Day 3: The Louvre during the day

24 May 2007 – Revisiting the Louvre on my own

You’ve probably realised that I’m not going to give a tourist’s guide to the places I have chosen to share with you but rather a personal take using snippets of writing and images or photos from my journals. I have added links if you would like to read more about these places, artworks, relics and people. Otherwise sit back and just enjoy the adventure through my eyes, hand and heart. I would love to hear about your own visits to these places. Feel free to add a comment below.

Assyrian Warrior      8th Century BC

“I spent the last full day in Paris in the Louvre. I went on my own, on the metro. I didn’t get lost! I just went there [again] to see what I wanted to see. I went to say g’day to Mona again. … [but] the highlight had to be finding the monumental Assyrian Lions right there in front of me!”

Their scale dwarfs you. I was not to know that years later I would come face to face with sections of the Ishtar Gates, in Berlin and be reminded again of the era I saw here in Paris. It’s an epic feeling I cannot describe to come face to face with works I have only seen and read about in my art books. I have been known to quietly greet the works as if they were a long lost friend.

“I saw the carved figures of Assyrians that are in my book back home. I couldn’t believe it!”

Hello, so great to see you in person!

“I also wondered through the Madonna and child sculptures. There are so many of them! This place is just amazing and I’m glad I got a chance to go back and enjoy it again.”

Anonymous ‘Madonna and Child’ circa 1400-1450

I have a photo gallery full of the wonderful Madonnas I saw that day from every age.

Thanks for reading 🙂

Day 2: Our first visit to the Louvre in Paris

As promised, two posts in one day to make up for yesterday

19th May, 2007 – Our first visit to the Louvre – at night

Me, very excited, outside the Louvre late at night!

“After dinner we were accompanied by friends to the Louvre so we could take advantage of the all night free entry into museums and galleries. Amazing! The line was short and in 10 minutes we were in!! We headed straight for Mona, but not before running into Victory, Leo’s Madonna of the Rocks and a number of others. Mona was beautiful. … My heart was pounding. We spent about 1.5 hours in there, [lots of people] and … we found Venus and Egyptian art, but by 12:15 am we were really tired, so we headed home along with a horde of people on the metro. We got home at about 1 am. What a day!” 

Thanks for reading 🙂

Day 1: Excerpts from my travel diaries

Hiya everyone!

It’s school holidays again in Victoria and, well, we’re still in lockdown. So, I thought I’d take us on a little virtual adventure. Everyday during the break I’ll share with you an image and an extract from one of my many travel diaries. Yes, I know it’s Tuesday, I’ll make it up to you with two posts on one day.

Hope you enjoy and perhaps you might share your own memories of wonderful journeys.

My first visit to Paris

May 18, 2007 – My birthday and my very first visit to Paris

“I cried. I couldn’t help it. As we cruised down the Seine, even though it was pouring rain, there is something about this city that just overtakes everything else we’ve seen and done. Yes! Even the gondola ride in Venice!!. I had the best birthday celebration ever!

We walked to the Eiffel Tower just around the corner from our Rue Amelie apartment which is lovely and spacious, and had a look around then onto a cruise of the Seine with commentary. This was an excellent way to get a quick overview and for 10 Euro, great value!

On our return we had dinner at 9pm at a wonderful cafe called Champs de Mars, just at the end of the boulevard – nice food, everyone enjoyed it. We celebrated with two desserts which mad up my birthday cake, a choc mousse and creme caramel. My husband and 2 daughters sang happy birthday softly and I pretended to blow out the candles (sugar sticks). Just wonderful, a most memorable birthday and it took 43 years to do it! One day I hope to do it again!”

Thanks for reading 🙂

It’s NOT homeschooling! Here’s why …

Image

Finally, I get to revisit my blog! My offshore Foundation students are sitting exams and my 4th-year PSTs are on professional placement. It’s been a l-o-n-g and exhausting 18 months and it doesn’t seem that we’ll be digging ourselves out anytime soon. Once again our students are showing their capabilities to deal with the ups and downs of online, offline, ‘any-line’ teaching and learning. The media continues to report the impact of ‘homeschooling’ on students and parents. To begin, IT’S NOT ‘home-schooling!’ Please stop reporting it as such. Homeschooling is not run by schools, but is the responsibility of parents or caregivers who may or may not be teachers. Students who are homeschooled are registered to be taught at home – hence the term. Currently students who usually attend school are learning ONLINE due to lockdown and other Covid-19 restrictions.

Online learning

 

Online learning is education that takes place over the internet. While at home, parents should be supervising students as they would at anytime when their children are at home. It’s just tougher right now because, well, they are ALWAYS home, and so are you. Your children might just be thinking the same. The online learning that happens during Covid lockdowns is planned, guided and delivered by teachers on various platforms which may include Zoom, or Microsoft Teams. This learning may be synchronous or asynchronous depending on decisions made by individual schools catering to a vast expanse of student capabilities, access and engagement. School leaders, teachers and learning support staff everywhere have been working above and beyond expectations to ensure our students are learning. We love and care deeply for our students and experience similar emotions about being online. We likewise have families and children at school, bad internet, loved ones who work from home, elderly parents or relatives to look after, meals to prepare, places we cannot go. We too are human. We do not make the rules, but like you must follow government directives to ensure our safety and that of others.

I don’t doubt that parents assist their children with learning tasks, but in online learning, teachers set the agenda. That said, I’d like to offer a suggestion for both parents and educators to help with the daily grind of lockdown learning.

  1. Parents, establish a routine where your children ‘get ready’ for online learning in a similar vein as they do to go to school physically, except forget the uniform, but no pjs, that’s just asking for trouble. Get dressed, have breakfast, brush teeth, yadayadayada, roll call, recess – all screens off, lunch – all screens off, after school go for a walk, play, run, skip, jump, anything but screen for 30 mins. I know teens will need to urgently check their social media, like that’s not what they have been doing ALL day (cue eye roll) but just try it, no screens for 30 mins!
  2. During online learning, I find that sometimes changing spaces helps – this may or may not be possible depending on whether you are using a portable device. Moving to different spaces is the same as reading nooks, desk work, floor or other learning stations in primary classrooms. For secondary aged students, well is the freedom to move around and find a space that suits the subject, like changing classrooms – even standing and writing notes on paper or whiteboards or windows might help. I say this because they mostly have their cameras off anyhow so they might as well be moving around! Hopefully as the weather improves, outside might also be an option for a learning space.
  3. Educators – see points 1 & 2!

Thanks for reading 🙂

 

 

Online tutorials: What I learned

After many hours of planning with colleagues and setting up my platform to facilitate online learning, yesterday was D-day. I had two, 2 hour tutorials back to back of the same unit. This arrangement seemed fine back in February but then COVID-19 happened. I sat in my chair here in our study at home for 4 hours knowing many of my colleagues in universities and in schools are doing even tougher. It is draining, yes, but strangely rewarding – especially when the chosen platform works. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, I am hearing today that some platforms are not coping, making it even more stressful for both teachers and students. That aside, the reality is here and it’s here to stay. I wonder how we might change as educators, as learners and as humans once it’s over? I do hope we bring with us what we have learned and evolve into even better humans. Time will tell.

In the meantime, I want to share with you all what I learned during my online sessions.

The many faces of me!

Firstly, I missed the physicality of a class, seeing my students walk into our learning space – being able to move around that space, see them react to the learning, laugh at my jokes (or not), see them working collaboratively – all at the same time. In the Adobe Connect platform I could move them into break out spaces but then I had to continuously pop in and out of the groups, and while it was great to spend a few minutes there I was also conscious that I couldn’t see or hear the other groups simultaneously. I realised I had FOMO (fear or missing out), so while I had the opportunity to focus on just two or three students and really listen, I found I couldn’t and I really regret that. Nothing beats a physical space full of learners.

I did, however, love seeing them on the webcams and hearing them speak up, even if it was a few of them at one time, but it was better than the chat window where I’m sure I missed many of the comments written. Next week I’m going to risk having them all turn on their webcams at once and see what happens. Just for a bit while we all say hi. I’m imagining the Brady Bunch opening credits but with 30 faces staring back at me (assuming they’ll all be online)!

Brady Bunch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Brady_Bunch_characters

Next week I’m also going to have them send emojis in the chat so I don’t feel like I’m talking to myself! I learned I need a lot more interaction if I can’t see or hear them while I’m speaking.

Finally, while there will be glitches, it will get better. My youngest daughter, who is an early career teacher, (2nd year out) heard some of my sessions and thought I was lacking my sassy self. I should just be she said – maybe I will.

One last thing, as we are both running our classes from home, I learned that my daughter and I could feed off each other. apparently she enjoyed listening to my sessions and was going to steal a few of my ideas. My daughter should know that I was sooo proud to hear her interacting with her little Year 7 Drama class on line early this morning and that I’m going to steal some of her ideas!

Stay safe everyone. Stay home.

Thanks for reading 🙂