Lesson Plan: Anti-Semitism and the Medieval World

A major component of the curriculum map for grade eight is a unit covering the Holocaust and the drama version of The Diary of Anne Frank. Each year, I dedicate roughly ten class blocks of fifty minutes to providing background information for the Holocaust prior to reading the play. This setup utilizes videos, magazines, newspaper articles, historical informative texts, and images. While I had not considered incorporating texts of the Middle Ages in my teaching of the Holocaust, nor a tracing of anti-Semitism and the long history of this hate, after learning more and diving deeper into this subject, it is my mission to incorporate this content into my own classroom to provide my students with the opportunity to not only be exposed to the literature of the Middle Ages, but also to help them in developing a deeper understanding of anti-Semitism and its history.

When developing a lesson sequence dedicated to this topic, I ended up making some difficult decisions to cut certain texts out that I had hoped to include, for the sake of student understanding and reading level. I also opted to include more in terms of introduction to present the new vocabulary for the unit, such as discrimination and anti-Semitism. With this being said, the lesson sequence begins with students brainstorming their own defintion of discrimination, and then developing this definition further with support from the Dr. Seuss story, Sneetches. The film version that I plan to share with the students is brief and effective: it will be easy for them to digest and will serve an as engaging launch pad for us to begin our conversation around discrimination.

Following this activity, we will then draw a connection between discrimination, a concept that they have prior knowledge of and a certain level of comfortability with, and anti-Semitism, which is a new concept for my eighth-grade students. I am sure that some students will be familiar with the terminology. However, considering that each year the majority of my students do not know what the Holocaust is, I will assume that most will have no background for this term whatsoever. That being said, we will begin with a discussion around two symbols of the Holocaust, the Star of David and the Swastika. Following our discussion, we will watch the Scholastic Anchor video for the Holocaust and have a brief discussion regarding the Holocaust (we will look at this topic *at a glance*, which is my way of sharing with students the crucial information needed to move forward, while acknowledging that we must revisit this topic for further discussion). For this background, we will discuss the Holocaust as a whole, Adolf Hitler, and Nazi Propaganda. This will lead us into a discussion around the history of anti-Semitism that predates the Holocaust. After learning more about literature in the Middle Ages, I have determined that it is crucial for students the understand that vast history of anti-Semitism that came before the Holocaust in order to not only understand how those events were able to unfold as they did, but also to understand what appropriation means, why Hitler utilized certain narratives and mindsets, and why this is still an issue in today’s world. With that being said, our discussion on day two will lead us into a Jigsaw Activity in which the students will read an informative piece written by the Anti-Defamation League to help us prepare for our future analysis of “The Prioress’s Tale."

After the first two days of preliminary work in understanding why this is essential information to our studies, we are now ready to begin analyzing literature of the Middle Ages, looking for and analyzing the anti-Semitism that exists. This process would likely take two to three class blocks of fifty minutes, but it is hard to tell before walking through the complex text with a class previously. This means that flexibility in timing is key for this lesson sequence. I would like to begin this discussion with a warm-up question that will be revisited at the end of the unit: Why is it that people are so quick to believe in stereotypes or the public’s view of a person or group of people? We discussed this with our Outsiders unit, but I’d like you to consider this in the frame of anti-Semitism. Why do people reach for hate?

After the students reflect on this question, we will familiarize ourselves with some secondary texts that may serve as a lead-up and introduction to “The Prioress’s Tale.” We will perform a Think-Pair-Share to discuss the article from The Public Medievalist, “A Tale of Two Europes: Jews in the Medieval World.” Following this Think-Pair-Share and discussion, we will begin our Active Reading of “The Prioress’s Tale.” I love the Librarius translation and would therefore use this resource as my eighth grade students will struggle enough with the modern translation, let alone if I were to expose them only to the Middle English version. As we read, students will be engaged through the read aloud process that they have grown accustomed to, and, additionally, I will be stopping periodically to check for understanding and to have the students verbally summarize what they are reading. What will make this reading “Active,” in addition to the verbal summarization, will be the students diligent note taking of lines or groups of lines that demonstrate anti-Semitism. We will then complete a passage analysis with our focus on anti-Semitism. We will complete this passage analysis within our Expert Groups from our Jigsaw activity, and students that require guided notes and sample selections will receive the necessary accommodations based on their IEP.

I would love to end this lesson sequence an image analysis of "The Standard Bearer," the 1935 image of Adolf Hitler depicted as a medieval knight, and use this image as a connection point between our discussion of anti-Semitism in the Middle Ages and how this serves as a precursor, and perhaps foreshadowing, of the atrocities that occured during the Holocaust and under the command of  Hitler. In this image analysis, I would love students to consider the purpose of the symbols within the image and the political message that is being sent. 

