Year after year, when I face the decision of whether to deal with one particular author or poet rather than a more modern or contemporary one, I question myself on the real validity of teaching the classics instead of focusing on the contemporary writers. Well, I’ve reached, once more, the conclusion that in moments of great crisis we can find inspiration in Poetry and we can look for comfort 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. His fascinating figure and works have so much to teach us!
Therefore I decided to 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 you, my dear students.
Here’s the presentation 
To Flip the Classroom (what a paradox eh!) I’ve also decided to create a video from it, to help you study, revise for the exam and also for the ones who were absent. Hope you’ll 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 a colleague and friend of mine, I somehow object to this “teacher-centered approach”. Nevertheless, in a context where the other teachers mainly lecture with frontal lessons and the students have to study 4 or 5 subjects for the following day, I have to use a “soft blended” approach and cannot push Flipping to the limit nor turn everything upside down. 😉
Feel free to leave a comment for future improvements.Thanks!