How outdoor learning can raise the profile of Geography in your school

I've been reading an interesting series of posts by Ollie Bray about outdoor learning and technology. I respect Ollie's work very much, especially as he uses what he learns to enhance, not replace, his existing knowledge and experiences.

In a similar vein, this post highlights a number of ways in which outdoor learning can raise the profile of Geography across a school. There are well documented arguments about the importance of fieldwork in geography, but the effects are far more wide reaching than curriculum development.

Individual stories, personal geographies and being a real person.

The photograph above was taken on Bristly Ridge, an interesting scrambling route that links Tryfan and Glyder Fach. My foot is in the bottom right of the image, and the guy on the left is a university friend who is now a regular climbing / mountain biking / mad challenge partner. I often share my experiences (and those of others such as Ollie, Mark Kalch, Mark Beaumont and Joe Simpson) in class. It explains why I love geography - it lets me make sense of the world when I'm out exploring in it. This raises the profile of geography as pupils can relate to personal experiences. I don't think that they want a robot at the front of the class.

How does this raise the profile of geography? Sharing travel and outdoor experiences, and their effects such as lifelong friendships, raising the aspirations of young people as well as demonstrating the power of the subject to explain amazing landscapes. It still doesn't beat getting young people outside though!

Using technology to share outdoor learning.

Ollie's series of posts covers a wide range of ways in which technology can enhance field trips. What I want to do here is provide a real example of why the story mustn't stop when the trip finishes. The video below has been put together to promote the residential experience that is available for Year 8 students each year, but also to promote the subject. This will be rolled out at parents evenings (playing silently in the background), open evenings and on the big screens at school. The video has also been used during tourism lessons - played silently so that pupils can create an advert or design / select a soundtrack that matches. I still haven't worked out how to get widescreen videos into the Blogger theme yet, so I recommend viewing it on YouTube.

In order to promote Geography and raise Key Stage 4 numbers, it's important to spread the word.

Video music link here: Passed on to me by the friend in the photograph at the top of the post.

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 is not always conducive to profound

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

David Rogers

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