Saturdays Teachmeet

I was pretty brave, I feel, by accepting an invitation to put my name into the hat for the pilot Teachmeet in our area. I thought about the things that I had being doing in the last couple of months and wasn't too sure what I wanted to do. 

I happened to read Mark Brumley's blog about Flipsnack and immediately thought that I would like to share that.  I know this is fairly simple and not part of a lesson that I had prepared, but I saw, from an administrative point of view, for a school, what promise this tool offers.

Here is a quick Step-by-Step guide on how to upload to Flipsnack.

A basic intro to Flipsnack from MrsLG

It's "flipping easy" to use and I have been uploading for a couple of days now!
Here is an example of how the finished product can look.

Flip your:

• School Prospectus,
• Curriculum Documents,
• Any other documentation that you could upload to your School Website instead of a plain PDF

At the end of each year, why not collate all of your School Newsletters and create a "Yearbook" as I have begun to do here?

The end result is a beautifully bound book that looks like a work of art.

The French Revolution

I only have to teach this lesson in a couple of months, but am having such fun preparing it. I think that one learns more in preparation for presentation than one learns in the receiving of it. A teacher is an eternal learner no matter how one looks at it.

I have been plotting a virtual tour of France to add another dimesion to the Module. Having been to Paris, I have seen it at street level and am enjoying flying around it in the "Birds Eye View".

My idea (which may change later!) is to introduce the Module by watching a YouTube clip about the Revolution and the reasons for it.  I think it will add an extra dimesion to the lesson if the learners can see the size and opulence of the Palace and its gardens, and take a stroll through them before actually beginning with the content.



A Bird's Eye View of Versailles

 I found this fabulous site Google Art Project that allows one to take tours through museums around the world and the Palace of Versailles is one of them.



Inside Versaille on Google Art Project



The Memorial of the Bastille



I have created a wiki for them to work on together, and expect them to write a paragraph on:

• their impressions of the Palace,
• what life was like there,
• what the nobility was like,
• how did it compare to the life of the lower class, and
• why the revolution happened - in their own words.

I also expect them to upload a photograph or two of the Palace onto the wiki with their paragraph.

I have no doubt that the ideas for the introduction of this lesson will evolve before it is actually delivered, but this is my starting point - for now! 

There will be more to come!