Note: Lesson Plans are designed for 40 to 45 minute class periods.
Lesson Plan 1
Goal:
To assess students' prior knowledge of the Crusades and to introduce the "Need to Know" information regarding the Crusades.
Objectives:
As a result of this lesson, students will be able to
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1. Define the vocabulary terms: crusades, papacy, and monarchy.
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2. Explain the three major causes of the Crusades (religious, economic, and political).
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3. Evaluate which of the three causes contributed most significantly to the Crusades.
Procedures:
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1. Jumpstart/Do Now: First five minutes of class, the teacher will provide an image of crusaders engaging in battle, to each student (Suggested Images: Riley-Smith, Jonathan.
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades
. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995, pp. 21, 139, 157). Students will generate ideas about the image with prompts from the teacher (what is going on in the picture, who are the different people, what are they doing, what can you tell about the people in the picture, etc.). Students will then share their responses.
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2. The teacher will explain that the image is of Crusades and will then briefly define.
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3. The teacher will introduce the new material and vocabulary terms: crusades, papacy and monarchy as the key players in the Crusades as well as the power struggle that existed between the two groups. (My students benefit hugely from graphic organizers for note-taking purposes so it might be helpful to create something for your students to structure and organize their notes). The teacher should emphasize how it was the Pope (leader of the papacy) who decided to send the Crusades to the Holy Land.
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4. Class will then discuss possible reasons for why the Crusades may have occurred. The teacher will draw from student responses to establish the three major causes (religious, economic, and political) of the Crusades. This information should also be presented as notes.
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5. The teacher should be circulating throughout the classroom throughout the entirety of the lesson to make sure students are on task and to offer help.
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6. After discussing the three major causes of the Crusades, students will assume the historical perspective of a clergy member, a merchant, or a monarch and write a letter to persuade the Pope for why the Crusades are necessary. Students should choose whichever cause they find to be most compelling and write their argument from the perspective of the corresponding individual (clergy member: religious, merchant: economic, monarch: political).
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7. Upon completing the letter to the Pope, students will complete an Exit Slip that requires them to identify the vocabulary terms: papacy and monarchy, as well as the major causes of the Crusades.
Materials:
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1. Individual student copies of an image of crusaders during the Crusades.
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2. Graphic Organizer for note taking (self-created).
Assessments:
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1. Persuasive Letter to the Pope: Demonstrates students' ability to evaluate the major causes of the Crusades and ability to apply historical perspective in their writing.
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2. Exit Slip: Demonstrates students' mastery of the first two objectives for the lesson. The teacher should grade the exit slips immediately so they can provide feedback the following day and clarify any mishaps.
Lesson Plan 2
Goal:
To establish an understanding of the impact of geography on the Crusades.
Objectives:
As a result of this lesson, students will be able to
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1. Locate the Middle East and identify the four crusader states and the corresponding modern-day countries on a map: Edessa (Turkey), Antioch (Syria), Jerusalem (Israel), and Tripoli (Lebanon).
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2. Explain the obstacles crusaders faced in traveling to the Holy Land.
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3. Hypothesize the impact of "home field advantage" in the outcome of the Crusades.
Procedures:
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1. Jumpstart/Do Now: First five minutes of class, the teacher will provide a blank map of the world and have students identify the seven continents and as many countries as they students can.
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2. The teacher will ask how familiar students were with the Middle East and if anyone was able to identify Israel. The teacher will explain that this region of the world is where the Crusades were taking place and that it is important for the class to have a sense of "place" when talking about history.
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3. The teacher will provide individual copies of maps of Europe and the Near East before c. 1300 (Riley-Smith.
Illustrated History of the Crusades
, p. 410) and the Latin East (Riley-Smith.
Illustrated History of the Crusades
, p. 414) and have the students locate the four crusader states on both maps. The teacher will also show students which modern-day countries the Crusaders states were located in (Turkey, Syria, Israel, and Lebanon).
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4. The teacher will ask students to consider what some of the difficulties crusaders may have faced in traveling from Western Europe to the Holy Land hundreds of years ago. Students should consider accessibility of ships and caravans, distance, expenses, terrain, language, cultures, religion, disease, etc. in traveling to the Holy Land. Students will take 10 minutes to study the map and independently generate a list of obstacles faced by crusaders.
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5. Students will then form partnerships to share what some of the different obstacles they thought of (5 minutes). Student partnerships will then share their ideas with the rest of the class, as the teacher will record the ideas on the board, so all students can see.
