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

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

The danger of Teaching and Twitter conversations: poorly formed bipolar arguments.

Sometimes in life, there really are only two options. Get the wrong one and you can look like a muppet. Take this useful sign for the toilets in Morocco. I successfully navigated it, choosing the right option. The result? No egg on my face. As a mountain leader, there are many right or wrong decisions that I’ve faced, as there are all over life. It’s not a good idea to let inexperienced young people walk themselves down Snowdon. They may die or be seriously injured. If someone is showing the signs and symptoms of hyperthermia, you need to treat it fast in a specified way. There is no real arguing with this sign: Other options are less obvious. Take this sign recently spotted near to where I live: Now, I wouldn’t consider sleeping in a bin. However, faced with a sub-zero night, I could see the appeal. The danger? Being tipped into one of those huge lorries with a compactor. (by the way, I only really considered all of this thanks to questions from my four year old boy).

David Rogers

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