7 The Middle Ages LEARN Module 1
7 | Module 1
The Middle Ages
How does society influence a person’s future?
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Read Aloud Organizer for the End-of-Module Task
Knowledge Statements
Knowledge Statements
Module 1 | Write complete sentences about what you learned.
A two-column chart with headings labeled World Knowledge and English Knowledge.
World Knowledge English Knowledge
L2 | Notice and Wonder Checklist
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! | Use the checklist and chart to notice and wonder about the text.
A checklist above a two-column chart with headings labeled Notice and Wonder.
Fiction
□ examine the front and back covers.
□ skim the title page to gather information about the publication.
□ skim the front matter (e.g., the foreword).
□ skim for text features (e.g., maps, monologue titles and subtitles, illustrations).
□ skim the blurb on the back cover of the book to see whether you can determine topics or themes the book might cover.
Notice Wonder
L2 | Notice and Wonder Chart
Work of Art | Write what you notice and wonder about the work of art. A two-column chart with headings labeled Notice and Wonder. Notice Wonder
L3 | Medieval Social Hierarchy Organizer
Use the hierarchy chart below to place medieval characters in their social status. Include character names and a simple visual to represent each character.
A chart with five stacked boxes, outlined in the shape of a castle. The top box is labeled King, and has a crown in the box. Below are four empty boxes labeled Nobility, Wealthy civilians, Trades-people, and Peasants. King
Wealthy civilians
Tradespeople
Nobility
Peasants
L3 | Hugo and Taggot Venn Diagram
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! | Add differences between Hugo and Taggot to the circles with their names, and add similarities where the circles overlap in the middle.
A Venn diagram with two overlapping circles labeled Hugo and Taggot. The area of overlap is labeled Similarities.
Hugo
Similarities
Taggot
L4 | Will and Thomas Venn Diagram
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! | Add differences between Will and Thomas to the circles with their names, and add similarities where the circles overlap in the middle.
A Venn diagram with two overlapping circles labeled Will and Thomas. The area of overlap is labeled Similarities.
Will
Similarities
Thomas
Apprenticeship
from Britannica Kids
The learning of an art, craft, or trade under the tutelage of a master is called apprenticeship. There is normally some form of legal agreement that defines the relationship between teacher and student. Such matters as the length of the training period and service, payment, and living arrangements may be included in the agreement.
Before the Industrial Revolution and the modern era of mass production, most manufacturing was done on a fairly small scale in private shops or even in homes. People who made clothing, shoes, hats, jewelry, cooking implements, carts and wagons, glassware, and many other goods specialized in only their own craft.
This was true also of the building trades and other occupations that required special skills. A young person who wanted to learn a trade would become an assistant to a craftsman, who would train him over a period of years. The apprentice moved into the craftsman’s home for the duration of his training. In modern times the number of workers trained as apprentices has been fairly small. Entrance into some trades, such as carpentry or masonry, is still closely regulated, and an unskilled worker must go through a period of apprenticeship before becoming a full member of the appropriate trade union.
L12 | Gallery “The Middle Ages”
A fifteenth-century French miniature painting shows class distinctions in medieval society
An illustration from a thirteenth-century French Bible showing figures from the Old Testament as medieval royalty
An early sixteenth-century miniature shows laborers working in a field
A fourteenth-century stained glass window shows a European nobleman and his wife praying
L14 | Word Parts Web
sta | In the ovals, write words that contain the root sta
A circle in the center for the root sta. Lines branch off the circle in different directions. The lines connect the central circle to five other circles.
Inferred definition:
to stand or be firm
L15 | Notice and Wonder Checklist
Castle Diary | Use the checklist and chart to notice and wonder about the text.
A checklist above a two-column chart with headings labeled Notice and Wonder.
□ examine the front and back covers.
□ review the title page to gather information about the book.
□ review the first few pages of the book known as the front matter (e.g., the foreword).
□ review the book for text features (e.g., maps, diagrams, captions).
□ review the book description on the back cover to determine topics or themes.
L16 | The Education of Tobias Burgess Organizer
Castle Diary | In the columns below, list details about what Tobias learns, how he learns it, and how it relates to his social class.
A three-column chart with headings labeled What Tobias Learns, How He Learns It, and How It Relates to His Social Class.
What Tobias Learns How He Learns It
How It Relates to His Social Class
A Brief History of Bloodletting
by Jennie Cohen
S everal thousand years ago, whether you were an Egyptian with migraines or a feverish Greek, chances are your doctor would try one first-line treatment before all others: bloodletting. He or she would open a vein with a lancet or sharpened piece of wood, causing blood to flow out and into a waiting receptacle. If you got lucky, leeches might perform the gruesome task in place of crude instruments.
Considered one of medicine’s oldest practices, bloodletting is thought to have originated in ancient Egypt. It then spread to Greece, where physicians such as Erasistratus, who lived in the third century B.C., believed that all illnesses stemmed from an overabundance of
blood, or plethora. (Erasistratus also thought arteries transported air rather than blood, so at least some of his patients’ blood vessels were spared his eager blade.) In the second century
A.D., the influential Galen of Pergamum expanded on Hippocrates’s earlier theory that good health required a perfect balance of the four “humors”—blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. His writings and teachings made bloodletting a common technique throughout the Roman empire. Before long it flourished in India and the Arab world as well.
In medieval Europe, bloodletting became the standard treatment for various conditions, from plague and smallpox to epilepsy and gout. Practitioners typically nicked veins or arteries in the forearm or neck, sometimes using a special tool featuring a fixed blade and known as a fleam. In 1163 a church edict prohibited monks and priests, who often stood in as doctors, from performing bloodletting, stating that the church “abhorred” the procedure. Partly in response to this injunction, barbers began offering a range of services that included
This is an enlarged detail of a leech from Jacob van Maerlant’s Der Naturen Bloeme: The Flower of Nature (ca. 1350)
bloodletting, cupping, tooth extractions, lancing, and even amputations—along with, of course, trims and shaves. The modern striped barber’s pole harkens back to the bloodstained towels that would hang outside the offices of these “barber-surgeons.”
As hairdressers lanced veins in an attempt to cure Europeans’ ailments, in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica bloodletting was believed to serve a very different purpose. Maya priests and rulers used stone implements to pierce their tongues, lips, genitals, and other soft body parts, offering their blood in sacrifice to their gods. Blood loss also allowed individuals to enter trance-like states in which they reportedly experienced visions of deities or their ancestors.
On December 13, 1799, George Washington awoke with a bad sore throat and began to decline rapidly. A proponent of bloodletting, he asked to be bled the next day, and physicians drained an estimated 5 to 7 pints in less than 16 hours. Despite their best efforts, Washington died on December 14, leading to speculation that excessive blood loss contributed to his demise. Bloodletting has also been implicated in the death of Charles II, who was bled
from the arm and neck after suffering a seizure in 1685.
By the late 1800s new treatments and technologies had largely edged out bloodletting, and studies by prominent physicians began to discredit the practice. Today it remains a conventional therapy for a very small number of conditions. The use of leeches, meanwhile, has experienced a renaissance in recent decades, particularly in the field of microsurgery.
A physician letting a patient’s blood in Aldobrandino of Siena’s Li Livres dou Santé
L18 | Notice and Wonder Checklist
“A Brief History of Bloodletting” | Use the checklist and chart to notice and wonder about the text.
A checklist above a two-column chart with headings labeled Notice and Wonder.
Informational Article
□ skim the title.
□ skim organizational or informational features (subtitle, section headings, and bolded or italicized words).
□ skim the first paragraph of the text to see whether you can determine the topic of the text.
Notice Wonder
L23 | Notice and Wonder Checklist
The Midwife’s Apprentice | Use the checklist and chart to notice and wonder about the text.
A checklist above a two-column chart with headings labeled Notice and Wonder.
□ examine the front and back covers.
Fiction
□ skim the title page and copyright page to gather information about the publication.
□ skim the front matter (e.g., the introduction).
□ skim for text features (e.g., the table of contents, chapter titles).
□ skim the publisher’s description of the book to see if you can determine topics or themes it might cover.
Notice Wonder
L23 | Gallery “The History of Western Medicine”
People remove a
Detail from a 15th-century altarpiece showing two women after the birth of a child
A miniature from a 15th-century Bible showing someone praying for the healing of sick people
A leech, a type of worm with teeth that enable it to suck blood out of sick people
A plague mask that people believed would protect them from poisonous air and the plague
plague victim in London, where the plague was first recorded in the 1300s and had its worst outbreak in 1665
Exposition
L24 | Narrative Organizer
The Midwife’s Apprentice | Use this organizer to chart the novel’s narrative elements.
Boxes with headings labeled Characters, Setting, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution. The Characters, Setting, and Conflict boxes are stacked vertically within a surrounding box labeled Exposition. A flat line under the Exposition box slants upward under the Rising Action box. The line comes to a point next to the Climax box. The line slants downward next to the Falling Action box. The line is flat again under the Resolution box.
Characters
Setting
Conflict Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action Resolution
Sumer Is Icumen In
(in Middle English)
Sumer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweþ sed and bloweþ med
And springþ þe wde nu, Sing cuccu!
Awe bleteþ after lomb, Lhouþ after calue cu.
Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ,
Murie sing cuccu!
Cuccu, cuccu, wel singes þu cuccu;
Ne swik þu nauer nu.
Pes:
Sing cuccu nu. Sing cuccu.
Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu nu!
Summer Has Come In
(in Modern English)
Summer has come in,
Loudly sing, Cuckoo!
The seed grows and the meadow blooms
And the wood springs anew, Sing, Cuckoo!
The ewe bleats after the lamb
The cow lows after the calf.
The bullock stirs, the stag farts,
Merrily sing, Cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo, well you sing, cuckoo; Don’t ever you stop now,
Sing cuckoo now. Sing, Cuckoo. Sing Cuckoo. Sing cuckoo now!
L34 | Word Parts Web
arch | In the ovals, write words that contain the root arch
A circle in the center for the root arch. Lines branch off the circle in different directions. The lines connect the central circle to five other circles. arch first or leader
Inferred definition:
L35 | Declamation Feedback Organizer
Module 1 | Write feedback for each declamation performance. For each declaimer, write their name in the first column and answer the questions in the three remaining columns.
A four-column chart with headings. The first column is labeled Declaimer. The second column is labeled, Articulation, Does the declaimer clearly pronounce words? The third column is labeled, Demeanor, Do the declaimer’s tone and posture support the passage? The fourth column is labeled, Artistic Gestures, Do the declaimer’s gestures support the passage?
Declaimer
Articulation: Does the declaimer clearly pronounce words?
Demeanor: Do the declaimer’s tone and posture support the passage?
Artistic Gestures: Do the declaimer’s gestures support the passage?
Talking Tool
Talking Tool
Listen Closely
Can you elaborate on ?
What evidence supports your idea? How does your idea relate to ?
Share What You Think
Overall, . For example, Additionally, .
I hear you say that . This supports my idea that I hear you say that . This changes my mind about .
Support What You Say
In the text, According to the author, . The author states that This evidence illustrates . This evidence proves
On-Target Writing Model
Prompt: Write a first-person narrative from the point of view of an adolescent in medieval Europe who wants to work in an occupation that is different from their parent’s occupation. Two columns. The first column has a writing sample. The second column is labeled Notes.
Notes
The hot and bustling kitchen was my second home. My mother, Amelia, had been working for Lord and Lady Elder for many years. As a baby, I rode on her back while she roasted, chopped, stewed, and seasoned their food. Now, she was the head steward. She oversaw all the cooking and servants in this kitchen.
It was hard work. My mother’s burns, cuts, and tired eyes showed it. My family’s small home is close to the manor. My mother ran back and forth early in the morning and late into the night when the Elders hosted their fancy parties. I started helping in the kitchen when I was four years old. I pulled herbs and vegetables and then moved up to cutting and seasoning their food.
“One day, this will be your kitchen,” Mama said as I chopped turnips and she stuffed a pig’s head with herbs and bread.
“I know, Mama,” I replied. “As you always say, they’ll always need to eat and because of that I’ll always have a job.”
The problem was, I didn’t want to be a cook or work in any part of the kitchen. I rarely went inside the manor, but a year ago, I helped deliver lunch to Lady Elder’s Grand Chamber. After that, I developed a desire to work as a chambermaid for Lady Elder. I didn’t have the heart to tell my mother.
She would have said, “Girls like you, born and raised a peasant, working in the kitchen, don’t simply transform into a chambermaid, Anna.”
Yesterday, three of Lady Elder’s chambermaids became ill. One was so sick that there was talk of calling the doctor to perform bloodletting to heal her infected humors.
“It’s time for Lady Elder’s sage water,” my mother said. She swiftly moved two hissing kettles from the fire. “Go on, get dressed! You must fill in today. The chambermaids need your help!”
I couldn’t believe what I had heard. I washed up, put on my finest wool dress, and pulled my hair back.
Can I do this? What if I fail?
Notes
I straightened my back and carried the tray to the Grand Chamber. When I entered, the room was full of sunlight and it smelled like lavender. The air was crisp and cool, not humid and sweaty like the kitchen. Lady Elder sat in a chair that looked like a throne.
“Come in child,” she said. She did not look at me. “Set my sage water there.” She pointed to the wooden table.
I took a slow, deep breath and gently set it on the table. I poured the liquid into a silver goblet. After three sips, I refilled the goblet.
“Hmm. I see you know the routine,” Lady Elder said.
“Yes, my lady. I have watched your chambermaids closely for a very long time,” I said, my voice cracking a bit.
“What is your name, girl?” she asked. “You are Amelia’s daughter, correct?”
“Yes, I am, my lady. My name is Anna.”
We continued this pattern, three sips, refill, three sips, refill until the sage water was gone.
Notes
As I gathered the goblet, pitcher, and tray, Lady Elder said, “You have done well today. Come back tomorrow morning. I could use a quick learner like yourself.”
My heart leapt with joy, and my mind swirled with pure excitement! But I didn’t know how my mother would take the news.
I returned to the kitchen and tried to hide my joy. My mother was helping one of the cooks knead dough.
“Anna, you have a pleasant look on your face,” she said.
“Mama, it went very well. She wants me to return tomorrow!” I said.
My mother’s face dropped.
“But, Anna, you are just the cook’s daughter.”
“Mama, she knows what a good job you have done. I can only guess that she thinks I will do the same as a chambermaid. It is because of you that she wants me to return.”
I was surprised. Her face softened. She understood that this was a rare chance and that
Notes
her work ethic gave me the opportunity to become more.
After our conversation, Mama gave her blessing and I began my new journey as a chambermaid for Lady Elder the next morning.
Notes
Advanced Writing Model
Prompt: Write a first-person narrative from the point of view of an adolescent in medieval Europe who wants to work in an occupation that is different from their parent’s occupation.
Two columns. The first column has a writing sample. The second column is labeled Notes.
