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Jennifer Jaeger and her daughter Laura Article from the Korovian 2004 Magazine for "old Girls" Korowa Anglican Girls School.

Jennifer Jaeger spends her days surrounded by mummies, papyrus and pyramids. As Australia's first agent for the Egypt Exploration Society and proprietor of Fine Egyptology and Ancient History books. Jennifer's love of Ancient History has led her to form a successful career importing and selling rare second hand & new books and journals specializing in her field of interest.

"I have always loved this stuff", Jennifer says."That's why I started I found I couldn't find books for my own study and I had lots if friends who were also interested in Egyptology who asked me for books. I looked around one day and found I had thousands of dollars worth of books in my possession and that's when I thought I should start a business in that!"

But Jennifer's career began in a very different direction. After graduating from Korowa in 1978, she studied media and communications at Swinburne radio show on 3SW, the Swinburne radio station.

"When you're 15 you're a mass of interests, you don't know what's going to whiz you off." she says. "I wouldn't be here without Korowa.

It teaches you there's more to life. We did art, we did classics and we went to museums. You've just got to get out there and experience things." After her studies, Jennifer was privately tutored in Egyptian Hieroglyphics by Mr Piers Crocker, a former director of the Australia Institute of Archaeology. In the 80's she owned a classic car parts business. In the 90's she started Ankh Antiquarian Books and worked as a Surveyor's assistant. In the late 80's she decided to expand her side line business that was beginning to flourish as more and more Ancient history buffs became aware of her growing wealth of information.

Jennifer is one of these generations of Korovians. Her mother, Thelma Wall attended Korowa in 1936, and today Jennifer's beautiful daughter, Laura, attends our Early Learning Centre. In fact, Jennifer says one of her very first Egyptology customers was Korowa when she began business in 1989.

"I had two really good teachers who I kept in touch with when I left school. Betty Evans and Diana Miller. They were and are fantastic friends. Mrs Miller suggested I come to Korowa one Christmas and sell my wares to staff. I was quite shy about this at the time but I sold a fair bit and my confidence really grew from that."

Jennifer has visited Egypt and frequently attends Egyptology conferences. She is currently in the process od co-writing a book with T.G.H James, former curator of Egyptian antiquities at the British Museum, which will reminisce the life and times of Australia archaeologist, Veronica Seton Williams. Jennifer encourages others others to follow in her lead and explore their passions in their chosen career field.

"No matter how depress you are, no matter how bad your day is, if you have always looked on my business as promoting and extending our knowledge of Ancient History and helping to create and nurture new archaeologist for the future."

"I wasn't an A-grade student but I was always aware od business opportunities. In business you have got to keep your eyes and ears open. You've got to have the knowledge about what your selling, but most importantly you have to be on the ball."

The plugged-in historian. Diana Millar

The new VELS syllabus gives teachers a great opportunity to diversify teaching methods and activities. One way to engage students is through the computer, not just for research on the Internet and note-taking, but to produce Power-Point presentations, to draw maps in Paint, to create graphs in Excel and to present their ideas visually through digital cameras and/or Photoshop Elements.

The more varied the tasks, the greater the students’ interest. For instance, in a chapter on the Vikings in my Windows into History (Macmillan, 2005), I ask students to download an outline map from the CD provided and label the places Vikings attacked, explored, traded with or settled, after obtaining their information at two suggested sites on the Internet. Using Photoshop, students can create a Viking fleet about to set sail. They can play a BBC game called Viking Quest about the first attack on England and make a board-game on the Vikings, using four web-sites as well as books. Pre-Viking Britain is looked at through an analysis of a web-site on the West Stow Anglo-Saxon village.

There was not enough space in Windows into History to include all the historical computer activities I have used or wanted to use, so I thought teachers might like to explore the following suggestions (and there is no breach of copyright!).

1. The computer game Civilisation.
The game is a good VELS task as it links to the Domains of Interpersonal Development, Civics, English, Economics, Geography (I found one student in the middle of China instead of Britain and promptly redirected her), Information Technology and Thinking, including metacognition.

Be fairly ruthless about the number of periods allotted to the game. 2-3 should be enough to allow the students, working in pairs, to reach Britain. As this is a fairly difficult task for year 7, select a very simple history book like Unstead’s ‘History of the Ancient World’ for the comparison. I had also prepared the students by showing them the film ‘Clash of the Titans’ and asking them to discuss how accurately the film depicted the myth of Perseus.

The next task was to find a game-playing staff member who was happy to explain the game and to be there for the 2 periods. We were able to buy the game for the use of 20 students at a time at a reasonable price as it was “out of print”.

Your name is Julius Caesar. You are the most important general in the Roman army. Your city has grown from a tiny place in central Italy to being master of the Mediterranean Sea and of countries like Spain and France.

Your task is to add Britain to the list of conquests. Once you reach Britain you have completed the game.

The game begins with Rome in 4000 BC. In order to reach Britain you must conquer and establish cities in:

The rest of Italy – city, Pompeii
North Africa – city, Carthage
Eastern Mediterranean – city, Athens
France – city, Paris.

1. The development of the cities. 1. You must build roads and develop the skill of maps, before you build ships to conquer the Mediterranean and reach Britain.

2. Your cities need roads, aqueducts, food and clothing, a fair tax system, a republican form of government, wealth, trade with other countries and entertainment. You need a large army, created from booty taken from conquered countries.

3. Using your text-book, Pompeii notes and Unstead, discuss with your partner any differences you have noticed between the game and historical Rome. Look at such facts as historical development (eg the date of the founding of Rome), clothing, buildings, plan of Roman towns, entertainment (NB when was the colosseum built?), houses and form of government.

List the differences between the game and the history of ancient Rome, then write a couple of paragraphs in which you discuss how the game helped you to understand the Roman Empire.

4. Re-enact the British Civil War
This type of task could also be used for the Persian or Peloponnesian wars, or the campaigns of Alexander the Great, Hannibal or Julius Caesar.

VELS links could be made to the Domains of Interpersonal Development, Geography, Mathematics, Design, Creativity and Technology, Communication, Information Technology and Thinking.

Go to the British civil war site Go to ‘military’. Select ‘first’ or ‘second’ Civil War, then chose one battle. (For a recreation of the Battle of Naseby see Battlefield Britain, BBC)

EITHER
In a small group, draw diagrams on paper of your chosen battle, then scan the diagrams into your computer, or draw the diagrams in Paint. Copy your diagrams into Power-Point, then use slides to demonstrate the chosen battle to the class.

OR
In large groups make a model of the battlefield. Either use the model to explain the various battle moves, or, using a digital camera, take photographs of the various moves and transfer the photographs to your computer. Using Power-Point slides, demonstrate the battle moves to the class.

5. Faces of Elizabeth: a Portrait Gallery
This activity links nicely to the Domains of Personal Learning, Arts and Information Technology. Marianne Hale at Korowa AGS suggested this activity to me. You could also do it as slides in Power- Point – it just depends on how many other presentations they have in other subjects at the time. They may well be over-Power-Pointed by the end of year 8!

Draw up a class list of Elizabeth’s achievements. Note any dates.
Go to the internet for portraits of Queen Elizabeth I.
Select 5 portraits of her over time, from the earliest to the latest. Date and acknowledge the source of each portrait.
Find information about events that were happening in the year of each portrait.
Create a booklet of the portraits in chronological order, with the events in point form underneath each portrait.
Comment on any changes you can see in the appearance of Elizabeth over her reign. Suggest reasons for the changes.