Title: Art more valuable than gold

Lesson plan elaborated by: Monika Spławska‑Murmyło

Topic:

Art more valuable than gold.

Target group:

1st‑grade students of a high school.

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

2. Receipt of cultural texts. Student:

1) processes and hierarchizes information from texts, such as journalistic, popular science and scientific;

2) analyses the structure of the text: it reads its meaning, main thought, way of leading the argument and argumentation.

III. Creating statements.

2. Speaking and writing. Student:

1) agrees with other people's views or polemicizes with them, substantively justifying their own opinion;

2) builds a statement in a conscious manner, with knowledge of its language function, taking into account the purpose and the addressee, keeping the principles of rhetoric.

IV. Self‑study. Student:

1. develops the ability of independent work, inter alia, by preparing various forms of presenting their own position;

2. organises information into the problematic whole by valuing it; synthesizes the learned content around the problem, topic, issue and uses it in your statements;

6) selects relevant quotes from the text and applies them in the speech;

10) collects and processes information, prepares a database.

General aim of education

Students learn about two main styles of medieval art: Romanesque and Gothic

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• operates vocabulary in the field of medieval art;

• presents his own experiences resulting from contact with the art of the Middle Ages;

• recognises the historical context in the interpretation of the elements of architecture;

• reads the text of culture, which is the work of architecture.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• 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;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

1. Before the class, students find out if there are monuments of medieval architecture in their place of residence or in the vicinity. They write them out and write down basic information about them: the century in which these objects were built, and the style they represent. If there are no such objects in the area, students choose any examples of medieval art in Poland..

Introduction

1. The teacher states the subject of the lesson, explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

2. Presentation of examples prepared by students before the lesson in the form of a brainstorm. The participants write their examples on the board, recording the most important information.

Realization

1. Work with interactive illustrations. Students compare the features of Romanesque and Gothic style in architecture. They look for cause‑and‑effect relations between style features and the purpose or symbolic meaning of given architectural elements.

2. The teacher asks students about the etymology of the words „Roman” and „Gothic”. If the students are not able to give the proper meanings of these words, they use the available sources (dictionaries, encyclopedias, internet) to learn about them.

3. Students, working individually or in pairs, perform an interactive exercise to check and record messages learned during the lesson. The selected person discusses the correct solutions. The trainer completes or straightens the answers.

4. The teacher searches on the internet and displays the movie „The Cathedral” dir. Tomasz Baginski. Then he asks the students questions, for example:
   - What is the cathedral in the film by T. Bagiński?
   - What is the purpose of a man coming to the cathedral?
   - How to understand the fact that it becomes part of the building?
   - Is the man in Bagiński's movie mortal? Why?
   - How is the time in the film presented?
   - What is the relationship between man and space?
   - What features of medieval art did the director use in his film?
   - What symbols of gothic art were used?
   - How did the director modify them?.

Summary

1. The teacher chooses one student by random method and asks him or her to explain in own words the meaning of a given word or concept learned during the lesson.

2. Questions for the summary: - List the most important differences between Romanesque and Gothic art. - Discuss the symbolism of the Gothic cathedral..

Homework

1. Describe your own masterpiece of medieval art. Pay attention to the characteristics of the Romanesque or Gothic style..

2. Make three sentences with words selected from the dictionary.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Art more valuable than gold

Long period of the Middle Ages consists of two universal styles: Romanesque and Gothic style. Great monasteries, wonderful cathedrals, manors and cities were built in these styles. Architecture, sculpture and painting as well as craft have uniquely rich forms. All these genres were used to reinforce the power of the Church. Masterpieces conveyed religious concepts and directed the attention of the faithful to the final matters.

Romanesque art which developed from the 11th century to the beginning of 13th century is almost only sacral art. The most important element is the architecture: monumental cathedrals, great pilgrimage churches and numerous Benedictine and Cistercian abbeys. Massive churches are based on early Christian architecture and use Roman elements (hence the name of the style – Romanesque), e.g. semi‑circular arcades. Thick stone walls, huge walls and pillars support heavy barrel or groin vaults. There are relatively few windows. The construction is composed of simple solid figures put together and covered with separate roofs. It corresponds to the interior divided into separate spatial units of different height: naves, church‑porches, apses. The architecture determines the didactic sculpture which is used only for the church facade (mainly portals) and capitals decoration.

The gothic church has got a frame construction. It enables using vaults on big spaces, unburdening bearing walls of buildings and fixing big windows in them. Elements of construction include: cross‑rib vault, pointed arch, pillars between naves, resistance and support arches. The cathedral resembles a ship in a shipyard or a slender dismembered „stone organism”. In the western two‑tower facade there are usually three big portals decorated with figural sculpture. Multi‑coloured stained glass, as well as the light getting into the temple, play a crucial role. All of this gives some lightness to the construction but also symbolises grace and soul enlightenment. According to the period concept, “God is the light”. Vertical arrangement of slender pillars directs the sight of the faithful up, towards heaven and superior values.