Notes
The hot and bustling kitchen was my second home. My mother, Amelia, had been working for Lord and Lady Elder for decades. As a baby, I rode on her back while she roasted, chopped, stewed and seasoned their food. Now, she was the head steward—overseeing all the operations and servants in this kitchen.
It was exhausting work. My mother had the burns, cuts, and tired eyes to show for it. My family’s small home is close to the manor, which made it easy to run back and forth at dawn and late into the night when the Elders hosted their lavish parties. I started helping in the kitchen as a four-year-old by pulling herbs and vegetables and moved up to cutting and seasoning their food.
“One day, this will be your kitchen,” Mama said as I chopped turnips while she stuffed a pig’s head with herbs and bread.
“I know, Mama,” I replied. “As you always say, they’ll always need to eat and because of that, I’ll always have a job.”
The problem was, I didn’t want to be a cook or partake in any part of the kitchen duties. I rarely went inside the manor, but a year ago, I assisted with delivering lunch to Lady Elder’s Grand Chamber. Since then, I developed a desire to work as a chambermaid for Lady Elder. I didn’t have the heart to tell my mother.
She would have said, “Girls like you, born and raised a peasant, working in the kitchen, don’t simply transform into a chambermaid, Anna.”
Yesterday, three of Lady Elder’s chambermaids became ill. One was so sick that there was talk of calling the doctor to perform bloodletting to heal her infected humors.
“It’s time for Lady Elder’s sage water,” my mother said. She swiftly moved two hissing kettles from the fire. “Go on, get dressed! You must fill in today. The chambermaids need your help!”
I couldn’t believe what I had heard. I washed up, put on my finest wool dress, and pulled my hair back. I straightened my back and carried the tray to the Grand Chamber. When I entered,
sunlight poured into the room. The scent of lavender greeted me at the door. The crisp air was so different from the humid, sweaty kitchen. Lady Elder sat perched in a chair that resembled a throne.
“Come in child,” she said, never directly looking at me. “Set my sage water there.” She motioned to the wooden table.
You cannot fail, not now.
I took a slow, deep breath and gently set it on the table. I poured the liquid into a silver goblet.
After three sips, I refilled the goblet.
“Hmm. I see you know the routine,” Lady Elder said, amused.
“Yes, my lady. I have watched your chambermaids closely for a very long time,” I said, my voice cracking a bit.
“What is your name, girl?” she asked, finally looking at me. “You are Amelia’s daughter, correct?”
“Yes, I am, my lady. My name is Anna.”
We continued this pattern, three sips, refill, three sips, refill until the sage water was gone.
Notes
As I gathered the goblet, pitcher, and tray, Lady Elder said, “You have done well today. Come back tomorrow morning. I could use a quick learner like yourself.”
My heart leapt with joy, and my mind swirled with pure excitement! But I didn’t know how my mother would react to the news.
I returned to the sweltering kitchen and tried to contain my joy. My mother was helping one of the cooks knead dough.
“Anna, you have a pleasant look on your face,” she said.
“Mama, it went very well. She wants me to return tomorrow!” I exclaimed with delight.
My mother’s face dropped.
“But, Anna, you are just the cook’s daughter.”
“Mama, she knows what an amazing job you have done. I can only guess that she thinks I will do the same as a chambermaid. It is because of you that she wants me to return.”
I was surprised. Her face softened. She understood that this was a rare chance and Notes
that her work ethic gave me an opportunity to become more.
With that, Mama gave her blessing and I began my new journey as a chambermaid for Lady Elder the next morning.
Notes
Checklist
Writing Model | Write a first-person narrative from the point of view of an adolescent in medieval Europe who wants to work in an occupation that is different from their parent’s occupation.
Checklist with headings labeled Knowledge, Writing, and Language. To the right are two columns labeled Review 1 and Review 2.
Knowledge
shows knowledge of two social classes in medieval europe shows knowledge of how the human instinct to acquire knowledge can lead to increased opportunities in medieval europe shows knowledge of the impact of social class on one’s professional opportunities in medieval europe
Writing
uses narrative elements to logically establish, propel, and reflect on narrated events and experiences
uses a first-person narrator and internal dialogue to develop characters and events uses ideas from at least one module text to enhance exposition uses at least two narrative techniques including dialogue, pacing, and/or description to develop characters and events uses transition words, phrases, and clauses to sequence events and signal shifts in time and place
uses precise words and phrases to convey events and experiences uses descriptive details including precise words and phrases and/or sensory language to convey action, events, and experiences
uses a comma to separate coordinate adjectives spells grade-appropriate words correctly
Narrative Organizer
Writing Model | In each narrative section, add summaries of the narrative element from the Writing Model for Module 1.
Boxes with headings labeled Characters, Setting, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution. The Characters, Setting, and Conflict boxes are stacked vertically within a surrounding box labeled Exposition. A flat line under the Exposition box slants upward under the Rising Action box. The line comes to a point next to the Climax box. The line slants downward next to the Falling Action box. The line is flat again under the Resolution box.
