Black Death on CNN - An Educator's Reference Desk Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan #: AELP-WRH0211

The Black Death on CNN

An Educator's Reference Desk Lesson Plan

Submitted by: Mike Selvig
Email: mselvig@vmahs.org
School/University/Affiliation: Villa Maria Academy H.S., Malvern, PA

Date: September 14, 2003

Grade Level: 10, 11

Subject(s):

Social Studies/World History
Language Arts/Journalism

Duration: Three 40-minute sessions

Description: Students are grouped into teams of four and report on different aspects of the Bubonic Plague in CNN broadcast style.

Goals: Pennsylvania Academic Standards for World History :
World History 8.4.9. (Analyze how domestic instability impacted world history through 1500.)

Objectives:

Students will be able to describe the effects of the 14th Century Bubonic Plague on European society.
Students will be able to identify changes in the social, economic, political, and religious practices brought about by the Black Death.

Materials:

library with Internet access
TV and VHS player
videotaped segment of a typical CNN broadcast (needs to be recorded by the teacher or media specialist)
paper/pens
Rubric

Rubric in .pdf format; requires free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Click the icon to obtain the free Reader.

Vocabulary:

Bulbos - Large swellings in armpit & groin areas.
Flagellants - Fanatical individuals who roamed Europe whipping themselves as penance for the plague.

Procedure:
Modeling:
Show a 3-5 minute videotaped segment of a typical CNN broadcast (can be on any subject). Explain how the anchor introduces the report and does a wrap-up after completion. Also explain how a correspondent gives the who, what, when, where, why, and how of a story and how personal/expert insights are injected via interviews on site.

Students are divided into groups of four (1 anchor, 1 field correspondent, 2 interviewees). Each group is assigned a different category:

Spread of epidemic - causes
Medical - what is being done (treatment, prevention)
Flagellants - social and religious impacts
Economy - how is it being affected?
Social views and attitudes - how is it changing?

Each group gives a CNN style report to a global audience (5 minutes maximum). [ Author's Note: I give my students class time in either the library or the computer lab to work on the project. I set the room up so that the anchor sits behind a desk and the field correspondent and interviewees are off to one side. They take center stage when the broadcast switches to them. Some students made posters with a street scene behind them to give an enhanced setting. Students tend to write scripts and read from them rather than "wing it." I review such written materials, but I do not collect them. I want the emphasis placed on the role playing versus the written material.]

Assessment: Teachers can use the Rubric (see Materials ) to assess students' broadcasts.

Useful Internet Resources:
* The Black Death: 1347-1350
Culprit: Oriental Rat Flea
http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/fleas/bdeath/

* The Black Death, 1348
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/plague.htm

* Pennsylvania Academic Standards for History
http://www.pde.state.pa.us/stateboard_ed/lib/stateboard_ed/historys.pdf