Topic: The country from sea to sea – the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth

Author of the script: Marcin Dyś

Target group

5th grade of elementary school

Core curriculum

New core curriculum

IX. “Golden era” in Poland against the European background. Student:

4) places in time and describes the most important events in the field of internal policy of the last Jagiellons;

8) presents the circumstances of signing the real union between Poland and Lithuania (1569) and its main provisions.

The general aim of education

Students learn about the circumstances of the creation of the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• describes the history of the Polish‑Lithuanian cooperation;

• explains the difference between personal union and real union;

• gives the reasons that led to the strengthening of relations between Poland and Lithuania;

• explains the provisions and significance of the Union of Lublin;

• characterises the consequences of the union and the creation of the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Methods / techniques

• exposing methods: talk, explanations and comments from the teacher;

• programmed methods: using e‑textbook; using multimedia;

• problematic methods: activating methods: discussion;

• practical methods: exercises concerned, working with text, working with illustration.

Forms of work

• activity in groups;

• collective activity;

• individual activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• interactive whiteboard or traditional blackboard;

• tablets/computers;

• notebook and crayons/ felt‑tip pens.

Before classes

The teacher asks the students to recall the history of relations between Poland and Lithuania since 1385 and the Union of Krewo. Students are also asked to read the text from the e‑textbook - chapter “Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth” in the “Introduction”.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher explains the students the lesson objective and the criteria for success.

2. Referring to the history of cooperation between Poland and Lithuania, the teacher asks what was the nature of this cooperation. What were the characteristic features of this cooperation and whether it was cooperation between two countries of the same strength, position and importance?

Realization

1. The teacher asks the students about the union signed in Krewo in 1385 - why was it formed, what was its purpose and nature. Then the teacher asks, referring to the homework, what was the difference between this union and the one from the description. Asking the questions, the teacher remembers to formulate them as key questions. Students should indicate the differences between the personal union and the real union and know the meaning of both terms.

2. The teacher tells the students about the history of forming the real union - lists the demands of the Executionist movement, the initial reluctance of Sigismund II August and other factors that prevented the strengthening of the relation (e.g. the reluctance of the Lithuanian aristocracy). Working in pairs, the students do Exercise 1 and Exercise 2. When doing exercises and instructions, the teacher uses tents or a set of cards in three colours: green, yellow and red. Students use the cards to indicate to the teacher whether they are having difficulty in fulfilling the instructions (green – I’m doing great, yellow – I have some doubts, red – I need help).

3. Students analyse the extract of the text about the Union of Lublin, choosing correct answers (Exercise 3) and completing the diagram (Exercise 4), and then do Exercise 5. Students should work in pairs and be given the opportunity to ask the teacher for help while completing the diagram. The teacher can also appoint experts, i.e. more talented students who mastered the material better, to help their less well‑performing colleagues with the exercises.

4. When starting the discussion about the effects of the real union between Poland and Lithuania, the teacher asks the students to look at the map and fulfil Task 1. During the short discussion, the teacher asks the students key questions, e.g.:

• what was the significance of forming the union between Poland and Lithuania for international politics?

• what would happen if the Union had not been signed?

• what was the significance of forming the union for relations with the Teutonic Order?

5. Then the students do Exercise 5.

Summary

1. Summarizing the lesson, the teacher asks questions: When was the first Polish‑Lithuanian Union formed? Describe the cooperation between Poland and Lithuania from the Union of Krewo to the Union of Lublin? What did real union bring to both countries?

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

3. The teacher gives homework for volunteer students (it is not an obligatory part of the script): After the Union of Lublin, the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth was established - the largest country in Europe after the Russian state. Apart from being strengthened, the country had to face many difficulties and problems. Try to find as many difficulties and problems as possible and explain how they were a threat.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

In 1569 a new state was established in the Lublin Sejm. The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania merged to form the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Personal union transformed into a real union. From that moment on, both states shared the same monarch, Sejm and foreign policy. The central and land offices, the treasury, the army and the judiciary were to be separate. Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobles got Polonized over time. In practice, however, the separateness of the Crown and Lithuania had never been blurred. The Commonwealth (especially its eastern part) was inhabited by representatives of different nationalities, speaking different languages and being representatives of different religions and beliefs. They included Poles, Lithuanians, Russians, Germans, Jews, Armenians, Tartars, Wallachians and others. A wide religious tolerance prevailed in Poland of that times. Loyalty to the Commonwealth was the thing that mattered. Hence, many noblemen were Calvinists (mainly in Prussia and Livonia), Orthodox (descendants of Ruthenian boyars) or even Muslim (Tatars).