Throughout my years in graduate school my teaching experience in History was primarily focused on leading small discussion sections. This classroom time greatly increased my teaching confidence and my understanding of how to engage with students and their diverse needs. However, as I approach the culmination of my Ph.D., I found myself eager to transition to teaching my own course. Thanks to the George L. Mosse Teaching Fellowship, I have had the chance to create and teach a course independently.
While I approached this opportunity with enthusiasm and readiness, I soon realized that designing a course from scratch is quite complex. Crafting a truly meaningful learning experience involves numerous considerations: carefully selecting readings that resonate with students, designing exams that both challenge and assess their understanding, and creating in-class activities that stimulate their curiosity. It is not an easy task!
Fortunately, the George L. Mosse Teaching Fellowship recognizes the importance of this preparatory phase. I spent the entire fall semester meticulously designing every aspect of the syllabus. As I developed the course, I was excited to apply the teaching practices I had studied throughout my Ph.D. journey, such as creating a syllabus through backward design as well as universal design for learning. By spring 2024, I was ready to implement what I had prepared during the previous semester.
My course was titled “Women, Spirituality, Law, and Medicine (1100-1500).” I aimed to provide an overview of the medieval and Renaissance period with an emphasis on women. The syllabus was divided into three parts to give equal time to each aspect of society that I wanted to explore with my students.
In the first part of the course, we focused on late medieval spirituality, examining the relationship between female saints, food, and fasting, as well as divine and demonic possession. Together we explored questions such as: How did female saints use their experiences with food and fasting to assert their agency in a male-dominated religious landscape? What factors contributed to the higher incidence of divine or demonic possession among women, and what were the cultural implications of these experiences?
In the second part, we moved on to medicine, and analyzed how medical practices were embedded in the socio-cultural context of their historical period. Here we addressed questions such as: What role did female healers play in the medical field during this period? How did contemporary medical literature describe the anatomy of the female body? Did women have autonomy to make decisions regarding their own bodies? And how did religious beliefs influence perceptions of women in medicine?
Finally, in the last part of the course, we studied law, crime, and punishment. After analyzing the history of legal practices until the Renaissance, we explored questions including: What types of crimes were committed by women during this period? Were women and men punished in the same way for the same crime? How did the punishment of women reflect broader societal beliefs about gender roles?
By the end of the semester, students not only deepened their understanding of the central topics but also gained insights into the intricate relationship between gender, religion, law, and medicine. They could discuss how these three subjects were inextricably linked and intertwined in various ways, including within our own historical and societal context. Students were able to answer enthusiastically these and other questions by drawing on the readings and primary source materials presented in lectures.
My goals in teaching this course were threefold. First, I aimed for my students to gain a comprehensive understanding of the role of women in society—focusing on spirituality, law, and medicine—from the medieval period to the Renaissance. My second pedagogical goal was to teach students how to engage critically with a wide variety of primary sources. We worked on asking questions of primary sources, and discussed how to conduct academic research. For this last aspect, I utilized many documents from my own research to demonstrate how fascinating the research process can be, highlighting the importance of unbiased and logical thinking, asking relevant questions, and navigating the challenges of archival research. My third goal was to present medieval and Renaissance history as something “alive” and relevant to our lives today, rather than as a distant past that no longer matters. I aimed for students to view the women we analyzed as living figures with feelings, concerns, struggles, and challenges—much like those we face today.
I chose to teach this course not only because of my own academic interests and research, but also because the issues and questions speak to our own concerns. Current debates surrounding abortion in the United States, the lower enrollment of women in STEM fields, and issues of women’s rights and equal opportunities are vital topics that resonate particularly with our female students. We were able to trace the deep historical roots of these topics.
Students were able to discuss how the discourse surrounding these core course issues have changed over a long period of time. Teaching was a pleasure because of how engaged the students were with the material and discussions. They asked meaningful questions, actively participated, and made insightful comparisons between the past and the present. The chronological collapses appeared frequently: when we discussed whether women had the autonomy to make decisions regarding their own bodies, how accusations of witchcraft reflected broader societal fears about women and power, how women were involved in acts of rebellion or dissent, and the consequences they faced, the relationship between women and food, the barriers women faced in accessing medical education or training, and so on.
Teaching this course made me realize that while it’s important to contextualize primary sources within their time periods, it’s equally vital to help students connect to those historical contexts. Such connections can help them trace the roots of contemporary issues and foster greater interest and engagement in the topics. Students better understand the experiences of people in the past when they encounter them on a personal level. To amplify women’s perspectives, I incorporated a wide variety of texts including letters, trials, medical and religious texts, as well as dramas and fictional novels written by or about women. Students enjoyed analyzing these texts.
Students further enhanced their analytical and writing abilities through a range of assignments. At home, they were required to submit a weekly reading response. In class, students collaborated in pairs or small groups to engage with primary sources, which facilitated the exchange of ideas, boosted their confidence to speak up in class, and fostered a collaborative environment. They frequently presented the assigned readings to the class and posed relevant questions to stimulate discussions. Their engagement was impressive; by the end of the semester, they were skilled at crafting thoughtful questions about the documents.
In addition to the midterm and final exams, students completed a final paper. This essay was based on a letter written by a woman to her lover during the twelfth century—one of the many letters we analyzed in class—where the author explained the reasons they could not be together. Students, who enjoyed reading this correspondence, were tasked with detailing the cultural and societal factors behind her choice, drawing on the material covered throughout the term. This way, they could connect the assignment to the broader context of what they had studied. Alternatively, they could choose to write from the woman’s perspective, crafting a new letter that provided plausible reasons for her inability to be with her lover, using the themes and topics we explored in class. Students approached this essay with enthusiasm, particularly the option to role-play, which helped them identify with the woman and motivated them to review the material to find relevant references.
Even though I spent a semester preparing for this course, I encountered some unexpected challenges during the teaching phase that I hadn’t anticipated during design. I soon realized that, to be more effective, I needed to make adjustments throughout the semester to tailor the material based on the specific dynamics of the attendees. These changes varied widely, and included modifying the selection of primary sources to better align with student interests, as well as adjusting my lectures to enhance their effectiveness and appeal. I also included foundational lessons on how to read primary sources and craft historical papers for those unfamiliar with the historical discipline.
Although it was challenging to adapt my plans in real time, the experience was extremely rewarding. The opportunity to experiment, make adjustments, and adapt the material and lectures in itinere ultimately enhanced my teaching abilities, from the PowerPoint presentations to diversifying the historical media I integrated. With the freedom to personalize my students’ learning experience I worked to foster a collaborative and responsive learning environment where everyone could contribute.
All of this was made possible by the George L. Mosse Teaching Fellowship opportunity. I am also truly grateful to Stan and Linda Sher, generous donors who support the Mosse Teaching Fellowship, for giving graduate students the valuable experience of teaching their own course before entering the job market. This experience will continue to shape my academic teaching in the future.
Sara Paris is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She earned her M.A. in Italian from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and holds a B.A. in History from the University of Siena (Italy). Her research focuses on criminal justice in Italy. Particularly, it investigates female criminality and victimhood during the sixteenth century. Sara has conducted extensive research on legal documents written in Italian vernaculars and Latin in several archives in Italy. In the Spring of 2024, with the support of the George Mosse Teaching Fellowship, Sara offered a course on Women, Spirituality, Law and Medicine in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance.