In these days of tragic events, after the several terrorist attacks in Paris, I questioned myself on the real validity of teaching literature instead of focusing on the contemporary events and facts. Well, I’ve reached, once more, the conclusion that in moments of great crisis we can find inspiration and confort in Poetry and in the words of great men from the past, who suffered like us and fought against tyrannies and injustices the way we try to. I firmly believe that studying literature and a poet like P.B.Shelley can help us cope with sorrow and believe in the possibility of rebirth and change.

Therefore I decided to Flip the Flipped Classroom (what a paradox eh!) and present this troubled and fascinating man in class creating an Emaze presentation, with the aim of conveying my passion for his poetry while interacting with the students.

Here’s the presentation 

I then decided to create a video from it, in order to help my students study, revise for the exam and also for the ones who were absent. They really appreciate my commitment. The video is too long, I know, and it’s taken me ages to do it; had to redo it several times due to Dream, my dog, jumping on me barking 🙂 or the telephone ringing and other funny incidents. Next time I’ll split it in two, zoom on the video with the “Ode to the West Wind” and other improvements. “Practice makes it perfect” and I’m still far from it but I love learning every day something new and this urge to improve is what makes my job so unique and fantastic!  

Well, last but not least as I was discussing with my colleague and friend Anna, I somehow object on this “teacher centered approach” but in a context where the other teachers explain using frontal lessons for 2 hours non stop,  I have to use a “soft blended” approach and cannot turn everything upside down. 😉 For sure, had I had more time (due quarte e una quinta ora alla settimana, comprensive di un aid conversazione, non sono molte per fare lingua, letteratura e PBL!) I would have chosen a more Active Challenging Approach doing a WebQuest. Next time. Now my next goal is doing a podcast where my students will be protagonists! Stay tuned.