Topic: Medieval town

Author: Katarzyna Kuczyńska

Target group:

5th grade students of an eight‑year elementary school.

Core curriculum

IV. The society and culture of Medieval Europe. Student:

1) […] characterises social divisions in Middle Ages;

2) describes the conditions of life in a medieval town and village;

V. Poland in early Piast period. Student:

6) describes the society of Poland of first Piasts.

General learning aim:

The student learns about the specifics of medieval Polish towns.

Shaped key competences

• communicating in the mother tongue;

• communicating in a foreign language;

• learning to learn;

• social and civic competences.

Operational aims

Student will learn:

• indicate the reasons for establishing medieval cities;

• recognize the most important features of the medieval city (a characteristic plan and building elements);

• find information about the medieval legacy of selected Polish cities and give examples of it;

• explain the concept of „self‑government”, give examples of municipal self‑government activities in the Middle Ages.

• use the term „local government” to describe your school community.

Methods/techniques

• programmed: using an e‑textbook;

• problematic: activating: discussion, creating a map/poster about school self‑government, staging;

• practical: exercises in the subject, work with text, independent search for information;

• supporting techniques: comments and explanations of the teacher

Forms of work

• work with the entire class;

• group work;

• individual work.

Teaching measures:

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/markers;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Before classes

The teacher asks the students (divided into groups that are equal to the number of the cities) to prepare information about selected Polish cities of medieval heritage (the teacher prepares a list of such cities, selecting both big cities of Poland and local towns from the region where the students live). The list of information prepared by the students should include:

a) date when the city/town was granted municipal rights;

b) reasons which were crucial in granting a town municipal rights;

c) what is left of the “medieval town” in contemporary times.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Initial phase

1. The teacher gives the students the subject, gives the aim of the lesson and explains the criteria of success.

2. The classes begin with recalling the effects of students’ work - the teacher coordinates this in such a way as to gain most information in form of two notes:

a) why were medieval towns founded?

b) what is left of medieval towns now?

When it comes to answering the second question, it is important that the teacher makes sure to mention town plan - something the students might have not included (while looking for physical remnants of medieval towns).

Realization

1. The students complete Task 1. Then, they compare the knowledge they obtained with the results of their own work in point 1 (whether the knowledge and its interpretation agree with information in the text read, or maybe something has to be added, etc.)

2. The students complete Task 2. Together with the teacher they go through the conclusions from this task.

3. The students complete Task 3. Then, chosen students re‑enact a scene with the town council, including the characters such as counsellors, mayor and court bench.

4. The students, with the help of their teacher, explain the notion of “self‑governance”, mention the limits of self‑governance (e.g. the need to fulfil the agreement with the previous land owner, to obey the duties towards the country). It is worth for the teacher to explain that the notion of self‑governance refers to the life and the functioning of a community, meaning it encompasses these decisions and actions that regard the entire community, not what individuals can decide about on their own and only regarding themselves (this means that, for example, a manifestation of self‑governance is the decision of the student council that a school does not have a uniform, but not the decision of an individual to wear red socks to school on a given day).

5. As homework, the teacher asks the students to complete Exercises 1 and 2.

6. He gives also optional homework - volunteers prepare a map/poster of school self‑governance - which school matters can be decided about by the students, and who are they supposed to be subordinated to*.

* This explanation seems vital because of the dominance of individualistic point‑of‑view among people nowadays. This very often results in a spontaneous interpretation of notions that refer to social life in terms of individual experience. Without clear information from the teacher about the social aspect of today’s lesson on self‑governance (of a town and a school), the students may not correctly understand their homework.

Summary of the most important elements of the class

1. Learning about the reasons for founding medieval towns.

2. Learning the most important medieval elements of towns (characteristic plan of the town and buildings)

3. Learning information about the examples of medieval heritage of selected Polish cities.

4. Analysis of the notion of self‑government in reference to a town self‑government in Middle Ages.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

The medieval town

The origins of the majority of contemporary Polish cities date back to the Middle Ages. Some of them were located near boroughs, monasteries and castles, others - at the crossroads of trade routes. They were inhabited by artisans and merchants. Many towns were founded in new, previously uninhabited places. They were created in accordance with a fixed set of rules by striking a deal with the land owner. The deal specified the rights and the duties of the inhabitants. Then, a location was selected for the market square, and the streets were charted. The townsmen themselves decided about their fate and the future of their town. They chose the authorities: the city council lead by the mayor, as well as the court bench. These authorities were called municipal self‑government. Even to this day, many towns are governed by a city council, and the mayor is considered the most important official. Many medieval towns were surrounded by fortified walls and a moat, which protected them from an invasion of foreign soldiers and potential attacks of marauders. A town could be accessed through a gate, which was guarded by town guardsmen.