Materials

• Overheads of five maps completed during the first three sessions
• One blank 5" x 8" index card for each student
• Colored pencils and/or markers
• Overhead or electronic presentation with A.R.T.I.S.T.I.C. mnemonic
• Preferred teacher resources

Instructional Activities

NOTE: The following Web resources may be helpful with this session:

• “Education Place.” <http://www.askasia.org/teachers/search.php#plans>.
• “Michaelangelo Images.” <http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth213/michelangelo_images.html>.
• “Sites on Shakespeare and the Renaissance.” <http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Annex/ShakSites1.html>.

1. Review with students the content covered to this point in the Organizing Topic.
   
   
2. Assign a short reading selection that explains what the “renaissance” was and when it occurred. Review the selection with the class. Explain that the Renaissance was full of artistic, literary, and intellectual ideas and that its scholars studied and were influenced by ancient Greece and Rome. Further explain that trade led to an increase of wealth in Europe. People spent a significant amount of their money on entertainment (plays, paintings, essays, sonnets). Increase in trade led directly to the Renaissance. Relate this concept to trade routes just introduced, using the map to locate Italy and show its proximity to major trade routes.
   
   
3. Distribute index cards and colored pencils. Explain that students will be learning a mnemonic (memory) device to help them remember the important ideas and people of the Renaissance. On one side of the index card instruct them to write, “The Renaissance was very A.R.T.I.S.T.I.C.” Instruct them to decorate the card with color and perhaps draw paintbrushes, a brain, and books to represent the Renaissance.
   
   
4. Instruct students to flip over their index card to the lined side, and have them write A.R.T.I.S.T.I.C. down the left-hand side of the card. Go over the mnemonic one letter at a time (with students copying notes in appropriate place), discussing each lettered concept with the class:
   A. Arrival (birth) of the modern world
   R. Rebirth of ancient Greek and Roman cultures
   T. The Renaissance started in Italian city-states
   I. Italian artists (Michelangelo, da Vinci)
   S. Sonnets, essays, plays (Shakespeare)
   T. The Renaissance spread to Northern Europe
   I. Individualism is stressed (humanism)
   C. Church corruption criticized (Erasmus—humanist)
   
   
5. Prepare for a quiz on this session’s content or assign a teacher-selected reading, worksheet, or other reinforcement activity.