Experience 2
Book of Days: Creating Your Personal Medieval Journal

Theatre companies document their pre-production activities with written contracts and accounting books of how money is spent. Continuing our pre-production preparations for our theatrical journey, each students builds a personal Book of Days to help document his progress throughout this unit. The first half of each student's book will be devoted to the development and analysis of a medieval character that the student will portray during the final festival presentation/performance. A strong focus of the Book of Days will be developing a story from their character's life. The title of the first half of the Book of Days will be "A ____'s Quest," depending on the character's occupation or a name the student selects. In the second half of their Book of Days, titled “Challenges,” students will maintain a running account of their experiences with in-class assignments. This will document each student’s progress in becoming a knight (sir or dame), serve as an individualized assessment tool for the teacher and as a self-assessment tool for the student. When students are engaged in creating, the process of documentation can help them reflect on their experiences in a more personally salient way.

Books in the Middle Ages were rare and precious. Only very wealthy or scholarly people owned any. Every book was made by hand starting with parchment (thinly stretched skins of goat, sheep, or calves that were dried and scraped clean). Scribes and monks then wrote the text by hand, using quills or reeds as pens. During the late Middle Ages people began to enjoy reading adventure stories about great legends. Other books marked the changing months or the accounts of an estate. Some nobles kept a Book of Days filled with daily prayers and/or stories to help mark the passage of time — a medieval version of the modern diary.

The Mental Joust: What were medieval books like? How are they different from today's books? What is a Book of Days and how do you make one? What would your life be like if you never learned to read? What is the importance of your Book of Days in the pre-production preparations for the medieval festival?

Time: 30 minutes

Materials: a roll of brown package paper, standard-size typing paper, raffia or thin string or yarn, scissors, glue sticks, a push pin or awl, felt tip markers, colored pencils and pens

Worthy Words: calligraphy, parchment, illuminated, Psalter, manuscripts, quill, monk, scribe

Procedure:

1. Show students photographs of books from the Middle Ages. (See reference list for suggestions.) 
2. Discuss: How are these books different from what we have today? What makes these books so special and beautiful? (Point out how pages are illuminated around the edges and often have the first letter on the page ornamented.) What are medieval books made of? How do you think they were made? Who would have owned a book like this? What do these books say about what life was like in the Middle Ages? What do you think a scribe’s daily routine was like? What would be good/not good about this job? 
3. Describe how Books of Days were medieval versions of our diaries. Explain that students will be making their own Book of Days to document their work during this unit.

1. Fold 8 sheets of standard photocopier paper in half to make the text sheets. 
2. Use brown paper to simulate leather for the cover. Measure and cut the cover sheet 1/2 inch taller and wider than the text paper and fold in half. 
3. With an awl or pushpin, poke several holes down the fold line. 
4. Match up the holes and thread raffia or thin string through the pages and tie in a knot or bow. 
5. Decorate cover using colored markers, pens, and pencils. 
6. Write the heading "Challenges" on the center of the page, half way through the Book of Days. Decorate the “C” in medieval fashion and illuminate the edge of one or more pages. 

Tip to the Teacher: Have students respond to the above questions in the second half of their Book of Days under the heading “Challenges.”

References & Resources:

Beckett, Wendy. The Duke and The Peasant: Life in the Middle Ages. New York: Prestel, 1997.

Howarth, Sarah. What Do We Know about the Middle Ages? New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1995.

Jordan, William Chester. The Middle Ages: A Watts Guide for Children. New York: Grolier Publishing, 1999.

Langley, Andrew. Medieval Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.

LaPlantz, Shereen. Cover to Cover: Creative Techniques for Making Beautiful Journals and Albums. Ashville, NC: Lark Books, 1995.

Oakes, Catherine. Exploring the Past: The Middle Ages. New York: Hamlyn Publishing Group, 1989.