Chaucer's Poetry Lesson Plan

What were the "Middle Ages"? What comes to mind when you think of this time period?

Many students might presume that the Middle Ages are an unimportant, unappealing time of ignorance and obscurity (not to mention cultural, political and economic backwardness). However, the Middle Ages were also a time of transition and, in some cases, outright upheaval. The teacher can try to pique students’ interest in the Middle Ages by working backwards through some of the historical transformations which students are already familiar with: how does the Renaissance come to pass, for example? What about the Reformation, or the so-called "Age of Discovery"? And how are these things...