What are some interesting ways to teach the Renaissance?

Question

11th grade history class. We did introduction/notes today, and I was almost as bored as they were. Very quiet class. What are some interesting or creative ways to teach?

Answer 1

Bring in some members of your local SCA group or ren faire actors to go over arts & crafts or battle tactics and show up in pretty clothes or armor.

Answer 2

You could bring famous Renaissance paintings or sculptures into class (well, not the originals...) and contrast them with (a) medieveal works of art on similar themes and (b) similar works from Roman or Greek times.

Renaissance writing is difficult to access for today's young people, but I have always found John Donne's poetry stunning and very modern.

Answer 3

There are so many great things to do with the Renaissance - it's one of the most interesting time periods in history.  The artists, scientific advancements, exploration, religious and societal shifts, philosophical ideas...the list is endless.

First, give them some historical fiction to read, and some people to research.  Give them websites with virtual tours and such to look up and go through.  If your school has a subscription to Cosmeo or United Streaming, there are literally tons of videos, images, and articles.

You can assign group projects, writing projects, speeches, etc. on a variety of things; you could have the class write a Renaissance-era newspaper (The Da Vinci Times, whatever) and have pairs of students team up to "report" on different happenings; you could go through each region geographically to help them tie together all the incredible changes that were taking place, and why Europe and Asia are the way they are today.

Honestly, I'd say to go through your plans to pick out the major concepts you need to teach, and then go searching through for lesson plans, resources, and ideas.  You might even try looking on some homeschool boards, as homeschoolers teach the same concepts but in out-of-the-box ways that you could adapt for classroom use.  BBC Schools, Discovery School, and Mr. Donn's websites (just google them) all have excellent lesson plans and resources to pull from.

If you talk with the school librarian (or your public young adult librarian), they can give you some excellent resources for bringing history to life in your classroom.  It will take some extra prep, but you'll find that you enjoy the class even more than they do! :)