Stuarts - Why Were People Afraid of Witches?

This lesson contains:

• A starter task to consider the traits of witches and what makes them scary. It also tests students’ prior knowledge of the punishment of witches.
• A task to draw a mind map in their books and then there are four slides of information about what the ‘witch craze’ was all about, based on common myths surrounding witches. The slides include info on how they look, what they go and about sabbats, witches marks and how people tried to ward off witches from their door.
• A task to study the first page of the information sheet to summarise why people became afraid of witches (based on superstition and fear) and then to find out how the witch craze began and how people started hunting for witches.
• A case study on five different women who were accused of witchcraft. The students find out what they did that raised this suspicion, and they decide whether there are any modern-day explanations that might explain what had happened. Students then determine, by colouring the small cauldron, how guilty in reality each woman was. The students then find out, from the slides, that all women were executed and this makes them see the injustice of the witch craze.
• A plenary to have students define some of the key words from the lesson.

Attachments:

• 1 x Powerpoint Presentation
• 2 x Publisher Files