Year 7 Thomas Becket and the First Crusade Workshop

13th August 2018

On Friday, Year 7 were treated to workshops to learn about Thomas Becket and the First Crusade. The Thomas Becket workshop involved the children producing freeze-frames in groups of four in response to words associated with Thomas Becket’s story, such as ‘judgement’ and ‘punishment’. Then in groups of five, they portrayed different parts of this story; the scene involving the murder of Becket’s story was particularly memorable, and very well-performed.

The First Crusade workshop involved the use of a giant map to display the important landmarks of the Crusade, and empires that were involved. The children were split into groups of the noblemen, the people, and the Church in order to explore the varying motives of these groups for fighting. They then switched sides, representing the Turks to view the Crusade from the perspective of both sides. This was an eye-opening experience for the children.

Overall, these history workshops allowed the children to really think about the events they’re studying from the perspective of the people at the time. Well done to Year 7 for their enthusiasm in these activities!