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6. The teacher will then explain the concept of "home field advantage," using the more common sports analogy, to illustrate the point that the crusaders were protecting the Holy Land on unfamiliar terrain.
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7. Students will then hypothesize the impact of "home field advantage" on the result of the Crusades, also taking into consideration the obstacles brainstormed earlier in writing their hypothesis.
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8. Upon completing their hypothesis, students will complete an Exit Slip asking them to locate the Middle East and identify the four crusader states.
Materials:
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- Individual student copies of maps: Europe and the Near East before c. 1300, Latin East.
Assessments:
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1. Student Hypothesis: Demonstrates students' ability to apply knowledge of the obstacles faced by the crusaders along with the concept of home field advantage to evaluate the impact of geography on the result of the Crusades.
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2. Exit Slip: Demonstrates students' mastery of the first objective for the lesson. The teacher should grade the exit slips immediately so they can provide feedback the following day and clarify any mishaps.
Lesson Plan 3
Goal:
To critically read and interpret a primary source related to the Crusades and explain how the primary source contributes to our larger understanding of the Crusades.
Objectives:
As a result of this lesson, students will be able to
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1. Read and interpret a primary source related to the Crusades.
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2. Explain the role of cultural perspective on historical record keeping.
Procedures:
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1. Jumpstart/Do Now: First five minutes of class, the teacher will tell the students that something is about to happen in the classroom and they are responsible for writing down what they observe as completely as possible. (The teacher should arrange for another teacher or student to enter into the classroom, engage in a somewhat controversial conversation [such as politics or grades], over-exaggerating body language, end the conversation with the other teacher or student leaving the classroom.) After students have finished writing down their observations, the teacher will ask for two to three students to share their observation, noting differences and similarities between the different accounts. The teacher will ask the students why he/she asked them to write down their observations (because they were asked to, to create a record of what happened, to not forget in a few weeks or years).
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2. The teacher will then explain the importance of what they have just done; each student has created a primary source that in one year, they will be able to look back on and recall exactly what happened on that day, one year earlier.
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3. The teacher will ask students to think about some of the problems regarding primary sources: what do we know about the author, what kinds of bias might the author have, where did the information come from, was the author actually present during the event, what does the author base their conclusions on? These are the questions that the students will be asking themselves as they read a primary source written during the Crusades.
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4. Students will be given an individual copy of a primary source written during the Crusades (Suggested Primary Source: Eds. Allen, S.J. and Emilie Amt.
The Crusades: A Reader
,
Readings in Medieval Civilizations and Cultures: VIII
. Toronto: Broadview Press, 2003, pp. 162 - 163. Note: Previous instruction should include information about Saladin and the fall of Jerusalem). Students will also be given a guided reading template (self-created), which should include the following questions:
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a. What information can we gather about the author to help us understand how the author knows these details?
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b. Where is the author from, what is the author's position in society, was the author present during the event?
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c. What might have biased the author's account?
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d. Where does the information come from and what type of information is it - eyewitness account, financial or agricultural record, letter, religious order, political treaties, etc.?
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e. How does the author know what they are writing about?
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f. What conclusions are drawn, by the authors, from the available information?
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g. How much time has elapsed since the events described occurred?
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5. The teacher and students will read through the primary source together, with students being encouraged to underline, highlight and write on their primary source copy. While reading through the primary source, the teacher will occasionally stop to ask the students some of these questions.
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6. The teacher should work with the students through the first few questions but then allow the students to work on their own, with the teacher circulating to answer questions. Allow for a substantial amount of time for the students to work with the primary source.
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7. When most of the class is finished, ask for volunteers to share their answers with the rest of the class to try and get a general consensus of the students' conclusions.
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8. Upon completion of the primary source questions, students will complete an Exit Slip asking them to consider how someone else may have recorded the same event depicted in the primary source. What if they were Christian? What if they were the Pope? How does cultural perspective impact the way history is recorded?
Materials:
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1. Individual student copies of primary source.
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2. Individual student copies of primary source questions.
Assessments:
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1. Primary Source Questions: Demonstrates students' ability to think about and interpret primary sources based on guided reading questions.
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2. Exit Slip: Demonstrates students' mastery of the second objective for the lesson. The teacher should grade the exit slips immediately so they can provide feedback the following day and clarify any mishaps.
