David Rogers

Regular readers will know of my involvement in the Geography Collective . We had a good day yesterday, more information soon, but for now see what the Collective get up to in our effort to get people thinking about space and exploration. I was pleased to see that some of my students get a mention at the end :-)

No idea if this is particularly original or interesting, but it has worked well for me in developing more assessment for learning tools. Based upon the Top Gear cool wall, I create a Cool Continuum across the desks in my room. I either use a dry wipe pen or Post-It notes to label 'Sub Zero', 'Cool', 'Uncool' and 'Seriously Uncool'. The activity is simple. On their way out of the room, pupils self assess their work and place it in the pile they judge it to elong. Can also be adapted for peer assessment by getting a partner to place the work or book. If work has been completed work electronically, pupils place a Post-It in the correct place and email me the work. Useful for enabling learning conversations with pupils, and low tech :-)

Although I have been advised to be a card carrying member of gadgets anonymous, this notebook is essential to me. At some point I will learn to type as fast as I think, stop thinking in images and have an unlimited battery supply. Until then, I will continue to write in this, especially when at conferences and meetings! Some of my ideas are below: You can guess what the Centre Related Assessment Proceedures are ;) The diagram relates to a display idea, as yet not fulfilled! Some ideas about ICT These are the notes taken during a GA Workshop run by Jeff Stansfield, who is always inspiring! This is where I started to develop the Geographical Back Back idea described in the last post. Jeff always emphasises that our pupils arrive in class carrying a whole world of experience with them. Jeff also uses the idea of Geographical Detectives, one which I have adopted. Just no one shop me into the white coat brigade ;-)

I have always found exploring the concept of a sense of place difficult. The National Curriculum demands that young people use their geographical imaginations and build upon their own personal experiences. In addition, this lesson equipped the young people with a strong vocabulary to use when describing places so there are links to literacy. I should add, that this is a parallel group to the one talked about in the Our Place series of posts. Secret Geographies View more presentations from David Rogers . The lesson has been inspired by Noel Jenkins' Flickr photostream . We started by watching a slideshow of this set . Pupils wrote down adjectives. I was stunned by the response, for example: 'dank, dark, dusty, musty, drips, water.' The images were also excellent for spotting evidence from photographs- an important geographical skills. Most of the class thought that this was a place for children and had been bombed. Not bad when the only information they had to go on wa...

This is me. Around 3 years old in the back garden of my house in the Rhondda Valleys. From a very early age I have been lucky enough to be encouraged to explore the outdoors. I think that all teachers should be using and encouraging outdoor learning. In this post I intend to outline why. To me the barriers of excess risk assessment (it's not that difficult and, in my view, forms an essential part of trip planning) and staff cover (there are always ways around that). I should add that this is all from a personal perspective of being a qualified mountain leader, general outdoors bod and the experiences of using the outdoors in teaching. Stories, seeing other places is one of the best things that young people can do. Getting into scrapes, pushing personal boundaries, and getting out of the comfort zone all expand perspective. This has a huge, positive, effect on young people's self esteem. Friends: The outdoors is a life long journey of learning. As well as fitness, my mos...

This post is in an attempt to reflect on personalisation and collaboration. I find that by writing here, I'm forced to clarify my thoughts! I'll start with a story that illustrates the danger of assumptions. While having a conversation in a staff room about 4-5 years ago, talk turned to who was to blame for poor education: Colleague: I blame single mothers. Me: Interesting, I was raised by a single mother and she did a great job and here I am teaching. Colleague: Well then, it's teenage mums. Me : Interesting, my sister gave birth at 15 and still went on to gain GCSE's, A'Level's and a degree while raising a lovely daughter. This illustrates both the danger of assumptions and the need for personalised approaches. So why is it that so often, the answer for personalisation comes in the form of an off-the-peg solution - tried and tested in other places? This especially goes for the delivery of CPD. Such an approach leads to this: Above, I had fallen face first ...

This post is going to be quite long! The iPhone has been around for a while now. I'm often asked which Apps are useful in education, so here's the post the answer those questions. I will give a summary of the most useful Apps, and bold up those that I consider essential. I have to say, and I'm not exaggerating here, that the iPhone has transformed learning . I know this because it helps me: organise myself, and connect to other learners. As you can see from my previous post, I firmly have y feet on the ground when it comes to creating 1:1 access to the iPhone. However, I feel that there is a very strong argument for creating class sets of the device, especially in Geography field trips. Other smart phones may have the same functionality, however, I haven't gotten my hands on those yet! I can't comment on the power of these devices, and wold be interested in hearing from colleagues who have experience. In my view, budgets would be much better spent on investing...

This is quite a long post. Skip to the end if you just want the main learning points! What an epic Wednesday evening - Thursday! However, after some reflection, I have mixed feelings. The majisty and razamataz of BETT, while overwhelming, just hammered home the huge gap between what is available to learners and what learners are actually using. Of course, that statement has been molded by my own experiences (all we can ever do is speak from what we know). It is tempting to generalize. I'm angry and sad and optimistic all at the same time. How can there be such a gap? What is the point of lots of great gizmos? I feel like I am failing young people. But, is it really all that bad? Over the time there, I went to four different events. What sturck me, is that the same messages were coming across. What seems to be lacking is some joined up thinking between them. On Wednesday, I attended the TEDxOrenda event after the main exhibition had closed. This was an inspiring event. T...

