GA Conference 2011

Last year we launched Mission:Explore at the GA Conference. This year’s starts on Thursday. I posted about some of the highlights that I’m looking forward to back in January. This post acts as a shameless plug for some of the activities that the Secondary Phase Committee, Geography @ Priory and the Geography Collective are up to. Hope to see you there. For those not there, follow the event using #gaconf11.

Friday 15th June

11:40 Geography: It tick(les) the boxes others cannot reach

Organised by the SPC, this active workshop will see how Geography is not only essential to young people’s education but how the subject can be the cornerstone of delivering many cross-curricular dimensions and other initiatives. The aim is to share a number of ideas as well as seeing examples of where Geography can lead the way on whole school projects.

13:00 PGCE / NQT Survival toolkit

The excellent Lisa Whiting has been part of the geography team at Priory for just over a year now, joining us as a PGCE student last year. During this informal teacher-to-teacher session, she will share some of the tips and ideas of getting through the PGCE and NQT years successfully.

16:30 Geography: Let’s make it happen!

This SPC workshop will focus on active learning strategies and promises to be very hand on!

8:30 GA Conference Beer Meet 2011

See this post for details

Saturday 16th April

0900am Young people as school space creators

In this lecture myself and award winning colleague Jo Debens will tell the story of how we are using the school space to transform learning. Find out which freely available tools we have used, who has supported us and what our students think of it.

0900 Britain’s got talented and gifted

This SPC workshop will mirror the highly successful Swap Shop format of last year. Come along to swap tips with other geographers.

1315 Mission:Explore fieldvisit

Last year delegates had a fantastic time exploring Derby. This year, we have two new books (100 extra missions). The exploration aims to familiarise participants with Mission:Explore and suggest ways in which such ‘naughty learning’ can be incorporated into the Geography classroom. Meet outside the main entrance (I’ll try to look obvious! Winking smile )

Comments

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I’ve been told that social media has no place in the classroom. Now, this post is not to battle that argument head on. Let’s smash it. This week, Year 10 are visiting Hengistbury Head . They are investigating whether this piece of coastline should be protected. They are wondering what you think? You may know the location well, you may not know it at all. But we’d like to hear from you all the same. This will either result in some usable data and comments, or not. Either way, we'll know and I’m sure that your comments will help spark discussion in class! What would Year 10 like me to do? Just simply comment on this post or tweet me, with an answer to this question: ‘Should Hengistubury Head be protected from the Sea? Just answer Yes or No and give a brief reason. It would also be useful if you could tell us whether you know the area or not. Many thanks in anticipation…… Image – my own.

David Rogers

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