1. MYP unit planner
Unit title Medieval Europe
Teacher(s) M.O’Sullivan
Subject and grade level Yr8-Humanities-MYP 2
Time frame and duration 10 weeks
Stage 1: Integrate significant concept, area of interaction and
unit question
Area of interaction focus Significant concept(s)
Which area of interaction will be our focus? What are the big ideas? What do we want our
Why have we chosen this? students to retain for years into the future?
Community and Service Societies create hierarchies of
different types in different contexts
with different consequences.
MYP unit question
How do communities structure themselves?
Assessment
What task(s) will allow students the opportunity to respond to the unit question?
What will constitute acceptable evidence of understanding? How will students show what they have understood?
Summative assessment:
A research project-Investigate Clothing, Feudal System, Lifestyle, Timeline and significant events,
Housing, Weaponry and significant people.
Outfit design for Medieval Day.
Which specific MYP objectives will be addressed during this unit?
A Knowledge
• Terminology
• Knowledge & understanding- demonstrate content knowledge
B Concepts
• Time-show an understanding of people in past societies
• Place –understand constraints and opportunities afforded by location

2. C Skills
• Technical-use a variety of media and technologies to research, select, interpret and
communicate data
• Analytical-identify key questions, problems and issues
• Investigative-plan, carry out and present individual and group investigations
D Organisation & Presentation
• Communication-communicate information that is relevant to the topic
• Organisation-organise information in a logically sequenced manner, appropriate to the
format used
• Presentation-present and express information and ideas in a clear and concise manner,
using appropriate language, style and visual representation
• Referencing and bibliography
Which MYP assessment criteria will be used?
B Concepts – Differences and Diversity
C Skills – Technically, analytically and using decision-making skills to collect relevant information through
historical research
D Organisation and presentation, referencing- Oral presentation of their findings on Medieval Europe.
Stage 2: Backward planning: from the assessment to the
learning activities through inquiry
Content
What knowledge and/or skills (from the course overview) are going to be used to enable the student to respond to the unit
question?
What (if any) state, provincial, district, or local standards/skills are to be addressed? How can they be unpacked to develop the
significant concept(s) for stage 1?
In this unit students will further develop their understanding of key historical concepts and the process of
historical inquiry through individual and group exploration of the society and civilisation of Medieval Europe. s
Approaches to learning
How will this unit contribute to the overall development of subject-specific and general approaches to learning skills?
o Set basic principles and standards of bookwork
Historical skills to be integrated into this topic:
• reading and understanding historical texts
• sequencing events within the specific period of time
• using historical terms and concepts in appropriate contexts
• identifying different types of sources relevant the study of Medieval Europe
• drawing conclusions about the usefulness of sources for an historical inquiry
• identifying perspectives of different individuals in society
• interpreting history within the context of the actions, values, attitudes and motives of people of from

