Plague mask resources!

For those of you considering doing a plague doctor mask, I have found the following resources:

A pretty amazing paper mache mask that is in four parts. Here's the link for part one.

Another really nice mask, made with craft foam paper and paints with a creeptastic picture of the maker wearing it. (I'm working on my own version of this one right now!) Link here.

 

A second mask with craft foam as the base, but covered in fabric rather than paint. Does require some stitching. Link here.

A leather and goggles version - for those of you who want to be a little more gothic: link here.

And one last paper mache and foam version. This is really similar to the project I did when I was in high school... lots of fun, but can get messy! Click here.

Hopefully that gets your creative juices flowing! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me.  I have also seen these made out of plaster, duct tape, and metal working... the sky's the limit!

The End of the World

Day 2 of the Black Death!

Daily Objectives:
 

• Journal (click here!)
• MME: End of the World
• video clip: Flagellants
• NO LEFT SIDE ASSIGNED, but you could do a student choice one for extra credit.
• Time at the end of class was given to make sure notebooks were in order before being turned in.

Right side notes: 

MAIN IDEA: People thought the world was ending as the plague spread and nothing could prevent it.

Words Worth Knowing:

• Death obsession: surrounded by the dying, people humanized death in literature, art, and superstition. Death was now seen as skeleton who rode his horse through towns, danced people to their deaths and often held a scythe. (Skeletal figure with a scythe sound familiar?)
• Pestilence: another name for the plague and what it was called during the outbreak. Also called The Great Mortality. The phrase "Black Death" wasn't used until the 18th century.
• Flagellant: a person who whipped themselves as penance for the sins that brought the plague. Brotherhood of the Flagellants would walk through Europe beating themselves with iron studded whips for 33.5 days (a day for every year of Christ's life) and people would pay money, gather in groups to pray and some would even catch flagellant blood to wipe it on themselves or their children as protection from the plague.
• Doctors: beak-masked men who treated plague victims. Wore bird-like masks to prevent the miasma (death fog) and smell of the bodies as they worked. 

IF YOU WERE GONE:

Watch this BBC documentary on the plague and death culture in Europe during that time. The Black Death (48 mins) - warning: can get kind of gross. :)

Check out the MME  here.

BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!!!!!

Daily Objectives

• Journal (Click here!)
• Activity: will you survive the plague?
• Notes and reading. In class, I read a text selection while the class took notes. There are guided questions to help you. See me in class as this is a new activity.
• Left side: life (death?) cycle of the plague AKA transmission pathway. Y.pestis, flea, rat, and human. Can be drawn or images are available in class.
• Music video: Fleas on Rats (Hollaback Girl) and a bit of Monty Python

Tomorrow, we will be doing more traditional notes on the Black Death and if you have any questions - remember you can contact me through the form above.