Title: Medieval united Europe

Lesson plan elaborated by: Katarzyna Maciejak

Topic:

Medieval united Europe.

Target group:

1st‑grade students of a high school.

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

1. Reading literary works. Student:

2) understands the concept of literary and cultural tradition, recognizes elements of tradition in works, understands their role in building universal values; ZR

9) recognises the subject and issues of the texts learned and its relation to the programs of the literary era, social, historical, existential and aesthetic phenomena; he reflects on it;

16) recognises universal and national values present in literary works; determines their role and relationship with the work's issues and the importance to build their own value system.

2. Receipt of cultural texts. Student:

6) reads non‑literary cultural texts using the code proper in a given field of art.

III. Creating statements.

1. Elements of rhetoric. Student:

1) formulates theses and arguments in oral and written speech using appropriate syntax structures;

2. Speaking and writing. Student:

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

2) build a statement in a conscious manner, with the 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. organizes information into the problematic whole by valuing it; synthesizes the learned content around the problem, topic, issue and uses it in your statements;

5. makes a critical selection of sources;

10. collects and processes information, prepares a database;

11. uses multimedia resources, e.g. from: libraries, on‑line dictionaries, e‑book publications, original websites; selects web sources, taking into account the criterion of material correctness and critically evaluates their content.

General aim of education

Students learn about the manifestations of medieval universalism.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• understands the unity and universalism of medieval culture and art;

• characterises medieval personal patterns;

• identifies symbolic and allegorical elements in the painting.

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;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

1. Students wonder what the universal character of contemporary culture may be.

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.

Realization

1. Students check the meaning of the word „universalism” in the dictionary of Polish or other available sources.

2. The teacher begins a conversation about medieval universality, points out that it was manifested in the pursuit of unifying different areas of life.

3. Students perform interactive task No. 2 - they will get acquainted with an interactive map that develops messages about various manifestations of universalism (religion, system, personal patterns, philosophy, etc.).

4. The teacher divides the class into groups (preferably according to the interests specified in the previous exercise) and encourages the development of individual personal patterns: Group I - ruler, Group II - knight, Group III - Saint. If the class is large, you can double the number of groups (two groups then work out the same pattern). If necessary, the teacher focuses on cultural texts in which there are particular patterns. The students are to present the overview of the template in the form of a paper or multimedia presentation (if there are conditions for this). In their presentation they should include: 1) the origin of the pattern, 2) its elements (features), 3) examples in the literature.

5. The chosen student presents the figure of the painter Hieronymus Bosch. After seeing the image of H. Bosch „The Garden of Delight” pupils talk about their first impressions, define the subject of the work and discuss the vision proposed by the painter.

6. The students resemble symbol and allegory definitions, indicate differences, give examples in literature and painting, and then look for examples in the work of Hieronymus Bosch.

Summary

1. The teacher notes that the Middle Ages were - after all - a very diverse epoch and encouraged to learn about this period (for those interested, recommend a movie or a book entitled „Name of the rose” by Umberto Eco).

2. 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.

Homework

1. In the form of a dissertation, consider the question „Can modern culture be called universal in the same way that medieval culture was universal?”.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Medieval united Europe

Think in what ways the character of the modern culture can be universal.

Although the map of medieval Europe differs significantly from the modern one, we can spot some similarities between the modern and the medieval culture of the European continent. Today we live in a gradually unifying world. English has become a dominant language, pizza is eaten almost everywhere, we dress up in a similar way and listen to the same music. We can say that the world has universalized.
Universalism is one of the main features of the Middle Ages as well.

The medieval universalism has made the culture of Western Europe similar in different aspects, especially after the XI century. Universalism was visible in the struggle to unify different aspects of life according to the prevailing rules.

Remind yourself the information about the symbol and allegory.

Allegory – in literature and culture, it is a presentation of an idea, term, character or an event using a fixed, hidden artistic meaning rooted in tradition, more important than the literal one. The metaphorical meaning is unambiguous and malleable (e.g. by using personification). The example of the allegory may be a person with a scythe, an image of death. Contrary to the conventionalised character of the allegory, a symbol is ambiguous and has no fixed meaning, it can be understood in different ways.