Time for Geography

A new blog has been started for Geography teachers, and no it's NOT one of mine...
Time for Geography has been put together by the three Parkers: Rob, Tim and Howard.
It's a nice looking site, and promises a range of resources including videos and exam support materials.

You can also follow the @timeforgeog Twitter feed. There is also a Facebook page that you can like for updates.

I look forward to seeing how the site develops...

Ben Hennig at Berkhamstead

There's a chance to see the wonderful Ben Hennig (and his cartograms) as he is speaking at the GA's branch at Berkhamsted school later this week. It's free to attend the event.

Tuesday 19 January 2016, 7pm Centenary Theatre, Berkhamsted School

Dr Benjamin Hennig: Visualisations of the Anthropocene –   investigating humanity’s impact on the Earth

Ben Hennig joined Oxford University’s School of Geography and the Environment in September 2013 as a senior research fellow. He works on spatial data analysis and geovisualisation. His research interests include social and spatial inequalities, humanity's impact on Earth, global sustainability and new concepts for the visualisation of these issues. Ben was educated at the Universities of Cologne and Bonn and the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research. After working as a research assistant and departmental lecturer in human and urban geography at the Urban and Social Geography Working Group of the Department of Geography, University of Cologne (Germany) he joined the Social and Spatial Inequalities Research Group at the University of Sheffield (UK) in 2008 where he completed his PhD in 2011 as part of the Worldmapper project with research on visualising the social dimensions of our planet. He then worked as a research assistant and then as a senior research fellow at the Department of Geography in Sheffield before he joined the University of Oxford. Further information about his work can be found on his personal website: www.viewsoftheworld.net

All lectures are held in the Centenary Theatre of Berkhamsted School (Kings Campus), Kings Road, Berkhamsted, HP4 3BG. Entry is free.

I worked with Ben on a number of projects, including the LondonMapper project - check that out.....

Image created by Benjamin D. Hennig. You are free use the material under Creative Commons conditions (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0); 

Get involved in #geogshare

A New Year brings with it new challenges and opportunities.

2016 brings new specifications for GCSE and ‘A’ level first teaching, alongside the last year of the existing specifications. The creation of resources for these new specifications will result in thousands of teachers duplicating effort. Local and world events will inevitably take place, which will stimulate teachers into producing resources to help students understand them.

Following a suggestion by Tony Cassidy that we could share our resources to reduce this duplication, we have come up with a range of ways to contribute to a new initiative called #geogshare which mirrors similar projects run by other subject teacher communities.

There are (at least) three ways that you can get involved in #geogshare.

1. Twitter / Blogs

Post a link to a resource, or a blogpost where a resource has been shared

Use the hashtag #geogshare when you post it, so that a search will bring it up, and they can also be storified from week to week, and shared here.


2. DROPITTOME

Drag and drop a resource or two into the box on this page:

https://dropitto.me/GeoBlogs



You'll need to DM on Twitter or e-mail for the password

This will send your resources automatically to the 3rd (and perhaps the preferred and most sustainable) option.

3.

A GEOGRAPHY DROPBOX has been set up at:

https://www.dropbox.com/home/GEOGRAPHYDROPBOX

again, e-mail myself or Tony Cassidy, or DM us on Twitter to be added to this folder...

This will give you access to the folder, and the ability to edit and add materials, as well as download copies for yourself.

You will find a series of folders, which you can place materials into to help organisation.

There is a link to a Google Doc, which can also be viewed here

https://goo.gl/N7n1UM where you can place details of the resources that you are adding, which will allow you to search for relevant resources as the Dropbox (hopefully) starts to fill up.

We would like to suggest that you post one resource a month, but feel free to post more frequently (perhaps once a week) if you feel able.

Perhaps you could add ‘contribute to #geogshare’ to your New Years resolutions.

Another year for standing on the shoulders of giants.

Happy New Year...

Stay tuned for plenty of geographical interest....