A small feature on Radio 4 yesterday on a book by Chris Somerville which, on the sound of it, was another spot of "remember what geography used to be like..." - but that might just be how it was portrayed...
On a related note, there is the campaign to get Brian Blessed as the voice of Tom Tom Sat Nav, which appears to have been successful...
TURN RIGHT !!!!
GORDON'S ALIVE !!!!
Update:
A good review of the book in the Economist which talks about the respect that the author has for Geography and the past informing the present "living landscape"...
Physical geography is treated just as respectfully as its human counterpart. For Mr Somerville the flatlands of Cambridgeshire are just as beautiful, in their own way, as the looming, mist-cloaked isles that dot the western seas off Scotland or the moody moors of northern Yorkshire. That he can conjure such delights from the decidedly non-epic scale of the British landscape is a welcome reminder that there is a great deal of beauty and fascination in small things, providing one takes the time to look, instead of hurrying past on the way to a distant destination.
As already mentioned, there are going to be 10 GIS courses in the next year, which will take my colleague John Lyon and myself (along with other trainers) around the country....
Course dates and locations
These are two-day courses and you must be able to attend both dates for each location.
London - 18 October 2010 (Part 1) and 10 January 2011 (Part 2)
Leeds - 4 November 2010 (Part 1) and 13 January 2011 (Part 2)
Peterborough - 8 November 2010 (Part 1) and 18 January 2011 (Part 2)
Birmingham - 15 November 2010 (Part 1) and 24 January 2011 (Part 2)
Southampton - 17 November 2010 (Part 1) and 26 January 2011 (Part 2)
Aylesbury - 1 Febuary 2011 (Part 1) and 10 May 2011 (Part 2)
Sheffield - 3 February 2011 (Part 1) and 12 May 2011 (Part 2)
Bristol - 8 February 2011 (Part 1) and 17 May 2011 (Part 2)
Nottingham - 10 February 2011 (Part 1) and 19 May 2011 (Part 2)
Manchester - 14 February 2011 (Part 1) and 23 May 2011 (Part 2)
I have been following up a scheme called RESEARCHERS IN RESIDENCE which connects researchers with schools.
I contacted the people behind the scheme, and they sent me a nice report on a recent project which they have been involved with, which relates to the London Olympics.
I have mentioned the Go Beyond bursary and the previous winners before. This year's journey has just started, with the Land Rover and its crew taking a ferry to Denmark from where they will travel to Iceland. The project is called FAULT LINE LIVING, and you can follow the team via FACEBOOK.
Received an e-mail from Eurostar this week, which told me about their new advertising campaign: "Exploring is Beautiful"...
The ad that accompanies it is charming... a young girl talks to animals and gets no reply, until a parrot starts the conversation back...
It reminded me of the mission, "converse with a cow", which was one of mine. The inspiration for this came from a friend who was walking down the road on a foggy day and saw some cows in a field. He said "hello cows", and got the reply "hello human", as there was a bus stop hidden in the fog and someone standing at it...
It's also a nice connection with the work we're currently doing on the 2nd Mission Explore book, which may well have a 'travelling' theme, based on feedback we've had so far.
I think I have a spare 10 minutes or so a week, so have applied, with the support of my GA colleagues, to do a 2 year part timeMA in Geography Education at the Institute of Education, London.
There are some excellent tutors of course, including "the boss" and Clare Brooks (who very kindly came along to the Mission:Explore launch last week), and I'm looking forward to developing my research skills and re-acquainting myself with the background to the ever-changing landscape of educational practice and pedagogy in geography.
A description of the course for those who may be considering it...
The MA Geography Education aims to enable you to develop a personal response to the challenges you may encounter in the field of geography education.
You will:
Engage with theoretical perspectives in education studies
Be stimulated and challenged intellectually with developments in geography
Critically reflect on your current practice and those of others in the curriculum making.
You will achieve these broad aims through:
Increasing your critical understanding of the literature and concepts of geography education
Engaging with stimulating and interesting readings and tasks that will contribute to your personal and professional development beyond the MA
Developing your thinking and reflection on education, enabling you to take a leading role in education
Exploring professionally relevant elements of knowledge, understanding, skills and values.
The programme aims to prepare the geography educators of the future. In other words, it looks at what kind of contribution geography can make to educating young people in the year 2020 and beyond.
Features This MA programme:
Is unique – there is no other all-round masters degree for geography educators
Allows you to examine current issues and debates in geography education with others who have an interest or experience in the area
Gives you the opportunity to develop advanced professional skills and acquire the knowledge for successful subject leadership
Leads to a valued and widely recognised qualification
Provides all course materials and resources online
Gives you the opportunity to exchange experiences with students across the world.
Who is this programme for? Anyone with an interest in geography education. Our students come from all sectors of education, and many are practicing teachers or involved in geography education.
Attendance Sessions are posted online every Thursday afternoon. You are expected to engage with the readings, complete the weekly task and engage in any interactions - at least eight times for each ten-session module. We will offer optional face-to-face seminars and workshops in addition to the online sessions, and equivalent online synchronous sessions for students unable to attend the face-to-face sessions.
