Teacher Commentary
We had three objectives for this module.
1. Introduce claims, evidence and reasoning to middle schoolers and how to create claims, consider evidence, use evidence to support claims and explain reasoning. (This advances READI Learning Goals for History Inquiry #1, 2 and 3.)

2. Build knowledge about feudalism as context for understanding the Enlightenment. (This advances the content goals for the course.)

3. Lay the groundwork for students to be able to develop historical empathy. Modern students struggle at times to develop and understanding of life from a medieval point of view. Stepping into the shoes of Serf Thomas and Serf Anne and being able to continually reference the poster can become a touchstone for a middle school class. (This advances READI Learning Goal for History Inquiry #3 in that historical empathy emerges from contextualization.)

This final reflection connects directly to the goal of developing historical empathy by calling attention to the differences between the students’ historical context and the serfs’ historical context. The poster serves as a touchstone of the serfs’ context as the class moves into the study of the Enlightenment.