Middle Ages

10th Grade
World History

Erik Stevens

HST 480

12/3/17

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STAGE I GOALS
Unit Overview:
During this unit, students will be exposed to the events that occurred during the Middle
Ages (500-1500). Different topics will be covered and very controversial topics as well such
as the crusades and Christianity. Students will walk through the rise of Christianity in
Europe with Constantine the Great and the creation of Feudalism with Charlemagne. The
feudalism hierarchy will be discussed and explained, along with knighthood and chivalry.
The 3 main crusades will be discussed and the importance they held. The Black Death’s
effect on Europe during the Middle Ages will be explored along with the passing of the
Magna Carta and its effect on kingdoms as well.

With this unit, teaching about the crusades will be crucial to the students. The crusades
were military exhibitions by both Christians and Muslims in an attempt to retake the Holy
Land. With the crusades as a main arguing point, it proves that history has a direct effect on
what is happening in today’s world. Even to this day, Christians and Muslims are in conflict
with each other in the middle-east.

Enduring Understanding:

The Middle Ages were important to history because we witness the first struggle between
the church and the state.

Essential Question:
What were the major issues that caused power struggles during The Middle Ages?

Key Concepts:

 Feudalism- A political system in which nobles are granted the use of lands that
legally belong to their king, in exchange for their loyalty, military service, and
protection of the people who live on the land. Lords of the borrowed land may lend
land to knights following the feudal system.
 Serfdom-a person in a condition of servitude, required to render services to a lord,
commonly attached to the lord's land and transferred with it from one owner to
another (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/serfdom).
 Holy Land- A region on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, in what is now Israel
and Palestine, revered by Christians as the place in which Christ lived and taught, by
Jews as the land given to the people of Israel, and by Muslims
(https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/holy_land).
 Chivalry- the system of behaviour followed by knights in the medieval period of
history, that put a high value on honour, kindness, and courage
(http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/chivalry).
 Knight- in Britain, to give a person a rank of honor because of that person’s special
achievements (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/knight).

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  Crusade- a military expedition with the purpose to retake the holy land. Religiously
driven by Popes and encouraged by kings.
 Excommunication- the process of the Christian Church that banishes a member from
it.
 Guild-a group of tradesmen and craftsmen who set work hours and set prices on
their product.

Additional people and events:

 Bubonic Plague
 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Crusades
 King John of England
 Pope Urban II
 Magna Carta
 Charlemagne
 Constantine the Great
 Magna Carta

Standards:

Arizona Standards for Social Studies:

Concept 1: Research Skills for History
 PO 5. Evaluate primary and secondary sources for:
o authors’ main points
o purpose and perspective
o facts vs. opinions
o different points of view on the same historical event (e.g., Geography
Concept 6 – geographical perspective can be different from economic
perspective)
o credibility and validity
 PO 7. Compare present events with past events:
o cause and effect
o change over time
o different points of view
Concept 3: World in Transition
 PO 1. Contrast the fall of Rome with the development of the Byzantine and
Arab Empires (e.g., religion, culture, language, governmental structure).
 PO 2. Compare feudalism in Europe and Japan and its connection with
religious and cultural institutions
 PO 4. Describe the interaction of European and Asian civilizations from the
12th to the 16th centuries:
o Crusades
o commerce and the Silk Road
o impact on culture

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 o plague

AZ Career & College Readiness Standards:

 9‐10.RH.1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and
secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the
information.
 9‐10.RH.3. Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine
whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them
 9‐10.WHST.1 Write arguments focused on discipline ‐ specific content.
 9‐10.WHST.2. Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of
historical events, scientific procedures/experiments, or technical processes.

