My classes tend to be a bit of a slow roll during the first month or so of class, spending time introducing the broad content and skills. When we get to formal writing, my students have done well with the graphic organizers, especially the comparison of life in 1200 to life today. To help reinforce the themes (and to avoid the "I know about today because I live today"), I gathered a variety of sources to help illustrate the frames for life today.
I also use this poster (that I tried to make look like a picture frame), and will have students keep adding to the types of P&D, networks & communities that we encounter, so that they have this as a frame of reference. Will hopefully turn this into something with more pictures / art to help with my emerging language learners, too. It's all a work in progress.
