On Sun, 24 May 1998, renihan wrote:
> >it would help the scholars on this list, before they answer your query, to
> >know of the context in which you are working. In particular, given your
> >theme, you should tell us the titles of some of the works which you have
> >already read; on that basis, you might then be able to get some suitable
> >advice. . .
>
> fair enough... here's the deal.
> it's for my grade 11 Western Civilizations class (yup, high school).
> i don't know how much more precise i can get, just because you have to
> already know quite a bit about a topic before you can narrow it down.
It's become common in US high schools to teach western or world civ with a
'world religions' framework, and although that may not be your specific
curriculum, we can find some help in that curriculum.
You might think about what you want your students (I assume you are the
teacher) to know about medieval religion, specifically (but not
exclusively) Christianity, and then work out what information and contexts
they will need to gain that knowledge. For example, if medieval Europe
was a Christian society, how did official and unofficial (popular)
Christianity shape or influence people's lives? peasants? merchants?
clergy? aristocrats? children? nonChristians (e.g. Jews in Cologne or
Muslims in Segovia)? What did medieval Christians expect when they went
to mass? if the liturgy was entirely in Latin or some in the vernacular,
how did the members of the congregation participate in the service? how
did the interior of a cathedral shape the Christian's experience? what
happened when the Host was shown to 13th century Christians (we have some
accounts)? and who was the official Church afraid of or anxious about in
the villages? what counted as heresy?
Similarly, we can ask students to think about what medieval people
actually used writing and reading for. Many medieval people experienced
books through reading aloud, either vocalizing themselves or being read
to, even if they themselves could decode the page. A person might be
literate in the vernacular without necessarily being literate in Latin.
Business literacy was essential in the 13th century, and sometimes just as
much for girls as boys, so how were medieval people taught to read and
write, in grammar schools or with tutors? Students could also learn a
great deal about medieval literacy by examining a few well chosen
manuscripts, for instance, a Carolingian Bible, a heavily glossed 12th
century school text, the Ellesmere ms of Chaucer's CT, and a 13th
century deed or charter or will.
These suggestions touch on just a few of the possible ways to teach about
medieval society and religion with high school students. I've done some
of this work my self and found the more hands on and particular, the
better. I find that using concrete examples to begin with helps the
students focus on the questions, and then we can work out to more
general points from there. There are a number of really good packets of
reproduced documents, etc. (Peasants' Revolt, Investiture Conflict,
assassination of Becket) which provide examples for classroom use.
Furthermore, the organization TEAMS (Teaching Medieval Studies) has
devoted some efforts to promoting the teaching of medieval studies in
the schools in sophisticated yet accessible ways. If you're interested,
you can contact Professor Karen Saupe, English, Calvin College (email =
[log in to unmask]).
Others on this list have offered lots of hints. Hope we have helped you
with your questions and course planning.
Mark Amsler
U of Delaware
[log in to unmask]
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|