I need to brush up on my history, too, (sorry but I haven’t really taught the Renaissance period for 8 years), but I think before the emergence of the Middle Class it was a bit of a feudal/king system of the haves and the have-nots.

Here is how it could possibly happen:

Begin with 3-5 mins of whole group instruction, preferably where all are seated around you. You give a very brief intro that they are going to feel what life was like and you expect them to follow directions and treat the materials with respect. Tell them you want them to think about what is happening and, after, you will discuss it.

Step 1: Demo the feudal system.
Materials: Play money, popsicle sticks or index cards with names of jobs and, possibly, a picture on the jobs also.
Start with a specific amount of money and jobs. Ask who wants to be king. Pretend to look around but my guess is you should probably pick Rachel Give her all the money except for a few dollars. Ask her to walk around and collect all the dollars. (This is the part that gives me pause about if it should be Rachel b/c they won’t like this action!) You want to engineer this so people really think it is unfair. Actually, maybe you want to make the teacher the “king” at this point?

Step 2: Demo the gradual change in system
Materials: Same as step 1 but with more jobs
You’ll need some way to announce that now time has passed and now it is year xxx. You may want to repeat what some people experienced such as, “I heard John say this wasn’t fair!” Remind students that you are now going to give out the same amount of money as before but to the people who have jobs. (Optional materials: extra pieces of corn or paper with the word corn on it, shoes, etc. so that others could buy items with the pretend money.)
Allow students to buy and sell items. Allow approx five or so minutes. You’ll need to circulate to see that they participate and to help engineer the outcome that the money is much more shared around than was in the feudal system. Ideally, you’d want a few enterprising people to “create” a job for themselves. Sometimes this could happen organically in that a person will say something like, “I will offer to carry your money if you pay one dollar” or something like that. You can also whisper to a student to offer a service to another student for pay; such as pretend to do homework for that student or something like that.

Ending activity: Announce that time will be up in one minute. When approximately 30 seconds passes, one effective way to get this age group’s attention is to loudly count backwards, 5-4-3-2-1… works really well especially if you actually lower your voice slightly as you count backwards (still being heard but they have to get quiet to hear you)

Ask them to sit back wherever you had the opening activity. Ask them to hold any $ they have in their hand and quickly collect it.

Wrap-Up: Brief discussion about what they learned, but it would really focus on what they felt. Ask leading questions so you get the answers you seek. Make sure you collect all the materials.

Total time for lesson: approx 25-35 minutes depending on size of class and their attention

* * * * *
Things to keep in mind:
- This is just their introduction to the time period. You are not responsible for making sure they know this for the SATs
- They will remember fun. I know it can be hard, but try to smile.
- If you are able to get about 80 percent of the class’ attention the whole time, (and it won’t be the same 80 percent the whole time), then you’re doing okay!
- Stage whispers or slightly lowering your voice can be more effective in getting a group’s attention than raising a voice, plus it has the possibility of being less frustrating for you
- You are NOT the designer of this activity. You are not responsible if it doesn’t meet the unrealistic expectation. You are responsible for supervising and for doing your best. Focus on involving them and the rest will happen.
- Remember that it may look (and sound!) like chaos, but that can absolutely be a valuable part of the learning process.
- If you go over or under time, don’t worry about it; it is the teacher’s problem or the school’s problem for not properly preparing you. Again, just do what you can.
- Even if it doesn’t meet your expectations, just focus on the positive whenever Rachel is in remotely in earshot, even if all you have to say is that you enjoyed seeing more of her or seeing her class. (I’m sorry if that sounds patronizing; I don’t intend it that way at all. Clearly you are an intelligent person but I’ve seen a lot how a parent has an opinion about something that a child just takes on, even if the child feels different or the child feels like there is then a chasm between home vs. school; that can be hard to repair.)

Of course, all this is just my opinion based on my experiences. Yours may certainly be or become different.

Would love to hear how it turns out!

Sending you positive thoughts…

So you think that activity is still useful? (but maybe if I hand out some ‘money’ to a few students…)? How does it show an emergence of middle class? (I totally see how it shows the issues with monopolies…)

As a teacher I am saddened and pained. My colleagues will occasionally complain that they don’t get parent help. Well, this is a clear reason of why not! Would anyone dream of a doctor asking for volunteers for something other than handing out a routine paperwork or something? There is knowledge in teaching, there is experience in doing it well. Grrrr.

I have seen one PTA-type sponsored activity that utilizes parents as teachers of a one-day presentation and does a GREAT job of it. However, it is two days of training (I think two, two-hour sessions) to prepare for an 80-minute presentation and it includes well thought out materials, timeframe, basic script, handouts, etc.

That all said, let’s look at the particular situation you’re stuck with, uhm, in.

Small group work (like stations or centers or whatever your district calls it) could be very effective especially since you say here and you’ve written before that presenting to a full class isn’t too comfortable for you.

But setting up those station with clearly written out expectations/goals/directions for each station, materials, etc. takes hours of work. IDK why you would be tasked with that. Teachers can justify doing that if they think they’ll use it year to year etc. But your goal is something like just to help, to show your daughter you care, etc. I wouldn’t recommend getting involved up to that point.

Honestly, as a teacher and a parent, I would advise you to do what was sketched out for you to do. Ask the teacher or the PTA contact person (whomever was your trainer) for all materials stating that you just want to make sure the students understand the materials. You could go crazy searching all the great web sites out there… but that isn’t your job. Sorry, I’m digressing again…

The whole emergence of the middle class can be experienced as the suggested activity, (which, by the way was the exact activity I used when I taught my sixth grade students about monopolies… obviously tailored in the opposite way where first there were eight sellers and then there was just one…)

What materials were you given? Monopoly money? Items to sell? Jobs to pick? Please, please tell me you were given something!

Another activity for the art group:
- ahead of time, you set up butcher-block paper taped to the Bottom of several desks pushed together (or a table) Students have to lay down on their backs on the floor, (you can bring in a towel or three), and paint a la Sistine Chapel (he lay on his back to do it)

Not sure if my rant helped…