History at key stage 3 (Year 7)
Unit 3: How hard was life for medieval people in town and country?
Section 1: What does the Domesday Book tell us about life in town and country?
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Objectives |
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- about the Domesday Book and about towns and villages at the time of the Domesday survey
- to select, organise and communicate information about towns and villages based on information from the Domesday Book
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Activities |
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Outcomes |
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Children: |
- Introduce the section by asking pupils what they already know about peasants. Use one or two sources, such as a picture from the Luttrell Psalter or an extract from
Piers Ploughman, to pick out themes,
eg poverty, and explain that most people lived in villages.
- Introduce the Domesday Book by briefly explaining when and why it was written. Ask pupils to use evidence from the Domesday Book to write a report for the new king, William Rufus, using information from the Domesday Book to give him some idea about what goes on in English towns and villages. Explain that the king is particularly interested in the economy and taxation. Discuss the kind of information the king would want about his kingdom. Provide background information and some typical entries, translated into English and with technical terms simplified. Use local extracts where possible.
- Using textbooks or ICT resources (including e-mail - see 'Points to note'), pupils compare the entry for their local area with other entries. They could present their findings using a range of techniques, including graphs and/or tables.
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- recall and use prior learning in discussing a new topic
- demonstrate knowledge of the Domesday survey, including making correct use of some of the technical terms
- identify and organise relevant information
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Points to note |
- The use of a local Domesday entry is effective in engaging pupils' interest and meets the programme of study requirement for Britain 1066-1500 to include 'the local area if appropriate'. If their part of the country has no Domesday record, use a typical entry from another area and ask pupils to consider how an entry for their area would have been similar or different.The term 'peasant' is used broadly in this unit, but teachers might wish to be more precise in relating it to those working on the land and consider using some of the more specific Domesday terms to help pupils understand differences in peasants' lives.
- Language for learning: pupils can be provided with structured support for writing, such as sentence starters or a writing frame.
- ICT: pupils could create their own database to analyse, enter and evaluate the local data.
- Domesday entries can be exchanged by e-mail with other schools. Pupils can add entries to their database and make comparisons with other parts of the country.
- A word-processed report for the king can be illustrated by annotated graphs.
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This unit is divided into sections. Each section contains a sequence of
activities with related objectives and outcomes. You can view this unit by
moving through the sections or print/download the whole unit.
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