Exposition
Characters
Setting
Conflict Rising
Climax
Falling Action
Module Task 1
Prompt: Write a first-person narrative that develops the exposition, conflict, rising action, and climax of a doctor using bloodletting to treat an illness.
Checklist
Module Task 1 | Write a first-person narrative that develops the exposition, conflict, rising action, and climax of a doctor using bloodletting to treat an illness.
Checklist with headings labeled Knowledge, Writing, and Language. To the right are two columns labeled Review 1 and Review 2. At the bottom are two boxes labeled Review 1 Comments and Review 2 Comments.
Knowledge
shows knowledge of the benefits and limitations of a specific social class in medieval europe
shows knowledge of how medical care in medieval europe was dependent on location and social standing
Writing
uses exposition, conflict, rising action, and climax to logically propel an event
uses a first-person narrator and internal dialogue to develop characters and events uses ideas from Castle Diary to enhance the setting uses description and dialogue to develop characters and events uses transition words and phrases to sequence events and signal shifts in time and place uses descriptive details including precise words and phrases and/or sensory language to convey action, events, and experiences
Language
spells grade-appropriate words correctly
Narrative Writing Planner
Module Task 1 | Use the sections below to plan your exposition and rising action for Module Task 1. Boxes with headings labeled Characters, Setting, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution. The Characters, Setting, and Conflict boxes are stacked vertically within a surrounding box labeled Exposition. A flat line under the Exposition box slants upward under the Rising Action box. The line comes to a point next to the Climax box. The line slants downward next to the Falling Action box. The line is flat again under the Resolution box.
Exposition
Climax
Falling Action
Module Task 2
Prompt: Write a first-person narrative that develops the falling action and resolution of The Midwife’s Apprentice Write from the point of view of Jane Sharp.
Checklist
Module Task 2 | Write a first-person narrative that develops the falling action and resolution of The Midwife’s Apprentice. Write from the point of view of Jane Sharp.
Checklist with headings labeled Knowledge, Writing, and Language. To the right are two columns labeled Review 1 and Review 2. At the bottom are two boxes labeled Review 1 Comments and Review 2 Comments.
Knowledge
shows knowledge of how the human instinct to acquire knowledge can lead to gaining a stronger sense of self in medieval europe shows knowledge of the relationship between one’s profession and social class in medieval europe
shows knowledge of The Midwife’s Apprentice
Writing
uses falling action and resolution to logically reflect on a series of events or experiences
uses a first-person narrator to develop characters and events uses ideas from The Midwife’s Apprentice to enhance the problem in the narrative
uses description and pacing to develop characters and events uses transition words and phrases, and clauses to sequence events and signal shifts in time and place
uses descriptive details including precise words and phrases and/or sensory language to convey action, events, and experiences Language
uses a comma to separate coordinate adjectives spells grade-appropriate words correctly
Narrative Writing Planner
Module Task 2 | Use the planner to draft the falling action and resolution of The Midwife’s Apprentice from the point of view of Jane Sharp.
At the top, a box labeled Climax contains the text, Not included in Module Task 2. Below that is a box labeled Falling Action. To the left of the box is an arrow slanting downward. It points toward a box at the bottom labeled Resolution.
Not included in Module task 2
Falling Action
Climax
End-of-Module Task
Prompt: Write a first-person narrative from the point of view of an adolescent in medieval Europe who encounters someone from a different social class.
Checklist
End-of-Module Task | Write a first-person narrative from the point of view of an adolescent in medieval Europe who encounters someone from a different social class.
Checklist with headings labeled Knowledge, Writing, and Language. To the right are two columns labeled Review 1 and Review 2. At the bottom are two boxes labeled Review 1 Comments and Review 2 Comments.
Knowledge
shows knowledge of two social classes in medieval europe shows knowledge of the impact of parentage on one’s profession and quality of life in medieval europe shows knowledge of the impact of social class on one’s profession and quality of life in medieval europe
Writing
uses narrative elements to logically establish, propel, and reflect on narrated events and experiences uses a first-person narrator and internal dialogue to develop characters and events uses ideas from at least one module text to enhance exposition uses at least two narrative techniques including dialogue, pacing, and/or description to develop characters and events uses transition words, phrases, and clauses to sequence events and signal shifts in time and place uses descriptive details including precise words and phrases and/or sensory language to convey action, events, and experiences
Language
uses a comma to separate coordinate adjectives spells grade-appropriate words correctly
Narrative Writing Planner
End-of-Module Task | Use the narrative element sections below to plan your first-person narrative for the End-of-Module Task.
Boxes with headings labeled Characters, Setting, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution. The Characters, Setting, and Conflict boxes are stacked vertically within a surrounding box labeled Exposition. A flat line under the Exposition box slants upward under the Rising Action box. The line comes to a point next to the Climax box. The line slants downward next to the Falling Action box. The line is flat again under the Resolution box.
Exposition
Climax
Falling Action
Read Aloud Organizer
End-of-Module Task | Use the chart below to note feedback for each of your group members’ narratives. Add the writer’s name in the first column and respond to the prompts in the second and third columns.
