The Renaissance: What Was Reborn, and Does It Still Matter?

I’m Spencer Charrington, and this is the lesson I use to introduce the Renaissance. We look at what changed between medieval and Renaissance Europe, why it started in the Italian city-states, and how its ideas about art, music and human potential still show up today. It ends on one question for the class: does the Renaissance still matter?

What students learn

• What Renaissance, humanist, secular, patron and vernacular mean in their historical context
• How medieval Europe (c. 400 to the 1300s) compares with Renaissance Europe (c. 1300 to 1500)
• Why the Renaissance began in Italy and how it spread north
• How Renaissance ideas connect to art, music and technology now

How the lesson runs

1. Opening question. I ask whether we’re living through a renaissance right now. Students think about music, art, technology, fashion and social media and decide if this is a creative period.
2. Medieval vs Renaissance Europe. We compare the two side by side: trade, study, attitudes to individual achievement and interest in classical Greece and Rome.
3. Why Italy? We look at the Italian city-states, their trading wealth, the powerful families and how patrons paid for art and learning.
4. Art and music. We study Leonardo’s The Last Supper, Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, Michelangelo’s David and Last Judgment and Raphael’s The School of Athens, then listen to Renaissance music.
5. Humanism. We talk about the shift from a focus on the afterlife to a focus on human potential and the here and now.
6. Modern renaissances. In pairs, students discuss examples like Beyoncé’s Renaissance, Kendrick Lamar, Nike and Jordan design and creativity on TikTok.
7. Vocabulary worksheet. Students define each term, then use it in a sentence, draw it or give an example.
8. Exit ticket. Students write on a Post-it whether they think the Renaissance still matters and stick it on the Agree or Disagree side of the board.