3. Medieval Europe.
• Communicating effectively orally
• using knowledge, understanding and relevant evidence to create appropriate historical texts
ICT skills appropriate for this topic may include:
• locating, selecting and organising information from a range of sources, including a website
• using an image bank to gather relevant images for an historical inquiry
• communicating effectively about the past through a desktop-published document
Learning experiences Teaching strategies
How will we use formative assessment to give students feedback
How will students know what is expected of them? Will during the unit?
they see examples, rubrics, templates?
What different teaching methodologies will we employ?
How will students acquire the knowledge and practise
the skills required? How will they practise applying How are we differentiating teaching and learning for all? How have
these? we made provision for those learning in a language other than their
mother tongue? How have we considered those with special
Do the students have enough prior knowledge? How will educational needs?
we know?
Assessment for learning activity- pre-test Students select area of interest from chapter 6.3 6.5, 6.6,
Using Retro Active 1 complete pretest. 6.8, 6.11, 6.12, 6.13, 6.14, 6.16,6.17, 6.18 of Retro 1 and
Teacher exposition on the development of society form groups of three/four. Each group researches the topic.
from Roman rule until Then using the jigsaw method Students form new groups
end of 500. The changes that had occurred in with a member being an expert in one area. Students then
Europe, politically and socially share information and answer questions from the group.
Students read 156, 157, 158, 159 and complete Each student’s contribution is assessed by their peers.
Researching and Communicating p159 in pairs.
Present information to small group. Medieval Incursion
Teacher explains the levels and organization of Students aim to participate in a Medieval Feast (Week 2 of
the Feudal System. Term 3 when unit will be completed.)
Using ICT skills students create a “balance sheet”
on advantages and disadvantages of Feudal Students view video of The Plague and read chapter 6.18
system for kings, nobles and peasants. Health , Hygiene, Diseases and Death. Complete Check
Assessment for learning comprehension Your Understanding 1,2,3. Using Sources 1,2,3. Select
After teacher explanation and class discussion Researching and Communication and Worksheet activities
student complete a 6.2 Feudal System- A Place as appropriate to class. Not available- 9/2010
for Everyone. or Video of Joan of Arc. Read 6.8 Law, Order and Crime
P161 Check Your Understanding Q 1,2,3 Using Control Complete “ The Mystery of the Maiden “
Sources 1,2 and Researching and Learning Activity accessed form Retro 1 discs Learning
Communicating Activities or chapter 6.8
Assessment of learning activity -Empathy task After completion of these activities discuss the importance
commence week 4 of these events and what they tell us about Medieval
Students locate, select, organise information and Europe.
use this knowledge of social class and structure
and government to present an empathetic Differentiation
portrayal of a member of medieval society. Extension Technologically impossible-not done/-9/2010
Research individual negotiated topic to produce an
information page with illustrations on a medieval web
Students create a Portfolio over 9 week period. page.
The Portfolio will be checked Wk 3,6,9. They will Students locate and analyse ten different sources.
investigate:- Then select and organise information.
*Daily Life Locate and download images to support information they
*Castles have written. Peer assessed.
*Clothing Mixed ability classes
*Feudal System Students using the text book 6.11 Life as a Peasant,
*Punishment p178; 6.12 Farm work and Farm Technology, p180;
6.13 A Man’s World and A Women’s Place In It, p
182; and a range of internet site and books from the

4. The above textbooks were merely used as a library research life in towns. Create a digital town
reference. The page references were used as using Kahootz.
an option only by the students in their Assess
Task. 20/9/2010
Resources
What resources are available to us?
How will our classroom environment, local environment and/or the community be used to facilitate students’ experiences during
the unit?
Retro Active 1
Jacaranda History 1
Humanities Alive: History 1, level 5
Websites
Medieval Incursion-Medieval Feast in costume-End of unit
Pangaea site Medieval Europe
Castles and Knights 940.1 KNI
Global Issues 3: p.31 Education for all – How can we bridge the digital divide?
“Taming of the Shrew”-Elizabeth Taylor version
Ongoing reflections and evaluation
In keeping an ongoing record, consider the following questions. There are
further stimulus questions at the end of the “Planning for teaching and learning”
section of MYP: From principles into practice.
Students and teachers
What did we find compelling? Were our disciplinary knowledge/skills challenged in any way?
What inquiries arose during the learning? What, if any, extension activities arose?
How did we reflect—both on the unit and on our own learning?
Which attributes of the learner profile were encouraged through this unit? What opportunities were there for student-initiated
action?
Possible connections
How successful was the collaboration with other teachers within my subject group and from other subject groups?
What interdisciplinary understandings were or could be forged through collaboration with other subjects?
Assessment
Were students able to demonstrate their learning?
How did the assessment tasks allow students to demonstrate the learning objectives identified for this unit? How did I make
sure students were invited to achieve at all levels of the criteria descriptors?
Are we prepared for the next stage?
Data collection
How did we decide on the data to collect? Was it useful?
This unit was executed well by the students and is a good unit to repeat as the students made good
assumptions and drew good conclusions about why communities structure themselves. The Medieval Day.
reflected the understanding of the students as they replicated clothing and tools, excellent games but the
feast was full of anachronisms eg., KFC apple pie, as many of the students didn’t have the support or
availability to be able to produce the medieval foods at home. Research with a purpose worked well and
the product made it all worthwhile. Time was also a problem in that, the term is not really 10 weeks when

5. you count interruptions and having to use Humanities time for Homeroom.
Figure 12
MYP unit planner