Medieval Life

Welcome Lords and Ladies!

This website will serve as our resource share page where I will place important links, handouts, and job aids to help you complete your Medieval Identity activities and assignments.

Objectives

  By the end of this lesson students will understand...

• What Medieval life was like by reading diaries and records of the period.
• Social standings and the benefits privileged individuals enjoyed like education, reading, and writing.

Activity

1. Everyone is responsible to research how and why a coat of arms was used. Google search will be used to explore the Internet resources available to you. Use Google to find answers to these questions:

a)      What is a coat of arms?

b)      What did a coat of arms mean?

c)      Did everyone have one?  Why or why not?
 

2. Based on what you learn from your investigation, create your personal coat of arms. Each coat of arms will be different and represent the things that are most important to the designer.
3. On Friday, everyone will present his or her coat of arms to the class and explain what it means and why they chose the different design elements (like colors, shapes, graphics, etc.).  This activity will be part of you Medieval Times presentation; please include your coat of arms as part of your PowerPoint presentation.

Remember, there are three parts to this assignment. The entire project is due by the end of the week. 

 

Resources

Kuehnle, M. (2009). Medieval Times WebQuest - http://questgarden.com/88/01/5/091116112202/index.htm

Ian's Land of Castles - http://www.oberlin.edu/faculty/ndarling/castle/castles.htm

 

Discovery Education - The Middle Ages - http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/the-middle-ages.cfm

Google Search - https://www.google.com/


Reading Resources

Knights in Armor

John D. Clare, ed. San Diego: Gulliver Books, 1992

Women in the Middle Ages were not regarded as men's equals. Read about a woman's world of arranged marriages, cooking, obedience, sewing and weaving, making music and reading stories about love and chivalry.

 

Medieval Life

Andrew Langley. Photographs by Geoff Dann and Geoff Brightling. New York: Knopf, 1996

The many illustrations and pictures in this book will help you understand what it meant to be a woman living in the Middle Ages.

 

 

Also on this share site:

• Google Search Quick Reference Guide
• Coat of Arms work sheet
• Creating Your Coat of Arms

 

Evaluation:

Evaluation Module 2: Medieval Life
category	4 exceeds standards	3 meets standards	2 needs improvement	1 below standards	score
research	Notes are recorded, organized, extremely neat, and uses the provided outline for coat of arms, crest, and family motto information.	Notes are recorded legibly, are somewhat organized and use the provided outline on the form and function of the coat of arms.	Notes are recorded but the provided outline was disregarded.	Notes are recorded only with peer/teacher assistance and reminders.
coat of arms design	Design is well thought out, uses colors, symbols and images that are aligned with personal values. Coat of arms includes a crest or motto in the design.	Design is thought out, uses colors, symbols, and images that are aligned with personal values.	Design uses colors, symbols, and images some of which are aligned with personal values.	Design is incomplete and unaligned with personal values.
coat of arms explanation [written]	No grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors in the blog journal entry. Accurately identifies symbolism.	3-5 grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors throughout the blog journal entry. Accurately identifies symbolism	5-10 grammatical spelling, or punctuation errors throughout the blog journal entry. Partially identifies symbolism	More than 11 grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors in the blog journal entry
presentation [powerpoint is not graded except for grammar]	Students accurately describe purpose of a coat of arms. Describes choices and relevance. The information is factual and well-researched.	Students describe purpose of a coat of arms. Describes choices and relevance. The information is lacking facts.	Students only provide completed standard. The information is lacking facts or explanation of choices.	The standard is incomplete. The presentation was not researched and the information was not factual.
Column totals					Score  _______

Create Your Coat of Arms

Introduction

Using a printed activity sheet, create a personal coat of arms that reflects who you are. Remember to research the colors, shapes and animals you may want to use for your personal shield.  

 

My coat of arms has three nettle leaves on a gold shield with a red chevron. These elements each mean something different to my family (Figure 1). Choose features that help to explain who you are and what is important to you. For example, you might select an Owl to show you are smart or a harp to show you like music. The colors, shapes and images should reflect who you are or want to be - so choose wisely.

Follow the instructions below to create your Coat of Arms to present to the class. 

Description

Figure 1

Step 1:  Go to our classroom resource pages (below) and print your shield worksheet.   

Figure 2

 



 

 

Step 2: Use your Internet research to pick a color for your shield. For example, my family believed it was important to give to others.  The color gold was selected because it means generosity. We also believe in military service, so the color red was also added (seen below).

 

 

 



Figure 3

 

 

 



Step 3: Pick a design you like.  This design can be a shape, animal, or plant (or a combination of elements).  For example, if you like reading or learning you might pick a scroll or book. To show strength you might chose a lion or a dragon to show wisdom. Use your research to help you pick something that suits you.

 

 

FIgure 4

 

 

Step 4: Add your name to your coat of arms once it is designed.

 

 

The coat of arms depicted in Figure 4 could mean that this person is generous (gold color), they believe in military service or protecting others (red), and they value wisdom (dragon).  What will your coat of arms mean?

 

 

Coat of Arms Activity Sheet

 

 

 

 

 

Activity Sheet Printing Instructions: 1). Right click on image, 2). Click 'Print'

 

Quick Guide: Using Google Search

Introduction

The Internet has a lot of information available for people to use. There are pictures, stories, movies, and educational things we can download day or night. There is so much stuff that sometimes we need help finding what we are looking for, so we use a search engine like Google. To help you use Google quickly and easily, follow this quick guide.

Description

Step 1: Log on to the Internet and type: https://www.google.com and hit ‘enter’. The Google search engine will appear (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Step 2: Type what you want to find in the search box and hit enter. For example, for this week’s “Coat of Arms Activity”,you could type in medieval, middle ages, coat of arms, or the word heraldry(Figure 2), to begin your research.

Figure 2

Google will find the best matches to your request. Each match comes with a hyperlink, typed and underlined in blue for you to click on with your mouse.

 

Step 3: Make your selection and click on the link.The Internet will take you to the website you selected. For example, if you clicked on Fantasy Shields from your list of Google search results, you would be taken to that website. To get started with your search try visiting the Family Crest and Coat of Arms Generator at: 

http://www.mytribe101.com/crest/ .

Many websites like this one will help you to complete the Coat of Arms activity. If you have questions, please ask me.

Good luck!