7.6 The Dark Ages
Media Guide
| Name | Type | Description |
The Dark Ages | DVD | Fantastic documentary from the History Channel. It is broken up into easily chunked segments and covers a variety of topics that are ignored elsewhere. It is entertaining and contains a ton of information but it is long. As a result I only use pieces of it. |
Monty Python and the Holy Grail | DVD | Absolutely not classroom appropriate taken as a whole movie. That said, there are some great scenes that bring some much needed humor to topics like the black death, religious zeal and war. This is especially fun when it is mixed in with very serious clips and notes and given no introduction or hint that something funny is coming. |
| Terry Jones' Medieval Lives | DVD | There are multiple episodes but really the only one I use is the one on peasants. Jones' understated description of the medieval staple food pottage is utterly brilliant ("it's fairly disgusting..."). Entertaining in small doses but often hard for my students to follow due to the accent. |
Terry Jones' The Crusades | DVD | Very similar to the Medieval Lives series only a much more focused topic. Great information and interesting presentation though the accent issue remains. Again, wonderful in small doses. More useful for Late Middle Ages but there are some good points about society that fit in with the earlier period. |
| Modern Marvels: Castles and Dungeons | DVD | Great episode of the history channel series Modern Marvels. I show about an 8 minute piece that details all the traps an attacker would face in trying to take over a castle. |
A Knight's Tale | DVD | Very good movie for entertainment value, not so much for education. I show the joust scene when I discuss entertainment options in Medieval Europe. |
| Simpsons Season 13: Tales from the Public Domain | DVD | Not yet released season of the Simpsons but should be coming soon. It contains two great episodes. This particular episode has Simpsonized tellings of the story of Joan of Arc AND Hamlet. Both require minor editing for content but are very well done. I use the Hamlet part when I discuss Shakespeare in the Renaissance unit later. |
Family Guy Vol. 2: Mr. Saturday Knight | DVD | Peter signs up for the local Renaissance faire and hilarity ensues. Contains one of my favorite history references in modern pop culture as Peter's trainer yells at him "YOU LOVE THE MIDDLE AGES DON'T YOU?!" and he replies "Sir, yes sir!" The joust scene itself requires some edits to be classroom ready. |
Shrek | DVD | I show the short Robin Hood clip in my Robin Hood notes and a clip of Shrek saving the princess when we discuss the fiction versus reality of knights. |
| The Worst Jobs in History | Video | Not currently available for purchase that I've found but if you can get your hands on it do so. This is an absolute must for a middle school classroom. I've linked to a YouTube clip of one of the episodes that shows the job of fuller. Definite can't miss! |
Masters of Chant | CD | This is a collection of semi-modern (mostly from the 90s) songs done in Gregorian chants. Many of them do have a new agey sort of chimes and bells background to them which does damper the historic comparissons a bit but this is a great way to introduce students to medieval music. I like to put the songs on during passing period throughout the unit to give the students a reason to come to class early. |
Cathedral | DVD | Unique documentary that is half live "action" and half animated. The animated segments are interesting in short bursts but the live stuff is largely dated and looks it. Some of it is useful, however and this is worth having in a classroom collection. |
Castle | DVD | Very similar to Cathedral above but since there are so many other videos out there about castles you could skip over it, still good though. |
Teacher's Guide
Dark Ages Powerpoint Lecture Notes
Weekly plan
I. Geography
a. Notes about country divisions and geography differences.
b. European Kingdoms Lab (1-2 days)
I designed this my first year of teaching meaning it is a bit bloated (little did I understand the attention span of 12 year olds then) but I still use parts of it. I’ve posted the whole thing because I use different parts different years depending on how I feel. Essentially it is designed to show students how Europe broke into smaller kingdoms after the fall of the Roman Empire. They design flags and laws and choose a location for their kingdom which earns them points based on geographic advantages. Very fun but can be very involved depending how far you want to take it.
II. Society
a. Covers the daily life of the peasants with a focus on the role of the church during this time.
b. Culture shock or Walkthrough
III. Knights and Kings
a. Covers the role of the knights in Europe and the rise of the kings. There is a comparion between the legends kids know about knights and the reality. There is also a section on Charlemagne.
b. Culture shock or Walkthrough
IV. Feudalism
a. This section explains what Feudalism is and why the peasants willingly supported it. It ends with a short section on the vikings and how Europe would need to unite to better deal with her problems.
b. TCI Feudalism sim (www.teachtci.com)
This is an activity from History Alive. You’d really need the materials from them to do it. Students each are assigned classes from the feudal system that they then act out throughout class- incredible lab in all respects. I highly recommend you track it down.