A three-column chart with headings. The first column is labeled Writer. The second column is labeled, Identify one area of the narrative that you like or think is particularly strong, Explain why. And the third column is labeled, Identify one area of the narrative that needs revision. Explain why.
Writer
Identify one area of the narrative that you like or think is particularly strong. Explain why.
Identify one area of the narrative that needs revision. Explain why.
Sentence Strategies
Module 1 | Use the space below to draft examples of the sentence strategies you learn throughout Module 1.
Strategy 1: Prepositional Phrases
Use prepositional phrases to indicate time, location, space, or direction. Examples: after, around, before, during, in, into, over, throughout, with, within Sample Sentence: In the Middle Ages, people were born into specific social classes
Your Turn
additional sample sentence that uses a prepositional phrase:
original Knowledge statement that uses one or more prepositional phrases:
Strategy 2: Clauses and Prepositional Phrases
clause: a part of a sentence that has its own subject and predicate Examples: I saw, you think, we will hunt, they said Sample Sentence: “ the physician arrived today” (Plat 65).
Your Turn
original Knowledge statement that uses a clause and a prepositional phrases:
Strategy 3: Adverbial Phrase
adverbial phrase: a group of words that describe a verb, adjective, or adverb. Adverbial phrases typically answer the questions how, where, why, or when something was done.
Sample Sentence: In medieval society, children could learn an occupation during an apprenticeship
Your Turn
additional sample sentence that uses an adverbial phrase:
original Knowledge statement that uses an adverbial phrase and at least one of the following terms: agency or apprentice:
Fluency
Fluency Practice
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!, passage 1
1. Ask a friend or adult to listen to you read.
2. Read aloud the fluency passage three to five times.
3. Focus on the day’s fluency element as you read.
4. Ask the listener to initial and comment below. A two-column chart with headings labeled Initials and Comments.
Initials
Comments
Day 1
Accuracy Day 2
Phrasing
Day 3
Expression
Day 4
Rate
Performance
Fluency Elements
Accuracy: Correctly decode the words. Phrasing: Group words into phrases, and pause for punctuation. Expression: Use voice to show feeling. Rate: Read at an appropriate speed.
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!, passage 1, page ix
by Laura Amy Schlitz
1 When I was a student, I had two ideas about history, and one of them was that history was about dead men who had done dull things. History was dates and governments and laws and war and money—and dead men. Always dead men.
2 But I also read historical novels. And I adored them. People in historical novels loved, fought, and struggled to survive. They died violently; they were beset with invaders and famine and plague. They wore splendid clothes or picturesque rags. They performed miracles of courage and strength just to get something to eat. It was from novels that I learned that history was the story of survival: even something that sounded boring, like crop rotation or inheritance law, might be a matter of life and death to a hungry peasant. Novels taught me that history is dramatic. I wanted my students to know that, too.
Fluency Practice
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!, passage 2
1. Ask a friend or adult to listen to you read.
2. Read aloud the fluency passage three to five times.
3. Focus on the day’s fluency element as you read.
4. Ask the listener to initial and comment below. A two-column chart with headings labeled Initials and Comments.
Initials
Comments
Day 1
Accuracy
Day 2
Phrasing
Day 3
Expression
Day 4
Rate
Performance
Fluency Elements
Accuracy: Correctly decode the words. Phrasing: Group words into phrases, and pause for punctuation. Expression: Use voice to show feeling. Rate: Read at an appropriate speed.
by Laura Amy Schlitz
1 My father is the noble lord’s physician, And I am bound to carry on tradition. With every patient that my father cures, I learn more medicine. Ordinary sores Will heal with comfrey, or the white of an egg. An eel skin takes the cramping from a leg. I know five kinds of fever, and four humors, Bloodletting, and the way to feel for tumors.
2 I know the stars and the movements planetary. With one whiff, I can sniff out dysentery, And also, I am practicing the way To soothe my patients–and make them pay. They swear at us when we demand our fee, But what man can afford to work for free? A healthy man is careless with a bill–You have to make them pay when they are ill.
excerpt from “Thomas, the Doctor’s Son,” Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
Fluency Practice
Castle Diary
1. Ask a friend or adult to listen to you read.
2. Read aloud the fluency passage three to five times.
3. Focus on the day’s fluency element as you read.
4. Ask the listener to initial and comment below. A two-column chart with headings labeled Initials and Comments.
Initials
Comments
Day 1
Accuracy
Day 2
Phrasing
Day 3
Expression
Day 4
Rate
Performance
Fluency Elements
Accuracy: Correctly decode the words. Phrasing: Group words into phrases, and pause for punctuation. Expression: Use voice to show feeling. Rate: Read at an appropriate speed.
excerpt from Castle Diary
by Richard Platt
1 This journal, being the diary of myself, Tobias Burgess, begins this day, the 2nd of January, in the year of our Lord, 1285.
2 I write these words at my home in the parish of Saltington. Here I dwell with my father Henry, my mother Gwynedd, and my two younger sisters, Edythe and Sian.
