The first of quite a few posts which will pop up over the next week and a bit.
I've been going through a copy of the GA Conference programme and pencilling in a tentative list of what I hope to get to see during the conference. This is likely to change of course.
There's a lot to see as always, and plenty of sessions where I had three or four things that I would like to have attended.
I always find myself drawn to a few familiar names, but also enjoy taking in something new as well.
I've got some sessions that I'm involved in as well of course, and have got a few things to complete before then - a few slides to wrangle into shape.
Tuesday
Will be heading for the GA Public lecture at the University of Manchester, given this year by Kate Raworth after checking into my hotel, and that will be followed by the GA Publishers Awards, and other Awards and announcements of note. Kate will be talking about Doughnut Economics, which was featured in my SAGT session for 2018 (elsewhere on the blog)
After that it will be over the road to the Manchester Museum for a wine reception and meet up with a whole host of geographers, and then to a meal somewhere in the city with some old Geography chums to catch up on what's been happening.
Wednesday
A few options here... Denise Freeman's session on technology is of interest, or possibly Nick Lapthorn on ideas for fieldwork on no budget.
The Presidential Lecture by Stephen Scoffham 'Celebrating Geography' is a must of course (although it means missing a workshop by SPC colleague Tanith Ludlam). I want to say hello to Iain Freeland, the new HMI for Geography who I've communicated with before over Twitter in the past.
Simon Oakes is doing a session on Place meanings and representations, and another session from SPC colleague Judy Gleen on literacy also happens here.
Just before lunch, we have Liz Taylor on 'How do we know what they know?', and a VR session by Des McDougall (although Duncan Hawley is always worth a look...)
At lunchtime, there are some Teacher to Teacher sessions.
Following lunch, I will probably head for a Workshop with Mikael Arevius from the Gapminder Foundation.
After lunch, Richard Allaway is talking about Drones with a chance to win one of your own, and I also fancy a session by Mark Jones from UWE or one by Jason Sawle and Katie Hall from ESRI UK.
Joe Smith: the Director of the RGS is doing a session on Citizen Geographies which appeals, but I will be involved in an SPC workshop then, which is led by Kathryn Stephenson, another SPC colleague), which looks at 'How should you celebrate Geography with your SLT'
Josh Sutheran is then talking about knowledge recall and Paul Logue talks on subject knowledge - a reminder of how good the Teacher to Teacher sessions are.
I will end the day with a Lecture Plus, which I'll need to save my energy for.
It's called 'Let me tell you a (geographical) story: developing a narrative-led curriculum.
Come and see it... Thanks to those who have contributed some ideas....
This is followed fairly closely afterwards by the Teachmeet: I have a session to present there too, which is called 'Learning a Lesson from History'
After that is the Beermeet at the Lass O' Gowrie pub.
Come along after some food.
Wednesday also sees a special programme for Future Geographers.
Thursday
Time to check out of the hotel and head for the final full day. Tim Marshall is involved in a Forum on the Nation State (connected with his book Divided)
This is a time when there are many other things through. I would like to see Steve Millington on the Future of the High Street, or perhaps David Rogers on being a Head of Geography, or Susan Pike on teaching troublesome topics.
One of the key sessions of the conference also happens now. This will be led by Sharon Witt and Helen Clarke and, following the GeoGnome Geographies last year, which was absolutely awesome, this year it's time to Go Batty for Geography.
I have a potential small input into a Workshop on Bringing Case Studies to life, which is being led by Gary Dawson, another SPC colleague. The ideas I'm going to share in all sessions will be made available here after the event anyway.
There is a keynote address by Justine Greening after that. She is from Rotherham, as am I, and went to the local Oakwood School (we used to use the pool at Oakwood for swimming back in the day). I will be going to see a teacher though rather than an MP.
However, looking at her voting record I don't think I'll be seeing her speak.
Instead, I'll probably see David Alcock's good news geography session.
Mid-morning, there is a Twitter tea and cake meet-up with Susan Pike and Jen Monk.
I'm then up for a second Lecture: this time with TUI colleagues and Becky Kitchen from the GA talking about the Better World Detectives resources which I've been working on for a year or so. TUI also have a stand at the exhibition, which is a reminder that I will also be visiting most of the stalls in the exhibition, including OS, GA, RGS and many publishers and field centres.
The timing of my session unfortunately means it clashes with Paula Owens and Stephen Scoffham who will be talking about their Meaningful Maps project, which I was involved with through my school at the start for the Pilot project. Visit the website to find out more about this research project which explores how children map the world.
Following my lecture, I have a choice of Richard Waller or Paul Turner, although Liz Smith is doing a positive geography session as well.
Just before lunchtime, I will be chairing a Teacher to Teacher session by NQT Oliver Boyde, who will be talking about 'Making the Connection'.
After lunch, I'm keen to catch up with Liz Taylor, who is talking about 'Writing the World'. The Government's Head of Geography: David Wood is also speaking at this time, along with Kate Stockings talking about creating effective resources.
I need to head off slightly before the end of the day to get a train home as I have a trip to New York following on from the conference, so my last planned session would be an input into Emma Johns' session on Managing budgets: a practical session to end the event. This session also has at least half a dozen other useful lectures and workshops.
There are many other sessions I could have mentioned here, so don't worry if you haven't got a mention - you'll probably appear at some point in the blog posts that I will be uploading during the event.