The lesson sequence will end with the students completing a self reflection considering the significance of these events and the treatment of a group of people in their own lives. What aspects of the history of anti-Semitism do students find most relevant to their own experiences? Do students think that people today can learn something from this history? If so, what? If not, why not? Finally, I would like students to consider what groups are still discriminated against today in the United States? In the world? Describe other examples of segregation, discrimination, and persecution in today's global society. What steps can be taken to fight these examples of inhumane behavior?

We have dedicated time this year focusing on stereotypes through The Outsiders, immigration, classism, and women’s rights in Uprising, and now I would like students to discuss these concepts in relation to anti-Semitism, with the hope that they can recognize how all of these injustices are connected.

Massachusetts State Curriculum Framework Standards

Reading Literature:

RL.8.1. Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports analysis of what a text states explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, quoting or paraphrasing as appropriate. (See grade 8 Writing Standard 8 for more on quoting and paraphrasing.)

RL.8.2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of a text.

Reading Information Texts:

RI.8.1. Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what a text states explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, quoting or paraphrasing as appropriate. (See grade 8 Writing Standard 8 for more on quoting and paraphrasing.)

RI.8.2. Determine a text’s central idea(s) and analyze its/their development over the course of the text, including relationships to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of a text.

Writing:

W.8.2.b. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
a. Develop the topic with relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.

Speaking and Listening:

SL.8.1.a. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
a. Come to discussions prepared, having read or researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on.

SL.8.2. Analyze the purpose of information presented in diverse media and formats (visually) and evaluate the motives (e.g., social, commercial, political) behind its presentation.

Language:

L.8.4.a. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words or phrases based on grade 8 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
a. Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word’s position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

1. Students will be able to develop a personal definition for discrimination and apply that definition to analyze a group of characters in a movie.
2. Students will be able to develop an understanding of anti-semitism and the historical context behind the events of the Holocaust.
3. Students will be able to analyze a literary text for anti-Semitism and discuss the elements that make the text engaging.
4. Students will be able to analyze an image for anti-Semitic symbolism.

1. Students will be able to write responses to probing questions in complete sentences (sentence starters will be provided to students on IEPs as needed).
2. Students will be able to write a paragraph response in which they develop their own definition for discrimination while explaining and analyzing how they see this developed in the film.
3. Students will be able to verbally demonstrate their understanding of a reading by summarizing (within groups) a particular section of the text by participating in a Jigsaw activity.
4. Students will be able to verbally demonstrate the reactivation of prior knowledge.
5. Students will be able to complete a Think-Pair-Share activity incorporating their speaking and listening skills when analyzing a secondary source.
6. Students will be able to Actively Read a text by marking particular lines that demonstrate anti-Semitism.
7. Students will be able to analyze this text in writing by completing a Passage Analysis.
8. Students will be able to perform a Text-to-Self Connection by writing a reflection.

1. What is discrimination and why does discrimination exist? How does discrimination affect the groups that are targeted?
2. What is anti-Semitism and why does anti-Semitism exist? How does a history of hate impact our world today?
3. How can historical events and circumstances relate to and affect our own lives? 
4. How does an individual or group attain or maintain power? (This one is not addressed directly in this lesson sequence, but I’d like to work towards incorporating this question into the larger unit with this lesson sequence as a precursor)

“A Brief History of Anti-Semitism.” Anti-Defamation League, 2013, www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/education-outreach/Brief-History-on-Anti-Semitism-A.pdf.

Bale, Anthony. “Representing and Misrepresenting Jews in Medieval Culture.” The Getty; J. Paul Getty Trust, University of London, Birbeck, www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/outcasts/downloads/bale_misrepresenting_jews.pdf.

Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Prioress's Prologue and Tale.” From The Canterbury Tales: The Prioress's Tale (Modern English and Middle English), Librarius, 1997, www.librarius.com/canttran/priotrfs.htm.

Friedman, Albert B. “The ‘Prioress's Tale’ and Chaucer's Anti-Semitism.” The Chaucer Review, vol. 9, no. 2, 1974, pp. 118–129. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25093296. 

Heng, Geraldine. The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Kaufman, Amy S. “A Tale of Two Europes: Jews in the Medieval World.” Race, Racism, and the  Middle Ages, The Public Medievalist, 20 June 2017, www.publicmedievalist.com/tale-two-europes-jews-medieval-world/.

Sturtevant, Paul B. “Ripping Anti-Semitism Out by Its Roots.” Race, Racism, and the Middle Ages, The Public Medievalist, 1 Nov. 2018, www.publicmedievalist.com/anti-semitism-violence/.