3 But soon I shall be leaving here, for I am to spend the next twelvemonth (and more, I hope) as a page at the castle of my father’s elder brother, John Burgess, Baron of Strandborough.
4 My uncle has expected me these past two years, but my mother wept and would not let me go. In just two days, though, I shall be eleven years of age, and my father says I can wait no longer. At last I am to be taught the skills and duties I must know to become a squire and even, mayhap, a knight—if my father can afford it!
5 My mother bids me write this journal so that I will remember all that passes, and can tell her of it when I see her next.
Fluency Practice
The Midwife’s Apprentice, passage 1
1. Ask a friend or adult to listen to you read.
2. Read aloud the fluency passage three to five times.
3. Focus on the day’s fluency element as you read.
4. Ask the listener to initial and comment below. A two-column chart with headings labeled Initials and Comments.
Initials
Comments
Day 1
Accuracy
Day 2
Phrasing
Day 3
Expression
Day 4
Rate
Performance
Fluency Elements
Accuracy: Correctly decode the words. Phrasing: Group words into phrases, and pause for punctuation. Expression: Use voice to show feeling. Rate: Read at an appropriate speed.
The Midwife’s Apprentice, passage 1, pages 1–2
by Karen Cushman
1 How old she was was hard to say. She was small and pale, with the frightened air of an ill-used child, but her scrawny, underfed body did give off a hint of woman, so perhaps she was twelve or thirteen. No one knew for sure, least of all the girl herself, who knew no home and no mother and no name but Brat and never had. Someone, she assumed, must have borne her and cared for her lest she toddle into the pond and changed her diapers when they reeked, but as long as she could remember, Brat had lived on her own by what means she could—stealing an onion here or helping with the harvest there in exchange for a night on the stable floor. She took what she could from a village and moved on before the villagers, with their rakes and sticks, drove her away. Snug cottages and warm bread and mothers who hugged their babes were beyond her imagining, but dearly would she have loved to eat a turnip without the mud of the field still on it or sleep in a barn fragrant with new hay and not the rank smell of pigs who fart when they eat too much.
Fluency Practice
The Midwife’s Apprentice, passage 2
1. Ask a friend or adult to listen to you read.
2. Read aloud the fluency passage three to five times.
3. Focus on the day’s fluency element as you read.
4. Ask the listener to initial and comment below. A two-column chart with headings labeled Initials and Comments.
Initials
Comments
Day 1
Accuracy
Day 2
Phrasing
Day 3
Expression
Day 4
Rate
Performance
Fluency Elements
Accuracy: Correctly decode the words. Phrasing: Group words into phrases, and pause for punctuation. Expression: Use voice to show feeling. Rate: Read at an appropriate speed.
The Midwife’s Apprentice, passage 2, pages 72–73
by Karen Cushman
1 “I am nothing,” she whispered to herself. “I have nothing, I can do nothing and learn nothing. I belong no place. I am too stupid to be a midwife’s apprentice and too tired to wander again. I should just lie here in the rain until I die.” And she fell again into a dreamless sleep.
2 But the next morning her young body, now used to a roof and warm food on cold mornings, pricked and pained her until she awoke. It was still raining and she was still a homeless failure. She stood up, picked some of the leaves from her hair, wiped her drippy nose on her sleeve, and looked around.
3 She knew where she was. Behind her were the village, Emma, the midwife, and failure—she could not go back there. She could not stay here in the rain waiting to die for she was too cold and hungry and uncomfortable and alive. So she went on ahead.
Volume of Reading
Volume of Reading Questions
Module 1 | After reading or listening to a text, add to your reading log for module 1. Then follow your teacher’s instructions for which questions to answer in your journal.
Wonder What do I notice and wonder about this text?
Organize What is happening in this text?
What does a deeper look at point of view reveal?
Reveal
What does a deeper look at structure reveal?
What does a deeper look at setting reveal?
What is a central idea in this text?
Distill
What is a theme in this text?
Know How does this text build my knowledge?
Essential Question
How does society influence a person’s future?
Your Knowledge How did the social hierarchy during the Middle Ages affect people’s lives?
What do you know about social status?
Reading Log
After reading or listening to a text, write the date and text title. If you did not read a whole text, write the page numbers for the section that you did read.
A three-column chart with headings labeled Date, Passage, and One-Sentence Summary.
Date Passage One-Sentence Summary
Date Passage One-Sentence Summary
Date Passage One-Sentence Summary
Date Passage One-Sentence Summary
Glossary
Definition
agency (n.)