What are you most looking forward to?
I've been going through a copy of the GA Conference programme and pencilling in a tentative list of what I hope to get to see during the conference. This is likely to change of course.
There's a lot to see as always, and plenty of sessions where I had three or four things that I would like to have attended.
I always find myself drawn to a few familiar names, but also enjoy taking in something new as well.
I've got some sessions that I'm involved in as well of course, and have got a few things to complete before then - a few slides to wrangle into shape.
Tuesday
Will be heading for the GA Public lecture at the University of Manchester, given this year by Kate Raworth after checking into my hotel, and that will be followed by the GA Publishers Awards, and other Awards and announcements of note. Kate will be talking about Doughnut Economics, which was featured in my SAGT session for 2018 (elsewhere on the blog)
After that it will be over the road to the Manchester Museum for a wine reception and meet up with a whole host of geographers, and then to a meal somewhere in the city with some old Geography chums to catch up on what's been happening.
Wednesday
A few options here... Denise Freeman's session on technology is of interest, or possibly Nick Lapthorn on ideas for fieldwork on no budget.
The Presidential Lecture by Stephen Scoffham 'Celebrating Geography' is a must of course (although it means missing a workshop by SPC colleague Tanith Ludlam). I want to say hello to Iain Freeland, the new HMI for Geography who I've communicated with before over Twitter in the past.
Simon Oakes is doing a session on Place meanings and representations, and another session from SPC colleague Judy Gleen on literacy also happens here.
Just before lunch, we have Liz Taylor on 'How do we know what they know?', and a VR session by Des McDougall (although Duncan Hawley is always worth a look...)
At lunchtime, there are some Teacher to Teacher sessions.
Following lunch, I will probably head for a Workshop with Mikael Arevius from the Gapminder Foundation.
After lunch, Richard Allaway is talking about Drones with a chance to win one of your own, and I also fancy a session by Mark Jones from UWE or one by Jason Sawle and Katie Hall from ESRI UK.
Joe Smith: the Director of the RGS is doing a session on Citizen Geographies which appeals, but I will be involved in an SPC workshop then, which is led by Kathryn Stephenson, another SPC colleague), which looks at 'How should you celebrate Geography with your SLT'
Josh Sutheran is then talking about knowledge recall and Paul Logue talks on subject knowledge - a reminder of how good the Teacher to Teacher sessions are.I will end the day with a Lecture Plus, which I'll need to save my energy for.
It's called 'Let me tell you a (geographical) story: developing a narrative-led curriculum.
Come and see it... Thanks to those who have contributed some ideas....
This is followed fairly closely afterwards by the Teachmeet: I have a session to present there too, which is called 'Learning a Lesson from History'
After that is the Beermeet at the Lass O' Gowrie pub.
Come along after some food.
Wednesday also sees a special programme for Future Geographers.
Thursday
Time to check out of the hotel and head for the final full day. Tim Marshall is involved in a Forum on the Nation State (connected with his book Divided)
This is a time when there are many other things through. I would like to see Steve Millington on the Future of the High Street, or perhaps David Rogers on being a Head of Geography, or Susan Pike on teaching troublesome topics.
One of the key sessions of the conference also happens now. This will be led by Sharon Witt and Helen Clarke and, following the GeoGnome Geographies last year, which was absolutely awesome, this year it's time to Go Batty for Geography.
I have a potential small input into a Workshop on Bringing Case Studies to life, which is being led by Gary Dawson, another SPC colleague. The ideas I'm going to share in all sessions will be made available here after the event anyway.
There is a keynote address by Justine Greening after that. She is from Rotherham, as am I, and went to the local Oakwood School (we used to use the pool at Oakwood for swimming back in the day). I will be going to see a teacher though rather than an MP.
However, looking at her voting record I don't think I'll be seeing her speak.
Instead, I'll probably see David Alcock's good news geography session.
Mid-morning, there is a Twitter tea and cake meet-up with Susan Pike and Jen Monk.
I'm then up for a second Lecture: this time with TUI colleagues and Becky Kitchen from the GA talking about the Better World Detectives resources which I've been working on for a year or so. TUI also have a stand at the exhibition, which is a reminder that I will also be visiting most of the stalls in the exhibition, including OS, GA, RGS and many publishers and field centres.
The timing of my session unfortunately means it clashes with Paula Owens and Stephen Scoffham who will be talking about their Meaningful Maps project, which I was involved with through my school at the start for the Pilot project. Visit the website to find out more about this research project which explores how children map the world.Following my lecture, I have a choice of Richard Waller or Paul Turner, although Liz Smith is doing a positive geography session as well.
Just before lunchtime, I will be chairing a Teacher to Teacher session by NQT Oliver Boyde, who will be talking about 'Making the Connection'.
After lunch, I'm keen to catch up with Liz Taylor, who is talking about 'Writing the World'. The Government's Head of Geography: David Wood is also speaking at this time, along with Kate Stockings talking about creating effective resources.
I need to head off slightly before the end of the day to get a train home as I have a trip to New York following on from the conference, so my last planned session would be an input into Emma Johns' session on Managing budgets: a practical session to end the event. This session also has at least half a dozen other useful lectures and workshops.
There are many other sessions I could have mentioned here, so don't worry if you haven't got a mention - you'll probably appear at some point in the blog posts that I will be uploading during the event.
What are you most looking forward to?
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