Dear teacher, |
Winter 2009 |
| ISSN 1918-5804 |
The Year Kicks Off with Something New
The VMC team promises you a year full of educational discoveries. In terms of heritage, the VMC offers quite an eyeful with never-before-seen teaching resources and regularly-updated content. In the spring, the VMC will be redesigned to serve you better. One outcome of this large project includes the addition of 83 learning object collections in the new VMC Teachers’ Centre by May 2009. Here are a few good reasons to subscribe now:
- Access to a variety of digital content (texts, photos, and audio and video clips).
- The ability to use content without having to worry about copyright issues.
- The opportunity to create and share lesson plans with your peers!
Art for Love’s Sake!
Valentine’s Day is an excellent occasion to introduce students to art and history. Throughout the ages, people have shared gifts and words of love on this day. Some have been preserved and digitalized in 3D for the Valentine’s Day: Love and Romance Through the Ages virtual exhibit. Have your students examine these true works of art online and create their own e-cards, which they can have delivered by Cupid himself!
Complete your Valentine’s Day activity by viewing the educational podcast on how the exhibit was created. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, the new VMC Podcasts section is sure to enhance your virtual experience with audio and video content on work being carried out behind the scenes, at the VMC.
Take Advantage of the New VMC Teachers’ Centre. It’s an Invaluable Resource!
February: Black History Month
Why not take advantage of Black History Month to make your students aware of the history of the Black community? Though it is common today for students of different ethnic backgrounds to be friends, it hasn’t always been the case. The On the Road North – Black Canada and the Journey to Freedom exhibit features learning activities on the history of slavery and the anti-slavery movement in Canada.
You can also use the On the Road North exhibit to create your own lessons!
Rendez-vous de la Francophonie
Nine million Canadians across the country celebrate French culture annually during the Rendez-vous de la Francophonie. Take this opportunity to discover the history of language policy in Canada with the I Have a Dream: Language Rights in New Brunswick learning resource.
Hélène, a teacher from Westmorland, New Brunswick, created and made available a lesson designed for grade 11 and 12 students (available in French only). You are invited to add you own lessons to the new VMC Teachers’ Centre. They may be chosen and featured in the next Newsletter.
Complete your lesson by discovering museums outside of Canada through the In the Countries of the Francophonie exhibit.
New at the Museums
Renovations in Toronto
Teach your students about architecture and heritage with a lesson on the architectural development of Canada’s museums. In Toronto, two good examples will be particularly interesting to high school students with a concentration in the arts. The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) and Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) buildings have both been recently renovated.
The AGO has opened an immense tower of blue glass flanked by rather unique stairs, and the ROM has opened the new Teck galleries inside the very special Cristal Michael-Lee Chin section, which opened with great fanfare in June 2007.
Finish off your lesson plan on the history of Canada with the collection of learning tools in the Shaping Canada: Our Voices and Histories collection, designed by the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).
Homework Idea
March 8 is International Women’s Day. We suggest marking the event in a new way. Have your students visit the virtual exhibit Perspectives: Women Artists in North America, select a work, and identify aspects that reflect the period in which it was created. The exercise will allow students to draw links between art and history in Canada while familiarizing themselves with Canadian, American and Mexican artists.
Other inspiring works also created by women are available in the VMC’s Women Artists Image Gallery.
Teachers' Talk
We’d like to know if the VMC Newsletter is useful to you. Please share your recommendations, ideas and comments with us and our readers by sending us an email at VMC@virtualmuseum.ca.
Thanks for Your Interest in the VMC!
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