Week 26
This week was our presentation on leisure and pleasure in London. I focused on many subjects - the London zoo, coffee houses, the Great Exhibition of 1851 and Selfridge's. I felt that by researching a number of topics that our presentation would be more varied and interesting, but I agree with Bobby in that my topics lacked depth because I did not explore any of them as greatly as I would have if I had focused solely on 1 topic. I was disappointed in the lack of cooperation of the group, and felt our presentation could have been much better had certain members been more organised. I greatly enjoyed researching the topics for my presentation, especially about Obaysch the hippo. I am fairly pleased with the grade of 66%, but if our group would have cooperated more in the weeks before the presentation, I am sure we could have achieved a higher grade. 

Today while researching for my presentation, I found a great painting by Claude Monet. It shows the houses of Parliament in 1903 covered in the thick fog London was famous for. 

http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/110001576

Week 25

This presentation was on the South of London. I felt they covered the topic fairly well, but perhaps could have talked about more than just South Bank. The lack of books used as sources was slightly disappointing as quite a bit of the information came from blogs, which is not a reliable source of information. The delivery of the presentation was confident - there was no reading from notes. The activity was very creative but did not teach us anything about the topic. 

The East End Presentation - Week 24

This presentation was great - and the history of theatre in the East End was really interesting, looking at the performance techniques was quite fascinating. The film of the Spitalfields market was great, and learning about the huguenots was also interesting. I feel I didn't learn much from the activity, but it was fun.  

Today I listened to the podcast on London at war. While it was convenient to listen to it at home  I much prefer the interactive setting of the lecture room. The emphasis on crime during the war was very interesting as this is a side of London at war which I have not studied before. It is also interesting to look at London in the aftermath of the war, and how squatting became popular due to the severe lack of housing. 

Week 23

The presentation this week was on health care. I think this was the best presentation yet - we were given tasks throughout the presentation to engage us with the topic. The group also gave their aims of the presentation, and both the introduction and conclusion were concise and well explained. The timeline activity really helped me understand the topic. Overall, I enjoyed this presentation and feel I learnt a lot. 

Week 22

The presentation this week was on London at war. Everything was well explained, and there was a focus on women's roles during the war, which was very interesting. 
I liked the task at the end of the presentation - drawing the poster was a really creative way to get us thinking about the topic.