Clay Medallions

The clay medallions lesson was given by Tayler and myself.  This lesson began with us showing a brief powerpoint on the byzantine empire.  This empire had a wealth of gold that was used to create medallions.   The students were then split into lower class citizens and upper class citizens.  The students then designed their medallion based on what an upper or lower class medallion would look like. We then showed the students our medallions we created (above).  I created a medallion designed for the lower class of citizens while Tayler created hers for the upper class.  To create these medallions, we had the students first create a rough draft of what they wanted their medallion to look like.  They were encouraged to used different shapes such as a square or diamond.

Each student then got a piece of clay and flattened it out to the right thickness (about half a fingernail).  Students then cut the outline for their medallion out of this clay.  They were instructed to put a hole at the top of the medallion so they could be hung in the future.  They were also instructed to turn the medallion over and put their name on the back of their medallion.

Students were then free to design their medallion.  The only stipulation was that the medallion had to be designed for their specific social class.  Each student could use the tools laid out for them on the table to create the medallions engravings.  Once their medallion was engraved they were told to paint their medallions. That way they can add the beads later and they will stick better.  They could paint their medallion either gold or bronze.  Once they were painted and the beads were put on the students put their medallions on the back table to dry.

We displayed our medallions on a bulletin board a couple of days later.  The medallions we hung by tacks and stings put through the medallion (below).

An extension activity I thought of would be to have the students create an actual Byzantine city out of clay.  This would take quite a bit of time, but would be very enjoyable for the students.  They could create the city with the upper class on one side and the lower class on the other side of the city.