This is about social gaming in a 3D environment, and uses the term "placebook"....
Thanks once again to Keir Clarke for another tip-off...
TOURS FROM ABOVE has panoramic images taken from the top of skyscrapers in several of the world's cities, and from other vantage points around the world....
Worth a look !
Update
Thanks for the mention of Mission:Explore London - an honour to get a mention on Google Maps Mania....
Had a few tweets over the last few days from colleagues who are involved in the Teach First Summer Institute, notably Hamish Reid (who came along to a Quality Geography event in London last year...) and Colin Walker: PGCE tutor from the University of Canterbury who very kindly invited me over last year too.
The Summer Institute is being held at the University of Warwick. I understand the PGCE colleagues are going to be doing activities this week, and Hamish got in touch via Twitter to see if I had any advice / suggestions...
This blog post is my answer....
Here are a few things that you might find useful...
How about trying some of these tasks when you get a chance ??
1. Use STEPMAP to create a MAP of IMPORTANT PLACES to you, that you think you would like to incorporate into your teaching if at all possible...
It might be a place that you have visited and spent a lot of time (maybe even lived before...) or a place you think would resonate with the students that you teach... What places do you think would capture the imagination of students ? Does it have to be a remote place ? Does a 'place' mean a country, or can it be a room ?
2. Here's some more ICT-related ideas that I used with PGCE colleagues in Bristol earlier in the year. These could be used to create resources, or plan some lesson ideas... They include my favourite BIG HUGE LABS site...
3. Quite a lot of effort goes in to creating lessons which teachers think will engage students - which is of course very important... The exact ingredient that does that is elusive...
Read this BLOG POST by my GA colleague Ben Major, who asks about the urge to make lessons as relevant as possible... (check out some of the other blog posts too - nicely thought provoking...)
4. One of the best things that you can do in Geography is to get out of the classroom... don't forget to take the students with you though - I'm talking about fieldwork of course...
You'll hopefully find that there are plenty of opportunities for fieldwork at your placement school. OFSTED are clear about the value of well-organised fieldwork, and will also expect a full programme at KS3 as well as higher up the school...
Here are some ideas for using the free OS MAPS that will be in the department....
Make sure that you get a copy of my LANGUAGE OF LANDSCAPES resource, written for Natural England.
5. Why not check out the MISSION EXPLORE website. This is related to an iPhone app which I was involved in producing and which can be downloaded from the APP STORE. Not got an iPhone or other device ? Check out the WEBSITE where the missions can also be seen - try the ANYWHERE MISSIONS.
Once you've seen the missions, why not try to write some missions in a similar style - perhaps aim for some missions that could be carried out: in the school grounds, on the way to school, during a school day, while on holiday, over a weekend ? etc.. the possibilities are endless...
I have also been impressed by the efforts of Tim Handley an NQT who organised the Teachmeet in Norwich a few months ago, while still a PGCE student. He is putting together an e-book for PGCE colleagues, and is collecting suggestions using the Twitter hashtag #pgcetips
Use TWITTER SEARCH or something similar to find out what he has collected so far...
I really recommend that you spend some time reading Tim's blog, which he has used during his course to reflect, often at length on the experience of being a PGCE teacher (not a geographer by the way, but that's OK...)
Look at the diagram below, drawn by a Year 8 of "the perfect geographer...."
What would "the perfect geography teacher" look like, if there was such a person ??
Keep an eye out for further materials on the nature of CURRICULUM MAKING at our MAKING GEOGRAPHY HAPPEN website. See how other teachers have worked through a complete unit of work, and what the students thought of it.
Check out the newly launched EXEMPLIFICATION OF STANDARDS site on the QCDA - this only appeared last week, and many teachers have been waiting a long time to see it. It will help you make decisions about the level that you apply to student work, but remember that you should NOT be using these to level every piece of work (or indeed any individual piece of work....)
Follow LIVING GEOGRAPHY: this blog has over 1700 posts on almost every topic you can think of... Sign up for the RSS feed.
Use the LABELS area down the right hand column, or a SEARCH and you'll find something relevant to your new course.
Plenty here to help with your curriculum making, by which we mean:
"the creation of interesting, engaging and challenging educational experiences which draw upon teacher knowledge and skills, the experiences of students and the valuable subject resource that is geography."
Don't forget to keep up your GA membership to keep up to date...
The next issue of GA Magazine will feature a special NQT Survive and Thrive pack which will be accompanied by online materials...
Final give-away.... Wrote this earlier tonight for @TomHenzley, but thought it might be useful here too so adapted it a little....
Read the article. What do you think about what is being said ? What has been missed out ? What did you agree / disagree with ? Can you extend the metaphor further ?
Good luck - enjoy the rest of the Summer Institute, and please let me know how you get on. Follow me on TWITTER @GeoBlogs...
Normal service will be resumed in a week...