Objectives:

1. Describe the importance of Constantine The Great to the Christian religion.

2. Identify the significance of Charlemagne to the start of the Middle Ages.
3. Identify and describe the causes of the Bubonic Plague.
4. Describe the effects of the Bubonic Plague.
5. Demonstrate the Feudalism hierarchy
6. Identify the meaning of chivalry
7. Compare and contrast the power struggle between the church and the state.
8. Discuss the causes of the Crusades
9. Define the effects of the Magna Carta
10. Examine the importance of the Anglo-Saxons in the Middle Ages

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STAGE II ASSESSMENTS
Formative Assessments:

1. Quizzes- Throughout the unit, students will take 1 quizzes to check for
understanding of the crusades. This quiz will consist of 5 multiple choice questions,
5 matching questions, and a short response question with a minimum of 4
sentences. An example of a multiple-choice question would be “During the 3rd
Crusade, which of these men was NOT involved this crusade?” This question in
particular will test the students’ knowledge of the historical figures involved in the
3rd crusade. This assessment will meet objective 8 as well as these concepts: Holy
Land, Knights, Crusades.
2. Exit Tickets- Throughout the unit, students will complete exit tickets at the end of
every class period. Each exit ticket will have a different task or question for the
student to complete. These tasks will consist of simple 3 sentence responses of what
the student got out of the class, pre-made exit tickets with questions centered
around the lesson, drawing an image representing the lesson, etc. The purpose of
these exit tickets is to asses where the students are at on a day-to-day basis. This is a
great way to tell if the instructor has to spend extra time on a certain objective or
not. Since the exit tickets will occur at the end of every class, these will meet all
objectives and all concepts throughout the unit.

Achievement Test Description:

At the end of the unit, a final unit exam will be given to the students on the last day of this
unit. The unit exam will assess the students’ ability to meet objectives 1-10. This exam will
be broken up into 3 separate parts, two of which will be completed in class, and the other
will be a take home assignment, and will be worth 20 % of the student’s whole grade for
the unit.

Part 1- For the first section of the exam, it will consist of response format type questions,
consisting of multiple choice, true and false, and matching that will be given in class along
with part 2. The importance of this section is to test the students’ ability to remember
important figures and terms during The Middle Ages. Examples of terms that will be used
will be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd crusades, Charlemagne, King John of England, Richard the Lionheart,
Pope Urban II, Constantine, Feudalism, Black Death, and chivalry. This section of the test
will be worth 15% of the total test grade. Objectives measured will be 1-6 as well as 9&10.

Part 2- The second part of the exam will be given in class along with part 1. This section of
the unit exam will be 4 short response questions. Each question will represent an objective
from the unit and should be answered in 4-5 sentences. The first question will be “What are
some similarities and differences of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd crusades? Is there a common theme
among the crusades?” The second question will be “How did Charlemagne demonstrate the
practice of feudalism? Was it successful?” The third question will be “Describe the effects of
the Black Death. What were the symptoms of the Black Death? What effect did it have on
Europe during the Middle Ages?” The last question for part 2 will be “What was the

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importance of The Magna Carta? What did it change?” The purpose of this section is to test
the students on the causes and effects of the key concepts of the Middle Ages. Objectives
measures will be 2-5 & 7-9.
Part 3- The final part of the unit exam will be a take home essay. The idea with this take-
home essay is for the student to take their time and grasp an understanding of certain
themes that are being taught through the unit. The students will have 2 options for
prompts to choose from. The first prompt will be “Throughout the Middle Ages, there is
tension between the church and the state for who is the dominate power. In a persuasive
essay, take a stance on who had the more power during the Middle Ages, the church or the
state”. The second prompt will be “The Middle Ages are normally considered to be known
as The Dark Ages. Was the Middle Ages really The Dark Ages, or was the Middle Ages a
positive time in history? In a persuasive essay, decide on whether or not the Middle Ages
were Dark Ages or not”. The reason this essay is a take home exam is because the students
will be expected to cite sources as well as write an extensive paper. The length of the essay
should be 1-2 pages with at least 2 sources cited as evidence to strengthen your argument.
For this section, I will be assessing the students on understanding of themes during the
unit, as well as the ability to research and cite sources. Objectives met will be #7.

Performance (Authentic) Assessment Description:

The performance assessment for this unit will be a project that will be an ongoing project
throughout the unit. Different tasks will be assigned throughout the unit to add on to the
project. The objective for this project will be for the students to understand the process
that kingdoms would go through in order to grow and stay powerful during The Middle
Ages. Each group will create a kingdom name, establish a feudal hierarchy, as well as
develop a system to defend against The Black Death, major trading product such as wheat,
grain, cotton, etc. The material should have benefits and drawbacks to your kingdom. State
your involvement with the crusades, which side did your kingdom fall into? Based on the
groups kingdom location, state what opposition the kingdom could face, who could be a
major threat to your kingdom. The students will be competing against each other to see
who can create the strongest kingdom in the class. Objectives met will be 2-5 and 7-9.

