Humanities: Reflection on the Middle Ages Work

In Humanities, we’ve been working on answering the question of how did the quest for power impact peoples lives in the Middle Ages? In an attempt to answer the question, we made Keynotes detailing our learning and what life was really like in the Middle Ages.

My Inquiry Portfolio 

My inquiry portfolio was the first of my three Keynotes. I made the title slide background a picture of a medieval cat to appeal to Mrs Madsen’s cats, who did all the marking for the Middle Ages project. My first slide was accessing background knowledge of the Middle Ages. Before this project, I didn’t know much about the Middle Ages. The hardest parts of this project was the vocabulary on the feudal system. I missed the lesson on what to do, and I wasn’t sure if I was doing it right, but, I think that I did.

What I could have done better: I think I could have made the slide show more interesting by putting backgrounds and transitions in. That would have made my slide show more exciting and engaging to the viewer.

The Middle Ages: And Why They Were Not That Fun

This keynote was the most fun to make I think. I made a slide for each social class of the feudal system. After that, I did some slides on feudal justice, entertainment, towns vs manors, the plague , and torture. On this one, I didn’t put a picture of a cat on, but I referenced bear baiting. Apparently Mrs Madsen’s cats don’t like dogs, and enjoyed the idea of bear baiting, and they gave me a good mark! I think the most difficult slide to make was about the plague, entertainment and knights, because a lot of the time I had to do my own research for them, and not use the teacher’s resources because they didn’t have many things on them.

What could I have done better: I think I could have added more on my towns vs manors slide. In my inquiry portfolio, I did a Venn diagram on the differences of towns and manors, and I could have gone there for more ideas, but I forgot.

The Crusades: And Why They Were Fairly Important 

This was the most confusing slide show to make. I made a plan and then completely scrapped it, and there are so many years and people to remember. I made slides for each Crusade,  the basics of Christianity and Islam, what were the crusades, the effects of the Crusades, and why were the Crusades important. In this one, I did not put anything for Mrs Madsen’s cats to relate to, which may be why they haven’t marked it yet. I hope they liked it. I think the hardest ones to do were the people of note; they were a last minute addition to the Keynote, and I had to find more sources online because the sources that Mrs Madsen’s cats provided only had a few people.

What could I have done better: I think that I could have done better on the people of note; in some I only added one or two people and I think I could have added more people by researching some more.

 

So, how did the quest for power impact peoples lives in the Middle Ages? Many people lived short, difficult lives with little money, while people and entities like the king and Church fed on the little money they did have. While the wealthy got more rich and powerful, the poor had to work the little land they owned, and then pay most of what they earned to the rich and powerful. The powerful would control people’s lives in an attempt to make themselves wealthier. Entities like the Church would intimidate people with the fear of hell and excommunication. Wars and conflicts killed millions and are still significant today. The quest for power impacted peoples lives greatly.