Lesson One

Inquiry Question: What was life like for a medieval serf and how do you know?

Texts
Text A- The Feudal System
Text B- The Peasant and Serf Life

Materials
Student Interactive Notebook
Peasant/Serf Chart Handout

Activities
1. Individual Think-Write
Think about the hardest job you have ever had to do. Why did you have to do this job? What were your responsibilities? What were you expected to do? What made it so hard? Write about this experience in your interactive notebook.

2. Pair Share
Now you are going to share your experience with your partner. You may either read what you wrote in the box in your interactive notebook or just tell them about your experience. Notice the commonalities and differences between your experiences.

3. Whole Class Share
Be ready to share something you wrote or heard with the class when the teacher asks you for your ideas.

4. Individual Think-Write
We will be investigating the life of the commoner in Medieval Europe under feudalism. Common people were called peasants and serfs, but there were definite differences between these two groups. Read Text A and Text B. Try to identify what makes someone a peasant and what makes someone a serf. While reading, make your thinking visible by Talking to the Text.

5. Pair Share
Before talking to your partner, star three ideas in your Talking to the Text that you want to share. These ideas might be questions, comments, connections, or predictions. With your partner, go through Text A and Text B, discussing your thinking. Take turns sharing and listening.

6. Whole Class Share
Be ready to share something you wrote or heard with the class when the teacher asks you for your ideas. The teacher will chart your responses on the board. Take notes, following along with your teacher on the graphic organizer on the next page. When the discussion is over, you will be making a statement about the life of a commoner.