Grasps:
Goal: Explain the situations kingdoms had to face during The Middle Ages
Role: King/Queen (or council) of a created kingdom during The Middle Ages.
Audience: Other kingdoms in the class (let them know you’re a force to be reckoned with)
Situation: Kingdoms during the Middle Ages were a staple of importance. Kingdoms held
more power than others and had greater influences on the church.
Product: Students will be “selling their kingdoms in a competition to determine the
strongest kingdom (winner) of the competition.
Standards for student success: Students will be conducting research on how import certain
resources were to kingdoms, etc.

Feudal Kingdom Overview

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Part 1- Students at the beginning of the unit will be introduced to the project. The first part
of the project will a simple process and will involve the students creating a name for their
kingdom, design their crest, and assign their kingdom location. When creating the crest,
each student will be assigned one corner of the crest, which are normally broken down into
4ths. Locations for the kingdoms will be assigned by drawing from a hat, creating a random
pick. Each group will have 4 students.

Part 2- After Feudalism and trading/guilds are finished in the unit, the groups will then be
tasked to assign a feudal system in their kingdom. This allows the student to fully
understand the feudal hierarchy and how it operates. The groups will also choose what
their kingdom’s specific goods are for trade (and other uses). These will be picked at
random. The goods will be a resource (Grain, Wheat, Clay, Iron, etc) and the other will be a
specific craft (swords, shields, armor, horse spurs, etc.). Anglo-Saxons were problems to
kingdoms around Europe, how will your kingdom defend against the Saxons? How will you
fight against them? (Note if your kingdom uses an army, your strength of your army is your
specific craft, meaning if your specific craft is swordsmanship, swordsmen will be your
strength).

Part 3- Once the crusades are finished being taught and the crusades quiz is completed, the
next part of the project will be assigned. The kingdoms will decide which side of the
crusades their kingdom will be on. Students can choose to side with the Christian church
and fight against the Muslims, or the Kingdom can choose to side with the Muslims and
fight against the crusaders. Each group will describe their role in each of the first 3
crusades (they must be involved!).

Part 4- When the Black Death is finished, the group will then describe how their kingdom
defended against the Black Death. Questions for the group to consider would be “How
would your kingdom prevent the plague from entering your kingdom?” “How would your
kingdom treat citizens infected with the plague?” “How would your kingdom prevent the
plague from spreading if cases were reported in your kingdom?” Groups would have to
consider medical practices of the Middle Age’s and not use advanced medical practices of
the future.

Part 5- Once the Magna Carta is finished, groups will then create laws to be followed in
your kingdom. List punishments for crimes committed, expectations for citizens of your
kingdom.

Part 6- After the unit test if completed. Groups will then present their kingdoms to the
class, explaining each of the parts of their kingdom.

Purpose- The purpose of this project is to walk the students through a fun project of what
feudal kingdoms of the Middle Ages were like. What the lifestyle was like, how the culture
was. This project also allows the students to create and experience the stress each kingdom
had to face when dealing with The Black Death. It is a great, fun way for the students to
witness the problems and benefits kingdoms went through during the Middle Ages.

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STAGE III LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Unit Calendar:

Day Topic(s) Unit Brief Listing of Assessments

Objective(s) Activities

Day 1 Introduction to Unit Hook:

