repeat the information about what were the causes of the crisis of the Republic in the Saxon era resulting from the constitutional principles of the state. What was the name of the supporters of reforms operating in the final period of the reign of Augustus III?.

Introduction

1. The teacher gives the students the purpose of the lesson and the criteria for success.

2. The teacher tells students about the first reforms ideas of the Saxon era. He emphasizes what constitutional principles were considered necessary to be corrected. Then the students do Exercise 1 - they compile projects of reforms and their authors.

Realization

1. The teacher explains the students that one of the basic changes that could be observed at the end of the Saxon era were the changes in Polish education. He brings closer the genesis of Collegium Nobilium and its role in shaping the Polish elite.

2. Students do Exercise 2. On tablets / computers they form a tableau of the famous Piarist school.

3. The teacher tells students about the economic changes of the Saxon day. He draws their attention to the fact that the basic importance for the intellectual recovery in the second half of the eighteenth century had economic success.

4. The development of cities has become a manifestation of stable economic growth. The teacher explains what the revival of cities was in the middle XVIII century in the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth. As part of learning about the details of city life, students do in Task 1. Their task is to analyze the timeline and answer the question: What did coffee and politics have in the eighteenth century? The teacher makes sure that the task has been correctly completed and gives feedback.

5. The teacher tells students about the role of the Jewish population in former Poland (the role of the second middle class, taking over some economic functions of the cities).

Summary

1. The teacher gives students evaluation surveys in which they evaluate their own work during the lesson, the work of the teacher and colleagues.

Homework

1. The teacher sets homework (it is not an obligatory part of the script): Answer the question, why there were no Jewish innkeepers in the Wielkopolska villages? Characterize regional differences in Jewish settlement in the territory of the Republic of Poland. Use the information available in the e‑textbook and on the Internet (for example, the POLIN Museum website).

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

The first projects of reforms.

The turmoil of Saxon times strengthened the conviction of more enlightened citizens about the indispensability of change. One of the most reformatory proposals in this regard was a work written by Father Stanisław Konarski „O skutecznym rad sposobie”. It assumed a comprehensive improvement of both a legislative power - namely the Sejm, as well as the executive power. Among other things, he demanded the abolition of liberum veto and the institution of majority voting. Konarski was supported by the Czartoryski family, hence his demands were regarded as the program of the party. One of the fundamental changes that could be observed at the end of the Saxon era was a change in Polish education which was when Collegium Nobilium and the Załuski Library were opened. Jesuits and Piarists introduced significant changes in their colleges. Economic growth played a major role in the intellectual revival in the second half of the 18th century. Agriculture started flourishing, especially in the western provinces where textile dispersed manufacture began to develop, thus providing a market for agricultural goods. Numerous factories were established which manufactured porcelain, pottery and Slavic belts. Cities began to thrive again. Any impediments in the production of handicrafts and trade were abolished, an urban and architectural order of cities was demanded and so was the maintenance and improvement of sanitary conditions.