The Canterbury Tales

*Materials needed: Computers with Internet access
Poster Board (and other art supplies)
Copies of "The Canterbury Tales"

*Prior Knowledge:

Students have already read the prologue and one of tale from Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales"
They also have experience searching verified and trustworthy websites for further information.

*Plan Details

Students are placed into groups. (This can be done in several ways). For this project, I allowed my students to pick their groups.

Each group pulled out of a box one of the characters from the story. This was the character that the students were to portray in their presentation. Once given the character, the students were to research that specific tale and other information related to the character.

Based on this information, the students were to compose a modern version of the tale which showed evidence of their understanding of the character.

In addition, students were to create the character, by having one member dress as the character would've dressed in the time period. They must be able to explain the costume in order to show their understanding of the character and the time period.

Finally, each group is to create a poster that displays their tale as well as contains other details for their character. For example, the monk's poster could have a rosary, a greyhound (because he had some), etc. Students are to present their poster and explain the various elements to it.

*The Presentation:

Each group will present their tale, costume, and poster to the class. These presentations are video taped so different class periods can see each other's presentations. Students are graded on the three elements (tale, costume, poster) as well as their presentation quality and creativeness. Finally, each group member is given an evaluation form to evaluate each of their group members to ensure that everyone performed his or her assigned task.