Subject: Social Studies
Lesson Length: 40 - 45 mins
Topic: Middle Ages and Feudalism
Brief Description: Students will understand why Feudalism was developed and the social hierarchy that resulted from this political landscape.
Know Before You Start: Students should have knowledge of the fall of the Roman Empire and the chaos and violence that ensued throughout Western Europe as different groups were fighting for power.
Hook:
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Ask students what would happen if the United States lost its power and there was no one to lead. The discussion should flow towards what was happening in Western Europe after the Fall of Rome.
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Read and discuss the sample comic.
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Discuss social hierarchies and whether the U.S. has one or if they feel that one would develop through chaos from a lack of leadership.
Activity:
- Introduce the following vocabulary:
- Serf
- Vassal
- Lord
- Feudalism
- Social Hierarchy
- Fief
- Using the sample comic as a guide, have students create a four-panel comic describing the system of feudalism. Have them include:
- Why feudalism was established.
- How the system works.
- The social hierarchy.
- Who benefited and who did not benefit.
Closure:
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Display comics for the whole class to view.
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Provide students with a graphic organizer to apply what they've learned.
Differentiation:
- Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
- Allow students to use the voiceover feature to read their comics aloud.
- Allow students to work in pairs or groups as needed.
- Provide a printout of the sample comic for student reference.
Castles
Ancient Rome
