C7 Main Lesson - Middle Ages History
During their year in Class 7, the students go through a transformative process of getting to know themselves and exploring the world around them. They are curious about different cultures, social structures, and ‘origin’ stories. The curriculum meets this need with an amazing array of Main Lesson topics such as Physics, Algebra, Indigenous Cultures, Human Biology, Chemistry, Creative Writing and three incredible Historic periods. The first one we start with is the Middle Ages; a thousand years of events and experiences which have shaped and developed the culture we are still a part of today.
Throughout this Main Lesson, the students were able to ‘live’ the lives of Monks, Lords, Knights and Serfs through a range of experiential activities. They designed and built their own defensive castles with sand; they successfully learned two different medieval dances and performed them in full medieval dress, they constructed a feudal society out of coffee rock and their ‘Illuminated Manuscripts’ were done in class with a feeling of reverence and finished off with gold leaf.
In the final week they were asked to create a two-page poster on what they had learned about the Middle Ages. The results were incredible. The students were confident in retelling experiences and sharing the information which was clearly alive inside them. I felt very privileged to have been a part of such a deep and positive learning experience.
Mary-Jo Masmanian
Class 7 & German Teacher