Glossary
Module 1 | Parts of Speech Key: (n.) noun, (v.) verb, (adj.) adjective.
a person’s ability to be responsible for their own actions or life events
apprentice (n.)
a person who learns a job or skill by working for a fixed period of time for someone who is very good at that job or skill
bloodletting (n.)
the former practice of taking blood out of the bodies of sick people to heal them
cross-contour lines
a series of parallel lines drawn across an object’s surface that show the object’s form and the way its surface curves discredit (v.)
to cause to seem dishonest or untrue
expectation (n.)
a belief that something will happen or is likely to happen
Notes
Definition Notes
external conflict
a problem or struggle between a character and an outside force
foreword (n.)
a section at the beginning of a book that introduces the book and is usually written by someone other than the book’s author
hierarchy (n.)
a system in which people or things are placed in a series of levels with different importance or status
internal conflict
a problem or struggle between a character and their own thoughts or actions
manor (n.)
in the Middle Ages, an estate under a lord who controls the land and the people living on it
medieval (adj.) of or relating to the Middle Ages, the period of european history from about 500 Ce to 1500 Ce
midwife (n.)
a person (usually a woman) who helps a woman when she is giving birth to a child
Definition Notes
monologue (n.)
a long speech given by a character or a performer
omniscient (adj.)
1. knowing everything
2. having unlimited understanding or knowledge
originate (v.) to begin to exist; to be produced or created
parentage (n.)
a person’s parents; used especially to describe the origins or social status of someone’s parents
peasant (n.)
a poor farmer or farm worker who has a low social status—used especially to refer to poor people who lived in europe in the past
perspective (n.) the way a character thinks about or understands something poach (v.)
to catch or kill an animal illegally
Definition Notes point of view
the perspective from which a story is told
privilege (n.)
a right or benefit given to some people but not to others
proportion (n.)
the relative size and scale of the different elements in an artwork
prose (n.)
1. writing that is not poetry
2. ordinary writing
scale (n.)
the size an artist makes a work of art and the components within it
status (n.)
the position or rank of someone or something when compared to others in a society, organization, group, etc.
theme (n.)
a universal idea or message conveyed by a text
Definition Notes
verse (n.)
1. writing in which words are arranged in a rhythmic pattern
2. poetry
Credits
Great Minds® has made every effort to obtain permission for the reprinting of all copyrighted material. If any owner of copyrighted material is not acknowledged herein, please contact Great Minds for proper acknowledgment in all future editions and reprints of this module.
Cover, Virgin and Child in Majesty, ca. 1175–1200, Walnut with paint, tin relief on a lead white ground and linen, 79.5 × 31.7 × 29.2 cm, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1916, Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; pages 1, 2, Image Courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum; page 10, Holmes Garden Photos/Alamy Stock Photo; page 16, pics five/Shutterstock.com, North Wind Picture Archives/Alamy Stock Photo, Jack Frog/Alamy Stock Photo; page 17, (clockwise from left) Heritage Image Partnership Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo, Anonymous, The Morgan Bible via Wikimedia Commons, Vassil via Wikimedia Commons, Album/Alamy Stock Photo; page 20, funkyfood London–Paul Williams/Alamy Stock Photo, The Cloisters Collection, 1954; page 23, pics five/ Shutterstock.com, Royal Library of the Netherlands; page 24, British Library, London. Aldobrandino of Siena: Li Livres dou Santé. France, late 13th century. Scanned from Maggie Black’s The Medieval Cookbook; page 28, circa 1250. Unknown 838 Maciejowski Bible Woman, Walker Art Library/Alamy Stock Photo; page 30, (clockwise from top left) Album/Alamy Stock Photo, Niday Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo, Lakeview Images/Alamy Stock Photo, PotapovAlexandr/Shutterstock.com, Vital9s/ Shutterstock.com; page 34, cenap refik ongan/Shutterstock.com; page 35, Nail Bikbaev/Shutterstock.com; page 128, Courtesy of the British Library, Scanned from Maggie Black’s “Den medeltida kokboken,” Swedish translation of The Medieval Cookbook. The Bodleian Library, Oxford, Florilegius /Alamy Stock Photo; page 129, Master of the Codex Manesse (Additional Painter I) (fl. circa 1305–circa 1340), North Wind Picture Archives/Alamy Stock Photo; page 130, The Print Collector/Alamy Stock Photo; page 131, Chronicle/Alamy Stock Photo.
All other images are the property of Great Minds.
Works Cited
“Apprenticeship.” Britannica Kids, Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Oct. 2023, kids.britannica.com/students/article /apprenticeship/272918.
Cohen, Jennie. “A Brief History of Bloodletting.” History, A&E Television Networks, 29 Aug. 2018, www.history .com/news/a-brief-history-of-bloodletting.
Cushman, Karen. The Midwife’s Apprentice. 1995. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019.
Platt, Richard. Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess, Page. 1999. Illustrated by Chris Riddell, Candlewick Press, 2008.
Schlitz, Laura Amy. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village. 2007. Illustrated by Robert Byrd, Candlewick Press, 2011.
Knowledge is your superpower.
Read great books from around the world.
Explore documents that take you back in time.
Write like an author.
Discuss and debate topics you care about.
Study art to make paintings come to life.
Ready to tap into knowledge?
GRADE 7 MODULES
Module 1 | The Middle Ages
Module 2 | Navajo Code Talkers
Module 3 | Rise and Fall
Module 4 | Fever
ON THE COVER
Virgin and Child in Majesty, ca. 1175–1200
Walnut with paint, tin relief on a lead white ground, and linen, 79.5 × 31.7 × 29.2 cm
ISBN 979-8-88811-314-1
Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1916 Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art