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Classroom Lesson Plan on Roman Marriage

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Classroom Lesson Plan on Roman Marriage Classroom Lesson Plan on Roman Marriage Submitted by Sarah Hull, MA candidate, CUNY Hunter Introduction: This unit is intended for a middle‐school level although if high school students have not studied Roman marriage this unit could be used with supplementary additional information if desired. This unit aims to introduce aspects of Roman marriage including the engagement process, preparation for the wedding, the ceremony, and married life together; it does not attempt to cover any part of divorce. The unit is designed to be approximately six weeks long including the final project, which is to actually act out a Roman wedding. Each segment is designed to give the most important information about the specific subject material. There is, of course, more information that can be provided, but the constraints of the regular curriculum necessitate some brevity. If this unit is used for upper class students as an introduction to Roman marriage, elements of the ceremony can be added that I have omitted, such as the obligation of a wife to please her husband and the process that the new bride must go through once she reaches her new husband’s house (for further information see the starred selections of the bibliography). Ideally, this unit would be presented to a culturally heterogeneous mix of students so that the class as a whole may draw upon similarities and differences in various cultures. The unit is designed to be taught in conjunction with the normal curriculum mandated by the school or district. There is a short PowerPoint presentation that follows the order of the unit outline. The images of real artifacts from ancient Rome reinforce the unit material and provide a wonderful opportunity for discussion. Table of Contents: Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………….1 Learning Goals/Objectives……………………………………………………………………………………..2 Content area standards, concepts, and skills this unit supports………………………………..2 Target Grade………………………………………………………………………………………………………….2 Time Needed………………………………………………………………………………………………………….2 Instructional Materials Needed……………………………………………………………………………….3 Methods/Techniques……………………………………………………………………………………………...3 Assessment…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3 Analysis………………………………………………………………………………………………………………3‐4 Unit Outline……………………………………………………………………………………………………………5 Daily Lesson Plans……………………………………………………………………………………………..6‐10 Instructions for Group Project……………………………………………………………………………….11 Annotated Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………...12‐15 PowerPoint……………………………………………………………………….……available upon request 1 Learning Goals/Objectives: • To introduce students to the world of Roman marriage. • Students will be able differentiate various accepted forms of marriage. • Students will be able to compare marriage customs of today (in their own respective cultures) with those of the Romans. • Students will be able to reenact a Roman marriage including unique traditions of the Romans. • Students will better understand the Roman world as a whole and the Roman family by understanding how marriage functions within the society. • Students will better understand women by understanding societal expectations of marriage including ages for marriage and rights and responsibilities of a married woman. Content area standards, concepts, and skills this unit supports: LOTE/Latin for the 21st Century Standard 1 – Students will be able to use a language other than English for communication. Checkpoint A, Checkpoint B LOTE/Latin for the 21st Century Standard 2 – Students will develop cross‐cultural skills and understandings. Checkpoint A, Partial Checkpoint B Standards for Classical Language Learning Goal 1 – Communication/Communicate in a Classical Language (1.1 and 1.2) Standards for Classical Language Learning Goal 2 – Culture/Gain Knowledge and Understanding of Greco‐Roman Culture (2.1) Standards for Classical Language Learning Goal 4 – Comparisons/Develop Insight into Own Language and Culture (4.1 and 4.2) Any other standards/skills this unit supports: Grade 8 ELA Standard 1: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding. Grade 8 ELA Standard 2: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression. Grade 8 ELA Standard 4: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction. Target Grade: Eighth‐grade students. Time Needed: This unit optimally requires six or seven forty‐minute periods. Alternatively it can be adapted to fit into fifteen to twenty‐minute blocks at the end of class periods instead of devoting an entire day to each topic. 