David Rogers

Well, another SAGT is over. I was privileged this year to be asked to present a workshop on some of my Citizenship ideas in Geography. They seemed to go down well - and I would invite feedback either via email or as a comment. The presentation is embedded below. To vuew the links and references, view the presentation on slideshare and click the 'Notes on slide #'. You will also find my notes for the session. I will post more detailed thoughts and reflections later - I want to ensure this is up for delegates to view. Citizenship Through Geography Sagt 2009 View more presentations from David Rogers .

It's been a good week for exciting parcels! The first publication from the Geography Collective in partnership with Can of Worms , landed on the doorstep yesterday. The Journey Journal is a place for young people to keep a record of an adventure, trip, holiday, exploration or other journey. The pocket sized book is a passport to adventure that will allow young people to engage with their surroundings. Ideal for school visits, family holidays or independent adventures. Some comments about the Journey Journal: "We think this is a fabulous initiative to get young people interested in the people, culture and traditions of the countries they visit." The Travel Foundation "The ideal document for all aspiring geographers to keep alongside their passport - see a new place and write your own book about it." Dr Nick Middleton , University of Oxford, writer and presenter of the 'Extremes' series on Channel 4 "So many children today interact more with the scre...

I think teaching about ' Citizenship' (still don't like that word) is vital. However, I don't believe that it should be a discrete subject. Geography is ideally placed to explore controversial issues and the develop the confidence to successfully engage in our democratic society. Took delivery of these rather nice purple books this week. The project is aimed at teachers of geography and suggests 5 'blot-on' units to existing popular topics. I hope that the book will help teachers to make simple changes to teaching in order to help young people take informed action. Informed participation is in the National Curriculum Geography orders and mentioned in the Curriculum for Excellence. I will be talking about some of the principles and ideas behind Citizenship THROUGH Geography at the SAGT conference this weekend and at the GA Conference next year. Themes covered: 1. What makes it so complicated to decide what's British? 2. Is food really glorious? 3. Every...

Received an email from the lovely people at the GA Office confirming my appointment to the GA Magazine's editorial collective. I will have some input into the Summer 2010 issue and am looking forward to getting stuck in!

Back in September 2008 I posted about the basic tools I needed to survive the teaching week. We have new Teacher Learning Communities at school this year. It's a collection of teachers that have a common professional development need. I have been asked to facilitate the eLearning group. The first session can be found here . For the next session I want to share the top 5 eLearning tools that help to facilitate learning - this includes in the planning of lessons too. This is in part inspired by Tom Barrett's new e-newsletter , especially the 'Tom's Tech Tip' section. This isn't settled yet but: First - decide whether technology is the best way forward. Is there a better, more appropriate tool. For example, I love my Moleskin notebook as I still write (and spell) quicker with a pen - a product of my education that was not centered on technology. In addition, it is often more useful and productive to speak over the phone or face-to-face rather than via emai...

What an interesting week! Leaving the school day to one side, there has been a storm of media interest generated by Thursday's Question Time on BBC 1. I wonder how many young people would have seen the broadcast? I wonder how that figure would compare to the number of young people who would be aware of the incident - whether it be through the internet or other forms of media? How many are aware of the BNP's views? How many are able to critically examine them? Leaving aside my personal feelings on the issue - I didn't watch the broadcast as I didn;t feel there would be anything I didn't now already. My view about who to vote for was certainly not going to change. But, how many of the BNP's supporters watch question time on a regular basis? To me, these events have highlighted the need for robust teaching about 'Citizenship' (for want of a better word). I think that Geography is at the core of helping young people to understand and become more informed abou...

Twitter is a great resource to use in the classroom. However, it's very difficult to create a sustainable use of Twitter. By sustainable, I mean that a lesson could be used for each of our 10 classes across each year group in a secondary school with 1,250 pupils. That's a lot of good will from my Personal Learning Network. So how can we ensure that the use of Twitter becomes embedded in our curriculum? As a curriculum leader it is vital that any teaching initiative can be applied across the whole age and ability range. As an eLearner it is important that other curriculum leaders and staff see that any initiative can easily and effectively embedded into the curriculum. 'What do you mean sir, you're still learning?' Of course, using Twitter as a CPD tool for teachers is great, and I'm enjoying talking to pupils about how I use Twitter to develop my own learning. This role modeling should rub off as a model of professional behaviour and lifelong learning. The...

Tried an experiment today that went well. Inspired by this landing on my doorstep and the work of Dan and others. I tasked a Year 9 group to explore one of the school's buildings. They had to scout out possible locations for some Guerilla Geography Art. They then created notices to put around the school. Guerilla Art Geograpy View more presentations from David Rogers . The results were fantastic, I've shared some below. The main outcome of the day was that the class felt like they were challenged to think about the space and place that they learn. What's your favorite?

I started my current post in January 2008. It's been a long journey since then. I have tried to start collecting my thoughts, values and ideas about subject leadership and I am going to share these here. Many are ideas from others, and I have tried to acknowledge these people. This isn't the right way, just the way I have tried to do things and the lessons I have learnt. I wonder how many of these can apply to leadership in general. One of my goals this year is to read more widely about leadership. I find it easier to structure my thoughts as images in a presentation. If people read the following then great. If not - it's a nice way to get my thoughts together. The following presentation was used in a recent Brighton and Hove Geography Subject Leaders event focused on raising achievement. Reflections on leadership - a geography subject leader perspective View more presentations from geogrocks . The following thoughts are very organic, and a bit messy. I've shar...