Teacher Instructions:
Using the slide show

The "slides" in this section represent the different types of illuminated manuscripts in the exhibition, Leaves of Gold. During the showing of the first slide, the discussion, the questions and the other looking activities will take more time than showing the remaining seven slides. This will allow students to focus on looking activities, introduce them to the vocabulary of manuscript illumination and encourage them to participate during discussion.

In a classroom setting, you may prefer to have a more traditional presentation than the interactive pages developed for self-study on the web, or you may want to use this unit in situations where computer projection is not available. Electronic versions of the slides are available online in Adobe Acrobat format. These can be printed as overhead transparencies or used on a computer display using Acrobat's "view entire screen" option. A slide script including discussion questions and additional information is also available.

Slides (1.3 MB file)| Script

Before showing the slides, duplicate the vocabulary words for each student or display them for all to see. Refer to the words when mentioned in the slide script. This printable handout based on the first slide will introduce students to the topic and to the parts of a medieval manuscript. You will need the free Adobe Acrobat reader to download the slides and scripts and to view the handout.

After showing the slides, encourage the students to make a simple manuscript using the directions and illustrations elsewhere in this section. They should use the words they've learned in sentences and decorate the pages with inhabited, historiated or decorated letters, miniatures (color drawings), marginalia and rubrics.

If your study unit includes additional information on the Middle Ages, you may wish to have your students write about and illustrate their studies in their manuscripts.

Go to slide show thumbnails page