2 Instructional Materials Needed: − PowerPoint presentation for each segment of the marriage outline to introduce new cultural material − Computer and a means of projecting a PowerPoint presentation − Passages of real Latin adapted or glossed regarding marriage to accompany different segments of the unit − Classical cookbook creations, i.e. recipes prepared by the teacher for the class to taste during the presentation − Paper − Poster Board − Construction Paper − Markers − Colored Pencils − Latin Dictionaries − Instructions for Project (included in this lesson plan) Methods/Techniques: This module relies heavily on comparing and contrasting, with short written assignments in which the students will participate in a dialogue with the teacher. Students will also be encouraged to share their observations with the entire class so that all of the students can learn from the various viewpoints and experiences of each other. This unit is intended to pique the curiosity of the students about Roman wedding customs. Their curiosity will be harnessed to promote continued interest in what they will learn next regarding Roman marriage. As the final assessment for this unit is reenacting a Roman wedding, students will be constantly reminded of the sequence of events for a Roman wedding. Mini assessments, including short written assignments and short quizzes, will be used to ensure students have an understanding of the sequence of events in a Roman wedding prior to the culminating project. Assessment: Students will be given short quizzes on the material discussed in each segment so that the teacher can ensure there is an understanding of the material presented. As the unit will be approximately six weeks long, there will be at least three quizzes given. Students will also be expected to participate in a group project at the end of the unit. Analysis: This unit is important to help students grasp the differences between contemporary marriages and those in Roman times. The unit is set up to logically flow from the earliest stage of marriage, i.e. the engagement, to examples of life after marriage, both good and 3 bad. The unit does not attempt to cover divorce or any of the laws governing divorce proceedings in the Roman world. Understanding the customs of the Roman wedding ceremony will help students better understand modern‐day patterns for marriage. By the end of this unit, students will be able to trace certain contemporary practices back to the Roman period. This creates a link between their lives and the lives of Romans, which should increase interest in the classical world as a whole. Furthermore, by incorporating cultural segments such as Roman marriage into the curriculum, the teacher is fulfilling the principles discussed for the course ‐‐ most notably for this particular unit, increasing the knowledge of the Greco‐Roman world in order to better understand our own modern world. 4 Unit Outline on Roman Marriage Each major heading (engagement, preparation, ceremony, and life together) will take approximately a week to present. The major sections will cover about four weeks. The last two weeks planned for this unit will be used toward preparation and presentation of the final project. I have included unadapted L atin passages that can be used for any levels. These passages are from starred sources in the annotated bibliography at the end. I. Betrot hal (sponsalia) a. Conubium –the right of legal Roman marriage was a right of citizenship b. Contr a ct and dowry c. Age – differed for males and females i. Legal age for marriage ii. Actual age of marriage II. Legal consequences of marriage for the Roman bride a. Marriage cum manu: control of wife transferred from paterfamilias to maritus i. Confarreatio– immediate transfer of control ii. Coemptio – immediate transfer of control iii. Usus – transfer of control after one uninterrupted year of marriage b. Marriage sine manu: control of wife remained with paterfamilias III. Prepa ra tion a. Items Needed/Discarded b. Cloth e s i. Saffron veil and shoes ii. Wreath of flowers iii. Straight tunic iv. Girdle v. Knot of Hercules c. Legal formalities IV. Ceremony a. When and wh ere? b. What i s entai led? i. Vows 1. Ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia 2. Clasping of hands: dextrarum iunctio ii. Number of witnesses based on the type of marriage c. Pomp a i. Procession from bride’s house to groom’s house ii. Proceeded by a torch and boys iii. Yelling of i nsults b y guests iv. Carrying over the threshold v. Matrona (pronuba) escorts bride into bri dal chambe r vi. Party continues outside of the cubiculum for guests V. Life To gether a. Conco r dia NOT amor (see Pliny the Younger, Letters 8.5.1‐2) b. Not a lw ays happy i. Valerius Maximus, Memora ble Deeds and Words 6.3.9 ii. Augustine, Confessions 9.9 5 Roman Marriage Lesson 1 Engagement and Marriage I. Betrot hal (sponsalia) a. Both bride and groom must be Roman citizens in order for conubium to exist b. Dowry had to be negotiated prior to the engagement c. Both bride and groom had to consent to the engagement, as well as the pater fa milias of each (if he was still alive) d. Minimum legal age for marriage i. 14 for males; 12 for females ii. Girls were often married in their teens iii. Males married later and were often considerably older than the bride e. Engagements could be made between families very early in a child’s life, sometimes at birth, for political or financial reasons f. In upper‐class families, at least, there was usually a party given by the girl's father to celebrate the engagement and inform friends II. Legal consequences of marriage for the Roman bride: a.
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