Earlier this week, one of the first e-mails to be received by GA staff after the Christmas break was the sad news that Dr Rex Walford, OBE & President of the GA in 1983-4 was missing after a boat accident in the Thames over the Christmas period.
Rex was one of the most influential post-war geographers and few teachers will have been unaware of his work, or gone through their career without encountering his huge contribution to geography education.
Image copyright Bryan Ledgard - Rex and Fred Martin at the official opening of Solly Street
My first introduction was in the form of the idea of Games in Geography, guided by my PGCE tutor, the late Vincent Tidswell. As a gamer myself, I enjoyed developing some of my own variations on Rex's ideas, and remember the contributions that Rex made to Teaching Geography.
I met Rex numerous times as he visited Cambridge University PGCE colleagues who had their placement in my school through the 1990s.
More recently, we met again at Madingley Hall for the 2010 Geography Teacher Educators' Conference, where I was privileged to hear him talk through his involvement in the famous lecture series in the 1960s, and showed documents from his remarkable archive. He was also present at the recent official opening of Solly Street, and can be seen on the front cover of the most recent issue of GA Magazine. He was also one of the many influential faces from Geography's past (and future) who attended a recent seminar at the Institute of Education.
Yesterday, I went down into the GA warehouse, and read through the issues of Teaching Geography from the time of Rex's GA presidency. One of the articles was by Rex himself on the issue of Marking in geography, and contained useful advice, written back in 1984, which still holds true today...
Article by Rex from Teaching Geography, 1984
A brief message by Professor David Lambert has been added to the GA website - there will be a fuller remembrance in future GA journals and events.
You can comment on the message on the GA website if you want to add your own messages to remember Rex. There are already plenty of messages on the website.
A resource for geography teachers, which will grow to contain a range of strategies to support them in all aspects of their work.
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Saturday, 1 January 2011
Day 1 of 365
I've followed quite a few of these projects. The idea is that you post something each day for a whole year.
I've never done one before, mostly because I forget to start one on the 1st of January, and then decide to wait until the next time round.
This year I remembered...
Different people post different things: images, videos, song lyrics, poems, quotations... you can basically add what you want.
I'm going to use POSTEROUS for my 365 as I can post to it from my iPhone using the POSTEROUS app, but also have the option to e-mail posts to the blog as well. Never used it for more than the odd blog post either...
Visit the 2011x365 BLOG HERE, and feel free to subscribe...
This could be a good discipline for teachers to take a moment each day to reflect and share something with colleagues...
I've never done one before, mostly because I forget to start one on the 1st of January, and then decide to wait until the next time round.
This year I remembered...
Different people post different things: images, videos, song lyrics, poems, quotations... you can basically add what you want.
I'm going to use POSTEROUS for my 365 as I can post to it from my iPhone using the POSTEROUS app, but also have the option to e-mail posts to the blog as well. Never used it for more than the odd blog post either...
Visit the 2011x365 BLOG HERE, and feel free to subscribe...
This could be a good discipline for teachers to take a moment each day to reflect and share something with colleagues...
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
FrozenUK
Started a new Twitter stream yesterday to collate stories of the Big Freeze...
Follow @FrozenUK for the cold weather geographical digest... or add #FrozenUK to your tweets and I'll pick it up and add it when I get the chance...
There is more snow falling as I type this...
Follow @FrozenUK for the cold weather geographical digest... or add #FrozenUK to your tweets and I'll pick it up and add it when I get the chance...
There is more snow falling as I type this...
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Points of View
A new feature was added to the GA website yesterday, following discussions by the Website Editorial Board earlier in the year, and some great work by the web team.
You can now JOIN THE CONVERSATION..
As a GA member, when you log in you will be able to add a comment to any page of the website and, if you have purchased an item from the GA shop, you can also add a STAR RATING and a comment. This will let us develop more of a community feel to the website (non GA members will have to wait for their comment to be moderated) and if you are logged in you can add an image to your profile.
I have added a comment to the page which contains my WINTER TEACHING IDEAS, so feel free to take a look at that and add your own thoughts...
The snow is falling again outside the window as I press PUBLISH POST...
You can now JOIN THE CONVERSATION..
As a GA member, when you log in you will be able to add a comment to any page of the website and, if you have purchased an item from the GA shop, you can also add a STAR RATING and a comment. This will let us develop more of a community feel to the website (non GA members will have to wait for their comment to be moderated) and if you are logged in you can add an image to your profile.
I have added a comment to the page which contains my WINTER TEACHING IDEAS, so feel free to take a look at that and add your own thoughts...
The snow is falling again outside the window as I press PUBLISH POST...
Sunday, 5 December 2010
New IB Geography course from the GA...
The International Baccalaureate is being considered by a growing number of teachers as an alternative to more traditional courses.
IB Geography - Reflecting on the 'new' syllabus
This CPD course will help Post-16 teachers, both new and experienced, reflect upon the demands of the IB geography diploma programme.
The 'new' 2009–2017 syllabus will have completed its first cycle in the summer of 2011 and this one-day course will provide an excellent opportunity for teachers to reflect upon the first cycle and make plans for the next.
London - Friday 24 June 2011
Further details and online booking are available on the GA website
The course tutor is Richard Allaway, creator of the rather wonderful GEOGRAPHY ALL THE WAY website.
IB Geography - Reflecting on the 'new' syllabus
This CPD course will help Post-16 teachers, both new and experienced, reflect upon the demands of the IB geography diploma programme.
The 'new' 2009–2017 syllabus will have completed its first cycle in the summer of 2011 and this one-day course will provide an excellent opportunity for teachers to reflect upon the first cycle and make plans for the next.
London - Friday 24 June 2011
Further details and online booking are available on the GA website
The course tutor is Richard Allaway, creator of the rather wonderful GEOGRAPHY ALL THE WAY website.
Google Earth 6
A new version of Google Earth was released recently: GOOGLE EARTH 6...
It includes millions of 3D trees, and other improvements, including better integration with Google Street View
Go to the AMAZON for example, and you can wander the jungle and explore some of the tree species in the rainforest... I'm sure we can come up with some ideas for using this in the geography classroom :)
And don't forget my Innovative Geography Teaching funded project from back in 2005...
It includes millions of 3D trees, and other improvements, including better integration with Google Street View
Go to the AMAZON for example, and you can wander the jungle and explore some of the tree species in the rainforest... I'm sure we can come up with some ideas for using this in the geography classroom :)
And don't forget my Innovative Geography Teaching funded project from back in 2005...
Thursday, 2 December 2010
David Lambert at the SSAT Conference #nc10
David Lambert gave a keynote lecture to the 2010 SSAT annual conference on Friday 26 November.
He addressed round 1500 school leaders on the question: are subjects in crisis?
Obviously he focussed on geography and made some positive remarks about the recent White Paper The Importance of Teaching and its intention to recentre the school curriculum on 'knowledge'.
You can see a video of David's lecture on the SSAT website (take a look at Dylan Wiliam's session while you're there....)
The slides that David used (you might want to listen to the presentation while watching the slides, or put them side by side on the screen...) are available via SLIDESHARE... and have been embedded below...
November 2010 SSAT Presentation
View more presentations from GeoBlogs.
If you're snowbound today & your school is closed take a look...
Think of it as a little impromptu CPD
If you're snowbound today & your school is closed take a look...
Think of it as a little impromptu CPD
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