Lesson Plan: What Can We Learn about the Middle Ages through Visuals?

Title

Lesson Plan: What Can We Learn about the Middle Ages through Visuals?

Creator

Cassandra Cook, Graduate Student, Fitchburg State University

Rationale

These five lesson plans are a part of an entire unit on the power of visuals. Students spend the week prior to these lessons going over how to “read” an image. Students are given practice on how to “read” various images throughout the week. They now have a "toolbox" that consists of ways to approach a visual in order to "read" it. Because each student has their own Chromebook and set of headphones, they are given various opportunities to "read" all sorts of images, from virtual tours in museums to personal choices. Our next piece of literature will take place during the Middle Ages and will include themes of race; so, prior to this, we explore how visuals can help us understand race in order to provide background knowledge that the book does not. This contributes to students' overall understanding of not only the plot of the reading, but also their approach to any type of visual in general.

Proposed Class Grade/Size

10th Grade

Objectives

Day 1

By the end of class today, students will be able to:

  1. Collaborate with peers by using speaking and listening skills on various topics
  2. Gain background knowledge on visuals of the Middle Ages
  3. Write observations on artwork of people of color from the Middle Ages
Day 2

By the end of class today, students will be able to:

  1. Continue to build empathy for people of color who lived in the Middle Ages
  2. Read and summarize an article on race in the Middle Ages
  3. Collaborate with peers to share ideas about race in the Middle Ages
  4. Develop more conclusions about race in the Middle Ages and how that impacts the visuals of the time period
Day 3

By the end of class today, students will be able to"

  1. Analyze a video on how they explore visuals from the Middle Ages that have to do with race
  2. Write about a piece of visual art from the Middle Ages that has to do with race
  3. Collaborate with peers on discussions related to the content
  4. Reflect on how their work can help them understand the unit topics
Day 4

By the end of class today, students will be able to:

  1. Identify an image of interest from the Middle Ages of people of color
  2. Analyze an image of interest from the Middle Ages
  3. Collaborate with peers to share ideas and provide feedback
Day 5

By the end of class today, students will be able to:

  1. Collaborate in a formal, academic discussion with peers
  2. Practice speaking and listening skills, formally
  3. Reflect on what they have learned/explored this week

Essential Questions

  1. How can we “read” visuals?
  2. What can we learn about race in the Middle Ages through reading visuals from the time period?

Bibliography

Heng, Geraldine. ​"An African Saint In Medieval Europe: The Black Saint Maurice And The Enigma Of Racial Sanctity." ​Sainthood and Race : Marked Flesh, Holy Flesh, edited by Molly H. Bassett and Vincent W. Lloyd, Taylor and Francis, 2014, pp.18-44, https://www.academia.edu/5633688/An_African_Saint_in_Medieval_Europe_The_Black_St_Maur ice_and_the_Enigma_of_Racial_Sanctity?fbclid=IwAR3mQ7MJHpDXGno4mUYK7MhA75ACxgM 7Lmn6J3dWAMCaqQ6JeYnkl4wfRYc. 

Heng, Geraldine. "Did Race And Racism Exist In The Middle Ages?". ​Not Even Past​, 2018, https://notevenpast.org/did-race-and-racism-exist-in-the-middle-ages/.

"How To 'Read' A Painting." ​The National Gallery,​ 2020, https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/learning/teachers-and-schools/teaching-english-and-drama/ho w-to-read-a-painting?viewPage=3​.

Lindquist, Sherry C.M., and Asa Simon Mittman. "Race, Monstrosity, And The Other In Medieval Art." Medievalists.net​, 2020, https://www.medievalists.net/2018/06/race-monstrosity-and-the-other-in-medieval-art/.

"Medievalpoc: People Of Color In European Art History." ​Tumblr,​ 2020, https://medievalpoc.tumblr.com/archive. 

Perry, David. "Yes, There Were People Of Color In Pre-Modern Europe." ​Pacific Standard,​ 2017, https://psmag.com/education/yes-there-were-poc-in-medieval-europe.

Sturtevant, Paul. "Race, Racism, And The Middle Ages: Tearing Down The “Whites Only” Medieval World." ​The Public Medievalist​, 2017, https://www.publicmedievalist.com/race-racism-middle-ages-tearing-whites-medieval-world/.

Files

Citation

Cassandra Cook, Graduate Student, Fitchburg State University, “Lesson Plan: What Can We Learn about the Middle Ages through Visuals?,” Teaching the Middle Ages in Higher Ed, accessed May 5, 2024, https://medievalhighered.omeka.net/items/show/53.