1st School, Sofia, Bulgaria DIDACTIC PROJECT Date: May, 2011 Lesson Duration: 90 minutes. Grade Level: 10,11th /upper-intermediate and advanced/ Lesson content: : „The great paradigm of humanism- Renascence Enlighten, Human Rights- stamp of morality” Lesson type: Use of Knowledge and information gathered / discussion / DIDACTIC STRATEGY- team teaching Subject Areas: History, Religion, Philosophy, Literature, Foreign languages, Art, Music, Lesson Objectives: 1. To identify humanist values in the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, which form the foundation of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights; 2. To identify similarities between the humanist values and the religious values, to identify these values in our life. 3.
To promote fluency through discussion
4. To give students practice in giving their own opinion. 5. Interdisciplinary connections. Students to be able to identify major artists, leaders, thinkers, writers, and scientists associated with the Renaissance, and to understand their contributions to society. MATERIALS and RESOURCES • • • • • •
Overhead projector and transparencies, computers with internet access, white board, Textbooks or articles on the topic, web and print resources. Art supplies including construction paper, paints, colored pencils and markers. The map of Italy during the Renaissance. Copies of the following paintings, in any size:
a. Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci b. An Angel with a Lute by an Associate of Leonardo da Vinci’s c. St. George and the Dragon by Raphael d. Primavera by Sandro Botticelli e. The Lion of St. Mark by Vittore Carpaccio PROCEDURES: Warm-up: Introduce the topic, the aims of the lesson and the activities. History / 10min. Introduce students to the general characteristics of the Renaissance period in Europe's history. / The focus of this discussion is for students to develop a historical understanding of the Renaissance, and realize that contributions from important individuals during this time had an impact on the present as well as in the past. The students will learn to appreciate ideals and values expressed during the Renaissance through various mediums. By accessing prior knowledge and incorporating various skills and strategies, the students will cultivate an understanding of the advances in culture and life during the Renaissance. / The great achievements of the Renaissance identify periods of significant cultural achievement describe how societies preserve identity, transmit culture, and adapt to change be aware of the significant developments during this period identify key individuals during this period Social studies 15 min. Renaissance and the rise of Humanism Desiderius Erasmus, Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio.
The philosophy teacher and students define humanism and describe the views associated with it; describe how societies preserve identity, transmit culture, and adapt to change; describe various ways individuals and groups can influence legal systems and political structures; explain the development and importance of government systems; define humanism and identify Renaissance artists who were humanists;
Desiderius Erasmus (1469?-1536), a priest who wrote books, The Praise of Folly 1509, condemned ignorance and superstition. He believed education could lead to more perfect societies. 2. Students are divided into three groups. Each group is given time to create and rehearse a 2-3 min skit about a Humanist. / Francesco Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Desiderius Erasmus/ - Skit must portray the scholar’s thoughts and opinions, adversities, political views, accomplishments, - Each group presents their skit to the class Literature 10 min. The literature teacher and students identify the values promoted by the Renaissance humanists in literature. - Decameron / struggle between life and death and the multiple ways in which life can assert itself, regardless of conventional moral attitudes and beliefs; themes about joyful and grim aspects of the human struggle to attain pleasure and preserve life itself. / Students learn that with Dante the genius of the modern world dared to stand alone and to create confidently after its own fashion. With Petrarch the same genius reached forth across the gulf of darkness, resuming the tradition of a splendid past. With Boccaccio the same genius proclaimed the beauty of the world, the goodliness of youth, and strength and love and life, not terrified by hell neither appalled by the shadow of impending death.
Art 10min. The art teacher explains to students that during the Middle Ages (a period of European history from the third through 13th centuries), art and learning were centered on the church and religion. But at the start of the 14th century, people became less interested in thinking about God, heaven and the saints, and more interested in thinking about themselves, their surroundings and their everyday lives. The values and ideals popular during the European Renaissance can be described by the term secular humanism: secular, meaning not religious and humanism, meaning placing the study and progress of human nature at the center of interests. The rise of Humanism during the Renaissance can be seen in paintings created by Renaissance artists. Explain to students that they will be learning how to tell the difference between paintings from the Renaissance and earlier works of art, just by looking for evidence in the paintings themselves. Works of art created in the Renaissance are primary sources of information about how people lived in Renaissance Europe. Explain that students will look for specific clues to make judgments about whether a painting is a Renaissance painting or not.
A discussion about art during the Renaissance, making sure to touch on such points as artists reverting back to the Ancient Greeks and Romans, artists painting to please their patrons List a few great Renaissance artists on the board, and ask which ones they are familiar with. (Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael) Observe and discuss works in different genres- such ad portrait, fresco,Madonna- by Italian Renaissance artists including: 1. Leonardo da Vinci: The Proportions of Man, Mona Lisa,The Last Supper 2. Michelangelo: Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel / A short discussion about what their prior knowledge about these two artists. Show the class the painting Mona Lisa. Discuss with them the perspective, the subject, and the circumstances surrounding the painting. / Students understand and appreciate the relationship between the arts and the times during which they were created. Music 5 min. A discussion about the main characteristics of renaissance music. Part two: the Age of Enlightenment The concepts of equality, freedom and respect for human dignity in the philosophical systems of John Locke, Rousseau, Immanuel Kant According to the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, the motto of the age should be "Dare to know." A desire arose to reexamine and question all received ideas and values, to explore new ideas in many different directions-hence the inconsistencies and contradictions that often appear in the writings of 18th-century thinkers. By the end of this lesson students should be able to: • describe the main intellectual currents of the Enlightenment • outline ideas of key Enlightenment thinkers • explain the importance of science in Enlightenment thought •
identify humanist values in the Enlightenment, which form the foundation of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
Lead a discussion in which students are encouraged to connect political, economic, and religious issues and trends in today’s world to Enlightenment ideas / 10 min./
/ Letter Concerning Toleration (1689) contains two fundamental assumptions: that religion is a matter for each individual, and that churches are voluntary associations. Letter Concerning Toleration (1693) deals with the proper extent of freedom of religious conscience. Locke based his ethical theories upon belief in the natural goodness of humanity. The inevitable pursuit of happiness and pleasure, when conducted rationally, leads to cooperation, and in the long run private happiness and the general welfare coincide. Immediate pleasures must give way to a prudent regard for ultimate good, including reward in the afterlife. He argued for broad religious freedom in three separate essays on toleration but excepted atheism and Roman Catholicism, which he felt should be legislated against as inimical to religion and the state. In his essay The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695), he emphasized the ethical aspect of Christianity against dogma. /
a discussion about the influence of the Enlightenment writers, such as Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau, / 10 min./ a discussion about the bourgeois revolutions and The Universal Declaration of Human Rights / 10 min./ The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789 brought together two streams of thought: one springing from the Anglo-American tradition of legal and constitutional guarantees of individual liberties, the other from the Enlightenment's belief that reason should guide all human affairs. Enlightenment writers praised the legal and constitutional guarantees established by the English and the Americans, but they wanted to see them applied everywhere. The French revolutionaries therefore wrote a Declaration of Rights that they hoped would serve as a model in every corner of the world. Reason rather than tradition would be its justification. John Locke's writings on the nature of government in the late 1600s gave a more universal and theoretical caste to the idea of the rights of freeborn Englishmen, suggesting that such rights belonged not just to the English, but to all property-owning adult males.
Have artistic students make a political cartoon that shows a monarch, a bishop and an economic advisor discussing Enlightenment ideas from various points of view. / 10 min./