Mr. Gelfand

Global History 2

mmdgelfand@aol.com

The Protestant Reformation

Introduction

Imagine you are a devout Catholic in Germany in the early 16^th century (1500s). You have been loyal to the Catholic Church all your life, but lately you have been troubled by some of the practices of your Church, practices you feel are not in keeping with the true spirit of the Christian religion. You are not the only one to be troubled by these practices. A movement has been growing in which people—loyal clergymen as well as educated people, like yourself—are publicly criticizing the Church for its corruption and abuses of power and privilege. You begin to wonder: How can the Church be reformed? And, if it can’t, how will this affect the political stability and religious unity of Western Europe? Little do you know that the Protestant Reformation, led by a German monk named Martin Luther, is just around the corner.

Task

· Your task is to produce a NEWSPAPER on the Protestant Reformation. When completed, your product should look like a modern-day newspaper, one that you could buy at any newsstand today (with headlines, articles, pictures, even advertisements!). You will also do an oral presentation related to an article in your newspaper.

Process

I. You will be assigned to a group of three. Using a variety of resources (Internet websites, your textbook, handouts, etc.), each group will research the topic of the Protestant Reformation. You will record your research on the Public Policy Analyst worksheets (found at the following five links):

· Identify Problem

· Gather the Evidence

· Determine Causes

· Evaluate the Policy

· Do a Comparative Analysis

II. In preparing the NEWSPAPER, each group member will contribute one written piece. The three pieces will include two articles (stating the facts) and one editorial (stating analysis and opinion).

A. In the two articles, you will address the facts of the Reformation:

1. What is the problem?

2. What is the evidence that the problem existed in 16^th-century Europe?

3. What were the causes of the problem?

4. What policies were enacted and what events took place in an effort to solve this problem?

5. What happened as a result of these policies or events? (Compare the political geography—that is, a map showing the political and religious divisions—in Western Europe before and after the 95 Theses.)

6. Briefly compare and contrast the Protestant Reformation with another event in global history in which dissatisfaction resulted in the disturbance of an established institution.

B. In the editorial, you will analyze the situation and state your opinions:

1. What policies can you create to correct the problem?

2. Given what actually happened, what is the best policy to correct the problem?

III. Your NEWSPAPER:

A. should have a front page (with each group member’s name, class, and teacher, the title of the NEWSPAPER, and the first article).

B. may include advertisements and any other items you would find in a modern NEWSPAPER (just make sure you relate all information to the Reformation).

C. should be neatly typed, without spelling or grammatical errors.

D. should end with a separate Reference Page, citing each source used.

E. may be colorful and have as many visuals (illustrations, photographs, etc.) as you would like.

IV. FINALLY, each group will choose the best article in its NEWSPAPER and make a five-minute oral presentation to the entire class. Each group member must contribute to the presentation either by speaking, creating a visual (e.g., a PowerPoint slide, an oak tag with pictures), or doing something else creative.

Questions to Consider:

To make sure your NEWSPAPER is as complete as possible, answer the following questions:

1. Why were people dissatisfied with the Catholic Church in the early 1500s?

2. Why was Martin Luther the central figure in the Protestant Reformation?

3. What were Luther’s criticisms of the Church?

4. How did Luther’s ideas spread?

5. Why did Luther want the Bible to be translated from Latin into German and other national languages?

6. How did the Church respond to Luther’s 95 Theses?

7. What were the roles of John Calvin, John Knox, and Henry VIII in the Reformation?

8. How was Europe affected by the events following Luther’s excommunication? (How did the map of Europe change as a result of the early stages of the Reformation?)

9. Briefly predict what the Catholic Church will do in response to the initial events of the Reformation.

Vocabulary

At the end of this project, you should be familiar with all of the following vocabulary words and historical personalities. Make sure that some of these appear in your NEWSPAPER:

& Corruption

& Indulgences

& Simony

& Nepotism

& Worldliness

& Martin Luther

& 95 Theses

& Protestant

& Reform, Reformation

& Peace of Augsburg

& John Calvin

& Predestination

& John Knox

& Henry VIII

& Thomas More

Resources

You should refer to at least three of the following sources (including at least two websites) to complete this project:

I. Search engines (to find websites on your own):

http://www.yahoo.com/

https://www.google.com/

http://www.excite.com/

II. Websites (already found for you):

http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/protestantreformation.htm

http://www.lepg.org/wars.htm

http://www.ricksteves.com/tv/luther.htm

http://www.newgenevacenter.org/west/reformation2.htm

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07222a.htm

http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/ninetyfive.txt (the 95 Theses)

http://www.newgenevacenter.org/west/reformation.htm

III. Your textbook (yes, this is a good source of information!)

IV. Mr. Gelfand’s handout on the Protestant Reformation (not a bad source either!)

Evaluation

Each group will be graded according to the following simple table:

Performance	Needs improvement 1	Satisfactory 2	Good 3	Excellent 4
Completion of Worksheets (understood the social problem, its causes, and public policy that arose from it)
Completion of Newsletter (had three articles, stated and analyzed the social problem, created and considered possible solutions, and evaluated the historical solution)
Oral Presentation (communicated facts and ideas clearly, enhanced presentation with visuals)

Curriculum Standards: This WebQuest responds to the followings curriculum standards:

Social Studies: 2:1.2:2

z The student will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments and turning points in world history, and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

English Language Arts: 1:1

z Interpret and analyze information from websites in the Internet and other sources.

z Compare and synthesize information from different sources in the Internet and other textbooks.

z Speaking and Writing.

z Relate new information to prior knowledge and experience.

Conclusion

At the end of this project, you should be able to demonstrate (through your newsletters and oral presentations) an understanding of the causes and effects of the Protestant Reformation. You should also be familiar with the main events and major figures of this turning point in global history. In addition, you should be able to make connections to the world today (e.g., the great number of Protestant churches in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world), and to the origins of other world religions (e.g., Buddhism originated from Hinduism, just as Protestantism began from a split in the Catholic Church). Finally, you should have “predicted” what might follow on the heels of the initial stages of the Reformation; that is, if you were officials in the Catholic Church, how would you have responded to the upheaval caused by Luther’s Reformation? Remember your predictions, because this might be the beginning of your next WebQuest.

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