A lot of the work that the department are doing at the moment involves the exploration of space. We believe that young people's understanding of space (a key concept in the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum) is underdeveloped. To further support this work, we were delighted to be awarded an Innovative Geography Teaching Grant by the Royal Geographical Society with IBG. The project abstract reads: Space may be the final frontier but it’s closer than you think. Do our students engage with and understand the spaces in which they live and learn? Are they able articulate how they feel and what they think about space? Do they feel constrained by the spaces around them, or do they feel empowered by it? This project aims to explore these questions. Drawing upon inspiration from a number of cutting edge projects, ( mywalks , Urban Earth , Guerilla Geography , Mission Explore , the Big Art Project , 360 degree photography , Doorstep Geography ) the project will draw toget...

Wasn't able to get to TeachMeet tonight. I have embedded the talk I would have given below.

Great new today, one of the Geography Collective's projects - MISSION:EXPLORE London had been shortlisted for a Geovation award. Read all about it here.

Yesterday was Urban Tweet Day . The tweets, from a number of countries can be seen here . Look out for news from Urban Earth. Below are some of the highlights from my urban walk yesterday. No collection till 2004 http://twitpic.com/xd44j #utday The imperial red of a post box stands proud and distinct from the monotonous White #utday Urbanites head to the last bastion of civilisation: tea and cake ;) #utday http://twitpic.com/xcwkf Icecream weather? #utday http://twitpic.com/xcwy7

I decided to venture out on the bike today. A selection of photographs are embedded below. Got me thinking, that I couldn't do without the follow gear when our riding in winter. This is the second post where I share the kit I love . Who was that saying gear freak? ;) They are: 1. Berghaus Bladdered sack. Also graet for summer scrambles and climbs, it holds a nice 2 litre Platypus , spares, tools, wallet, keys and plasters! 2. Inov8 Flyrock trail running shoe. Again, great for summer on the hills. I favor these over clipless shoes as they are more vesatile. 3. Mammut Base Camp Pant . Great all round trousers. 4. Mammut Jacket - a freeby so forget the model number! Warm and toasty, although not as warm as a full down jacket. Keeps the wind out too. 5. Altura thermal cycling gloves. To keep my brake fingers nice and toasty!

There are a number of items in my RSS reader that are just for fun. I've added another today thanks to a post on John Howarth' s blog. He included an image from the Gaping Void site. On further investigation, I came acorss this image: This gave me an idea for a lesson. As Geographers, we should be challenging stereotypes. However, I don't think that we should be making assumptions on the stereotypes our students hold. To avoid stereotyping stereotypes ;-) I created the map below using an OS map outline that a freely available . I have to point out that my annotation are tongue in cheek and no offense was meant ;-) For example, the Midlands are 'Blurry' as I most often see them form the M6 on my way to either the Lake District, Snowdonia or Scotland. This is also a useful activity for exploring and building upon pupil's own experiences of geography. On my return to the classroom, I'll be using this method with classes in order to explore stereotypes and pup...

At the moment the UK is in the grip of some icy weather! Here are some snaps from around Worthing and Goring. I hope to get onto the South Downs tomorrow....

Some readers will know about my involvement with the Geography Collective . We are a band of academics, teachers, artists and Guerrilla Geographers with a common aim to encourage (young) people to see the world in different ways. There are many exciting projects coming up this year, including the launch of MISSION:EXPLORE and the Journey Journal . I would encourage all educators, parents and those involved with young people to look at these resources. Keep reading for details of more exciting developments. Anyway, one of the projects that Geography Collective members have been involved with is Urban Earth. This Saturday is Urban Tweet Day: If you enjoy looking at the world differently then this project is for you! URBAN TWEET DAY is a side project of URBAN EARTH. TWEET DAY is about tweeting what you see, hear, smell and sense in and around your urban world. Find something (un)interesting? Share it with us... The idea is to record our perspective on our urban lives and habitat throu...

The Spring Issue of GA Magazine is out and available to GA members. In this issue the new Editorial Collective are introduced to readers. I'm really excited that I will be one of the Collective, and I'm very much looking forward to working on the publication. Below is am extract and my call for great ideas. The GA Magazine should be a hot bed of sharing practice - so if you have something to share it would be great to hear from you! Just ignore the shameful hair do in the picture ;-) A big hello! I’m a dad, family member, learner, geographer, outdoor adventurer, Welshman and teacher. My enthusiasm for geography was ignited by growing up in the coal mining valleys of South Wales. The subject explained the painful process of industrial decline that my family and friends lived through. This passion was nurtured by an excellent teacher during my secondary school years in Carmarthen. I was hooked, and not only because of the field trips. When not cuddling my son, hanging from a ...

This is the first lesson of the Our Place unit. The unit is being taught to Year 7 pupils during Geography Lessons. I intend to write about this unit as it progresses, highlighting the links between it and the collaborative document set up to facilitate the unit's development. The learning objectives will be to: Identify characteristics that set different places apart. Work as a team to collect, present and interpret information Understand that different groups of people will have different perspectives about differentplaces The lesson presentation is embedded below: What Makes A Place Distinctive View more presentations from David Rogers . The first activities link into the previous sequence of learning where Year 7 explored various geographical concepts through a range of amazing places. We will then move on to consider what makes urban areas distinctive. I will be showing the Urban Earth video below. This is for the following reasons: I took part in the...