The Invention of Geography

I have said before (and also used it as part of my Chartered Geographer update evidence last year) my job is like having 365 days of CPD a year...

I learn things every day from the people I work with, and who get in touch with us. When I'm being asked questions all the time, or asked to present a session on something that I need to be authoritative about, it's a challenge. This requires a lot of reading, and an attempt to keep on top of a huge amount of new thinking on curriculum and pedagogy.

Here is a piece of imaginative writing by my colleague Ben Major, who works on our website, and other projects. It imagines a world where geography had not been "invented"...

The Invention of Geography

Let us know what you think of Ben's piece...

Google Earth 4 Degrees

A very exciting new Google Earth layer was launched this week.

The layer has been produced in association with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and shows information about a possible 4 degree rise in temperature

A range of YOUTUBE videos are available for use with the layer.

The Tyndall Centre were involved in its creation...

Don't forget the Teachers TV programmes which I was involved in, which has a focus on a poem looking at various degrees of warming and the potential impact on the UK.

CPD Survey from the GA

The GA is carrying out a CPD survey with regard to its CPD offerings for next year.

Please go along and spare a couple of minutes of your time to let us shape our courses and other materials for the year ahead. What are your priorities ? What do you want from us ?

Be careful what you wish for, you could end up spending the day with me...

I look forward to a whole range of new venues and events for 2010-11 !

Dad's gone to Iceland....

New life pushing up through the ash deposits from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano: image by Val Vannet, taken last week

After many years of waiting, it seems like I will finally be going to Iceland later this year.

I will be accompanying teachers on an inspection visit to Iceland in October 2010.

The visit is organised by the Brighton based company TRAVELBOUND

Download an itinerary HERE (PDF download) and I might have the chance to spend a few days with you exploring and curriculum making...

Some of the places that are here are on the lists of places that must be seen when visiting Iceland...

• Blue Lagoon near Reykjavik
• Hekla
• Solheimajokull Glacier trek
• Kerid Crater and Thingvellir National Park
• Reykjavik
• Geysirs and waterfalls
• Hellishollar

Why not request a copy of the brochure, or visit the Travelbound website to find out more.

If you'd like to come on the inspection visit, the price is £199, and you will need to do the following:

Contact James Walker on: 01273 265 266 for details.

I will be blogging the whole process of preparing for the visit, as well as creating an online home for a range of curriculum making resources. One outcome will be a unit for KS3 with the title (N)ICELAND ICELAND....

Currently exploring the workings of WORDPRESS to create the new blog, which is now available to view (although there's not much there yet) at (N)ICELAND ICELAND.

If you have been to Iceland and would like to contribute to the new blog in any way, please get in touch.

Special thanks to Val Vannet for the use of her excellent images....

Urban Stories new on the GA website

Urban Earth is a project developed by Dan Raven Ellison.

I have blogged about it on numerous occasions before as a way for young people to re-present the urban spaces that they inhabit.

Ben Major has put together a great resource called URBAN STORIES on the GA website.

This suggests some additional ideas for using Dan's original URBAN EARTH walks and images....

New OFSTED guidance

New guidance from OFSTED has been released on the OFSTED website.

The guidance is available for a range of subjects, including GEOGRAPHY.

It is intended for those who inspect subjects, and includes some thoughts on generic grade descriptors as well as some draft supplementary guidance on areas such as the curriculum and the effectiveness of subject leadership.

The guidance is for consultation. You have until the end of July to provide your feedback...

As my concern (well, one of many things my job concerns) is with Curriculum Development, I was particularly interested in the statements relating to the assessment of the curriculum in geography.

The imaginative and stimulating geography curriculum is skilfully designed to match to the full range of pupils’ needs and to ensure highly effective continuity and progression in their learning

I also liked the comment on teaching:

Teachers communicate enthusiasm and passion about geography to pupils.

Good to see the importance of GIS, fieldwork and knowledge of current initiatives mentioned...

Well worth reading and adding your thoughts on...

A nice day at NAACE

It was over to Nottingham today for a meeting of representatives from many of the Subject Associations at the new headquarters of NAACE.

For those who don't know, NAACE is the ICT Association, and is the professional association for those concerned with advancing education through the appropriate use of ICT. It also has a key role in the ICT Mark for schools.

Quite a few familiar faces from work that I did last year to produce a booklet for the teaching of Functional Skills - you can download if from HERE by the way - it's great !

NAACE have also produced a range of FREE CPD courses which although they might sound like they are just for ICT teachers, would probably be of value to geography teachers too. They can be found by following this link: ICT CPD 4 FREE

Met Peter Twining from VITAL, who offer a range of CPD options too. Their website describes Vital as:

a professional development programme that aims to revitalise the teaching of IT and the use of ICT across the broader curriculum. It is aimed at anyone teaching or working in state-funded education in England.

Courses are delivered by the Open University, and funded by the DfE.

The day involved a series of discussions on the use of ICT to support / deliver CPD, the use that subject specialists were making of ICT to support their pedagogy, and how the impact of its use was being evaluated. I contributed some thoughts, and talked about the various projects that the GA has been involved in in this area, including the one on GEOGRAPHY AND CAREERS that has just gone live.

Coincidentally, I got back home to find details (via Twitter) of a very useful GUARDIAN article, which talked about the sad demise of BECTa, and celebrated the impact that it was having in supporting teachers. The article featured the results of a survey of teachers, and also a quote from Bernadette Brooks of NAACE:

"Technology has moved on dramatically so training has to match that pace of change. I don't see that there will be a reduction in that. ICT training isn't done. We will keep needing to invest in training for ICT teaching and learning. It is not just about using the kit but about finding innovative ways to use the technology available to us in the classroom."

The trend was towards more informal forms of training, mixing face-to-face and online. "Teachers increasingly feel more comfortable with 'bite-sized' training. They don't necessarily want something incredibly formal."