Skip to main content

‘I’d rather a bad day in the classroom than a good day in the office’

 

IMG_1493

While reflecting upon teaching during corridor patrol, friend and colleague Sam Atkins came out with the title.  I agree with him.  Priory Geography does well because its team each take responsibility for various projects.  These projects link in to the curriculum. 

photo (78)

In the past two weeks we have:

  • developed the use of mobile learning in exploring how to help EAL students through geography and technology;
  • set geocaches linked to the London 2012 Olympic Games, which will appear on BBC South Today on Thursday (15th March 2012);
  • seen Year 7 students set up flags in Ravlin Park in Portsmouth for a Dysarticulate Project;
  • taken part in a workshop aimed at developing the new National Curriculum;
  • completed a 4 day residential in the North Downs;
  • planned our contribution to the BBC’s School Report taking place at Action Stations and will see students heading to London to interview Lord Coe;
  • developed curriculum resources for the Geography of Conflict;
  • run revision workshops and Duke of Edinburgh Award training sessions;
  • planned a Guerrilla Geography event (more on this soon);
  • put the finishing touches together on our Controlled Assessment fieldwork;
  • sung the praises of Geography during Options evening;
  • Taught the odd lesson….. Winking smile

Teaching is more than just our subject.

Thank you to the fantastic team I have the pleasure work with: Jo Debens, Sam Atkins, Alec Weaver and Charlotte Humm (with us on a PGCE placement).

Comments

  1. Nice work Priory. The Carlsberg of Geography departments...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Alan - praise indeed from you :-)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

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...