Name: The Black Death Grade Level: 10th

Lesson Plan

Teacher: Becky Fry Time Length: 55 min

Topic: Middle Ages, the Black Death Colorado State Standards: CO (DOK 1-2) - Investigate causes and effects of significance events in world history. - Analyze historical information, including primary sources (DOK 1-3) Classroom Objectives: 1.Explain the causes of the Black Plague 2.Use primary sources to describe conditions of the Black Plague 3.Identify the effects of the Black Plague Preparation Purpose: the purpose of this lesson is to add to the general study of the medieval period. It is also laying foundation for the study of the Renaissance and Reformation for the world history class. Materials: Teacher 1. PowerPoint 2. Identity cards 3. Student hand out Student 1. Pencil or pen Procedure 1. Anticipatory set: (5 min) a. The teacher will have a picture projected on the screen that is a medieval village. The teacher will invite the students to come up to the board and identify as many unsanitary things they can identify in the picture (throwing human excrement out the window, animal in the river, someone washing clothes in the river, etc.). After discussing the picture, the teacher will send the students back to their desks to fill out the warm up questions on their notes sheet: i. What unsanitary conditions do you see in the picture? ii. What does this picture tell us about the medieval village life? 2. Presentation of the Content: (15 min) a. The teacher will have one student read the objectives for the day

b. The teacher will begin the PowerPoint interactive lecture. c. On slides 5, 8, 13, the teacher will stop and ask the students to read/analyze the primary source on the board. They will then answer the questions on their notes sheet about the primary source: 1. According to Boccaccio, where did the Black Plague come from? 2. How do historians think the plague arrived in Europe? 3. According to this picture, why did the Black Plague occur? 4. According to Boccaccio, what were the symptoms of the Black Plague? d. Discussion: (10 min) i. The teacher asks the class: look at the class around you. What changes would happen if in just a few weeks half the room died? What changes would happen in your school community if that occurred in every classroom at your school? Consider the bus drivers, custodians and cafeteria workers. Would it affect the city? Sales of certain merchandise? The existing power structure? ii. The teacher will give the students 5 minutes to journal what they think would happen, then calls on students to give their answers. d. Guided Practice: (15 min) i. While the students where journaling, the teacher will go around the room and tell the students to pick a medieval identity card from the box. ii. After the discussion, the teacher will ask each student who he/she is in medieval life (serf, lord, vassal, squire, butcher, etc.). The teacher will then ask how life will change in medieval times if that person died? Each student will explain his or her answer while the teacher records it on the black board. iii. The teacher will then ask the students to look at all of the issues that came with certain people dying during the black plague. The teacher will then ask is there anything good that came from the black plague. iv. Students will do a think-pair-share with this question. The teacher will call on the students and record their responses on the board. e. Independent Practice: (5-6 min) i. Students will read the handout What Happened After and record the five causes of the effects of the black plague and record them on their notes sheet. If the students do not finish, it is homework f. Closure: (4-5 min) i. The teacher will show the students the nursery rhyme ring around the rosie and explain how it applies to the Black Death.

Evaluation of the lesson 1. Questions throughout the lesson 2. Collecting the notes sheet 3. Quiz next class over the 3 objectives