the Middle 1 Introduce class to knight
Ages/Constantine armor, weapons, jousting Daily Exit Ticket,
and the fall of the (use Game of Thrones Participation in
Roman Empire video clips). Group Unit Project.
Introduce Unit Begin Constantine and the
Project fall of the Roman Empire
w/ PowerPoint lecture
Group Students to begin
unit project
Day 2 Charlemagne, Class drawing activity, Daily Exit Ticket,
King of the 2,5,10 Group Discussion Participation in Class
Franks and the Drawing Activity.
Anglo-Saxons
Introduce
Feudalism
Day 3 Guilds, Trades, Class Time for Unit Project, Daily Exit Ticket,
Chivalry, aspects 5,6 Textbook Reading, Class Participation in Class
of Feudalism Discussion. Discussion and Unit
Introduce next Project.
step to Unit
Project
Day 4 Conflict Between PowerPoint Lecture, Daily Exit Ticket,
church and state 7,8 Debate Activity Participation in
and the
beginning of The
Crusades
Day 5 Continue 7,8 PowerPoint Lecture, Daily Exit Ticket,
w/crusades and Textbook Reading, Graphic Homework
end with 3rd Organizer (complete graphic
crusades. organizer), Study for
quiz
Day 6 Crusades Quiz 7,8 Crusades Quiz, Class time Completion of Quiz
Introduce step 3 for Unit Project and participation of
of Unit Project project time.
Day 7 King John and the 9 Textbook Reading and Daily Exit Ticket,
Magna Carta Graphic Organizer, Homework
Introduce Part 4 PowerPoint Lecture (complete graphic
of the Unit organizer)
Project

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 Day 8 Black Death pt. 1 3,4 PowerPoint Lecture, Daily Exit Ticket,
Simulator of Black Death Screenshot of
Simulation Results
Day 9 Black Death pt. 2 3,4 PowerPoint Lecture Daily Exit Ticket,
Introduce Part 5 (continued), Study Guide Participation of Unit
of the Unit for Unit Exam will be Project. Homework
Project handed out, Class Time to (Study Guide for
work on Unit Project. Extra Credit)
Day 10 Review Day for 1-10 Kahoot!, Study time for Daily Exit Ticket,
Unit Exam Unit Exam Homework due
(Study Guide for
Extra Credit) at the
end of class

Day 11 Unit Exam 1-10 Unit Exam, Remainder of Unit Exam

Assign Take Class to work on Take
Home Essay Home Portion
Day 12 Unit Project 1-10 Class time to work on Unit Unit Exam Take
Project Home Essay due
Day 13 Unit Project 1-10 Unit Project Presentations Unit Project
Presentations Presentations

Catalog of Lessons:

Day 1 – Unit Hook & Constantine and the fall of the Roman Empire

Unit objectives: 1

Activities:
 Unit Hook
o Teacher asks students if they are interested in Game of Thrones on HBO, asks
if they are interested in knights, armor, weapons, violence, conflicts,
kingdoms, etc.
o Give students a question to thing about during the video. “What aspects of
the trailer do you see as being Middle Ages?”
o Show a fun video of a Game of Thrones trailer, or fight scene (school
appropriate), build excitement among the students.
o Assess the student’s reactions to the videos, show other videos of the impact
that Middle Age weapons had on the human body (deadliest warrior video) if
students are not excited.
Lecture:
 Constantine and the fall of the Roman Empire
o Introduce Constantine, Christian emperor of Ancient Rome (emphasize
Christian leader).
o Discuss how Ancient Rome was under attack by Goths, Lombards, Franks and
Vandals (pushed west due to the Huns)

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 o Constantine constructs Constantinople, the start of the Byzantine Empire.
o Rome fell as a result of the split of Rome into East and West. Western Rome
fell in 410 CE.
 Unit Project
o Introduce the students to the Unit Project
o Outline the project guidelines for the students, as well as pass out the rubric
setting the guidelines for them to follow.
o Group the Students into their “Kingdoms” and allow them to create their
kingdom’s crest.
 Exit Ticket
o What was your reaction to the Game of Thrones trailers? Are you interested
in the Middle Ages? What was the cause of the Roman Empire collapsing?

Assessment: Informal assessment of the students’ reactions to the Game of Thrones trailer or
Deadliest Warrior video. Exit Ticket to check for understanding.

