A Pilgrimage to Canterbury
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Introduction
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Task
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Process
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Evaluation
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Conclusion
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Credits
You will begin a web quest by creating your own character to join the pilgrimage. You will
use different web sites to pick an occupation, a class standing, what clothes their character
will wear, and make up a physical description. Then you will tell me why your character has
joined the pilgrimage, and if the character is good or evil. You will do this by making a slide
presentation (Power point) that includes everything I have listed so far, but will also include
a poem of about 10-12 lines using Chaucer's writing style as a model.
Introduction
Are you ready to take a trip? Canterbury is really nice this time of year. Now is your chance
to join Geoffrey Chaucer's band of travelers for a pilgrimage to Canterbury. You cannot go as
a person from the 21st century, you must become a person from 14th century England. Your
quest will be to make yourself over into someone who fits in with the rest of the travelers
going to Canterbury. What type of person would you be, if you were given the chance to go
back in time to medieval England?
A Pilgrimage to Canterbury
Task
Take A Pilgrimage to Canterbury
The group of people traveling to Canterbury has decided to welcome one more person to
join their pilgrimage. They are thinking about including you. In order to take the trip, you
will need to describe yourself to the group. You will need to decide what type of person you
will be, occupation, style of dress, and if you are good or bad. You will submit a picture of
yourself and a short poem explaining who you are for the group to evaluate and decide if you
will be accepted on the pilgrimage.
A Pilgrimage to Canterbury
Process
You have already read the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, and have
met the other people going on the pilgrimage. Just to refresh your memory, there is a knight,
a squire, a nun, a Monk, a Friar, and many others. Now it is your turn to create a travelor
who may join the pilgrimage. You will work in groups of three to create your travelor. Before
you begin your search have your group list all the travelors going to Cantebury, that way you
will have an idea of what type of occupations and styles of clothing you will be looking for in
your WebQuest.
The first step will be to decide the characters gender and occupation. A good place to get
ideas is:
http://www.godecookery.com/pilgrims/pilgrims.htm,
http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/3.html,
http://www.britainexpress.com/History/Townlife.htm
Next, your group needs to create a physical description for your character, and choose his or
her mode of clothing. You can start this process by checking out these web sites:
http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/COSTUME4_INDEX.HTML#Plate19,
http://www.costumes.org/HISTORY/100pages/timelinepages/14thcent1.htm,
http://www.starcostumes.com/browse.asp?id=12&source=Go-Medievil
While your group is working on creating a character for the pilgrimage, I want each of you to
be thinking about who this person is, and why he/she is going on the pilgrimage. Once your
person has been created, each of you will be writing your own poem describing your
character's physical looks, occupation, why they are going on the pilgrimage, and whether
they are a good or bad character. When you write this poem you will use Geoffrey Chaucer's
Prologue as your guide. In class we have already discussed Chaucer's use of iambic
pentameter, but I will include a refresher for you to use as a guide:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_pentameter
Your group has now spent some time searching through web sites for ideas on who you will
become. Now it is time to finalize this process by choosing one occupation, and picking out
clothes for your person. Your person will be displayed in a Power Point slide for your
presentation to the class. Make sure to spend time on the little details, such as shoes, belts,
and clothes that match the occupation of your person. I will include a few guides to help your
group makes decisions on your character.
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/processguides/consensus.html,
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/processguides/time_manage.html
Keep in mind that each of you will be writing a 10-12 line poem about your character. It
might be helpful if you make notes about your character as you finalize his or her look and
occupation.
Now that your group has come to a final decision on your character, it is time to create your
character on a Power Point slide. Your have all used Power Point before, but if you need a
refresher on what to do, I will include a web site:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/CH790018081033.aspx
There are many ways that your character can be created. The character can be a man or
woman dressed in clothes of the period, with a blurb at the bottom telling the viewer who
your person is and what they do as an occupation. Or, you can put pictures on your slide
about each part of your characters, such as occupation, clothing, hair color, etc. Be creative.
Along with the slide of your character, each of you will have a poem ready to read about your
character. Look back at The Canterbury Tales Prologue as your guide when writing your
poem. Remember the poem needs to be 10-12 lines line, and follow Chaucer's line and
rhyming scheme. I will give you the web link once again to help you along your way:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_pentameter
A Pilgrimage to Canterbury
Conclusion
Congratulations! Now you are a part of history as your character makes the trek to
Canterbury along with Geoffrey Chaucer's travelors. Through this process you have learned
what it was like to live in medieval England, many of the different occupations available in
that time, and how people dressed. Along the road to Canterbury you also learned how to
write a poem in iambic pentameter. This is not an easy skill to learn, and you should be
proud of your efforts.
If you are liked this type of poetry and are interested in reading other poems with the same
rhyme scheme, check out this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare%27s_sonnets#Sonnet_18