Skip to main content

GA Conference 2010

Great to see from Alan that the GA Conference already has a hashtag #gaconf10. I am just beginning to think about what I'm up to at the conference, and I hope to see some of you there! One of last year's highlights was sharing the biggest naan in the world with, amongst others, Rich Allaway and the SPC Committee.

I was involved in a number of sessions last year, including a workshop on different ways to use textbooks, Dan Raven-Ellison's Urban Earth session and the SPC's Doorstep Geography session coordinated by SPC member Emma.

This year I will be avoiding the barn again!
Thursday 8th April

Association at Work - a chance for the working groups to think about, er, stuff

Public Lecture, this year delivered by Richard Waite of ESRI(UK)

The Marston's Brewery tour, with some bangers and mash and a chance to catch up with a few people.

Friday 9th April

Putting geography back on the map - a workshop presented by the SPC where I will be sharing some of the experiences at my current school in raising the profile of Geography.

Competence-based learning: the end of geography as we know it? - a Forum chaired by Alan Kinder. I will be sitting on the panel

I want to break free! Expanding geography's influence - A workshop that I am presenting during the graveyard slot of the first full day. I plan to include some Queen, Mr T and possibly some Yosemite Sam ;-)

Friday evening will be a chance to catch up with people at the Hallmark Hotel. See Rich's blog for information. I'm really looking forward to catching up!

Saturday 10th April

The MISSION:EXPLORE field visit - giving the other members of The Geography Collective a hand in exploring some of the 102 missions, and considering how they may be used in schools.


Of course, I plan on seeing some of the other sessions there :-)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge.  I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post.  I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff.  If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been ...

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey.  As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others.  Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up.  I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions.  From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment.  From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die.  How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach?  Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment i...

Banned Word Board

Today I want to share some simple ideas that I have found to be very effective in the classroom. I can't say that they are my own original ideas, although I have played around with them. The first is the Banned word Board. This is a simple display in the classroom that lists a number of words that are not allowed to be used by pupils in their written or oral answers. The effect has been an increase in the quality of written work, and I have almost made comments such as 'Sir it's simple, the stuff just affects the thing and causes people problems'. Pupils are now more able to use specific language, something that is vital especially at GCSE. I have had to make a few modifications, such as the introduction of 'Heavenly Words' This is an additional display placed on the ceiling. I found this necessary as pupils needed some stimulus in finding replacement words. After advice received after posting the idea on the SLN forum , I have also introduced semi-banned words...