Day 2- Charlemagne, King of the Franks and the Anglo-Saxons

Introduce Feudalism

Unit objectives: 2,5,10

Activities:
 Introduction
o Briefly introduce Charlemagne and his significance to Europe during the
early stages of the Middle Ages. Mention how he was the first man to be seen
as an emperor in western Europe since Rome fell. Charlemagne also
establishes the feudalism concept.
o Describe the definition of Feudalism, and introduce activity.
 Drawing Activity
o Break the students up into pairs to start the activity. Once the students are
broken into pairs, pass each group out a piece of paper with images of
different countries.
o Once the students have received the image of their country, the students will
then draw boundaries representing the land distribution among the feudal
hierarchy.
o Students will be given roughly 12 min to complete this task. After, the class
will be brought together to share their land distribution.
o The idea behind this activity is to get the grasp of what the students already
know about feudal hierarchy and their knowledge of importance in society.
 Exit Ticket
o What do you think the importance of Feudalism was? Do you think this
process will work and why? How was Charlemagne important to Western
Europe?
Assessment: Informal assessment of student’s prior knowledge of Feudalism. Exit Ticket to
check for understanding.

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Day 8- Black Death pt.1

Unit objectives: 3,4

Activities:
 Black Death Introduction
o This day will be used to introduce the students to the Black Death.
o The students will be split evenly among the different towns and they will be
instructed to roll a dice.
o When the students roll the dice, the number on the dice will determine the
number of beans they will pull from the bag. If they pull a black bean from
the bag they contracted the plague
o If the student does not pull a black bean from the bag, they rotate clockwise
to the next town, and repeat the process until they contact the black plague.
o The reasoning from this is to let the students see how quickly the black death
can spread throughout Europe.
o This game can be repeated multiple rounds.
 After the simulation is completed, a Black Death video will be played to set the tone
for the next day.
 Exit Ticket
o What was your reaction to how the quickly the Black Death spread from the
game simulation? What do you predict the methods was to stop the spread of
the Black Death?
Assessment: Informal Assessment to gauge the student’s reactions to how quickly the Black
Death spread. Exit Ticket to check for understanding.

Day 4- Conflict Between church and state and the beginning of The Crusades
Unit Objectives- 7,8

Activates
 Debate Activity
o After the introductory lecture is complete to set the stage for the Crusades,
the students will take part in a brief debate activity.
o The class will be split in half with each side given a side to represent, either
the papacy (church) or the state (kings).
o Depending on time, this activity may spill into the next day if need be. If time
is not a problem, have the students take the rest of the class period to
research, and hold the debate the next day, if time is restricted, then hold a
Socratic seminar instead, having the students use personal feelings or notes
from textbook reading or lectures for assistance.
o The purpose of this activity is to introduce the class to the pros and cons of
both the papacy and the state.
 Exit Ticket

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 o What was the cause for the beginning of the crusades? What is your stance
on the power struggle between church vs. state and why?
Assessments- Informal assessment during the Socratic seminar or debate activity to gauge
their understanding of the conflict between the papacy and the state. Exit Ticket to check for
understanding

Day 10- Review Day for Unit Exam

Unit Objectives- 1-10

Activities
 Review Game
o At the start of class, students will take their seats and proceed to get out an
electronic device to participate in a Kahoot! review game (I have created a
brief rough draft of an example Kahoot! with limited questions that is linked
below in “Attachments”).
o Students will participate in the Kahoot! review game with one another by
answering the questions as quickly as they can to earn more points.
o The students in first, second and third place will receive extra credit on their
Unit Exam. (1st= 5pts 2nd= 3pts 3rd= 1pt).
 Study Guide
o After the review game is completed, the students will be given the rest of the
class period to complete their Study Guides that are due at the end of the
class period.
o Students may work in groups to complete the study guide. However, the
study guide when completed is worth 5pts of extra credit to be added to their
final score on the students Unit Exam.
 Exit Ticket
o How are you feeling about the Unit Exam? What questions are you not sure
of?
Assessments- Informal assessment during the Kahoot! to gauge students understanding of the
material learned during the Middle Ages unit. Exit Ticket to gauge how well the students are
prepared for the exam.

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CITATIONS
Definition of "chivalry" - English Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2017, from
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/chivalry

Definition of "knight" - English Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2017, from
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/knight

Holy Land | Definition of Holy Land in English by Oxford Dictionaries. (n.d.). Retrieved
October 30, 2017, from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/holy_land

Serf. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2017, from

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/serfdom

ATTACHMENTS
Game of Thrones Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpJYNVhGf1s

Black Death Documentary- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9kTzSN-dbg

Kahoot! Review Game- https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/cc1b0e09-8af9-4bb9-aee6-

260865441f15

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