David Rogers

Fantastic to hear today that the Mobile @ Priory project has received recognition by being shortlisted for an Education Innovation Award.  Thank you to all of those that made it all possible. To read about the project, visit this post .

‘An' here I go again on my own Goin' down the only road I've ever known,’ This is a post about the proposed National Curriculum currently up for consultation .  Before I start, read the document and give your thoughts .   I’m already fed up of the ‘nothing will change so why bother’ response.  My response to this stance is: grow up and take part in the democratic process.  Now that’s off my chest, a few caveats: This is a response to the Geography Key Stage 3 Curriculum.  It’s the one I know best and feel confident on. I’m a teacher of children, not a Gove basher.   My job is to subvert, change, work with, create, make relevant and bring to life the curriculum for the young people I teach.  I’ll probably not vote Tory at the next election. Then I never have.  I will lobby and support the work of the Subject Associations.  I will get students to hack the new curriculum.  I will help to lead The Geography Collective’s subversion of the new curriculum

This is a ‘how to’ post that was inspired by this post over at Noel Jenkins’ excellent Digital Geography.  This in turn led me to another useful and creative blog by Paul Blogush and this post on creating RSA Style animation videos with the class.  If you want to know how to do it properly, I recommend that you head over to Noel and Paul’s posts first. This post is the story of how a class of Year 10 Geography students got on with the challenge.  Before I start, It’s worth looking at how the experts do it: During the development unit, I wanted time to really explore the idea of the factors that affect the economic development of countries.  In particular, I’ve always struggled to get students to link these factors together.  After some of the more traditional lessons, I decided to give this  a try.  In the end, it took 3 ‘double lessons’ so 6 hours in total. A simple PowerPoint is embedded below that helped to guide the process. RSA Style Animation from David Rogers

I’ve been working with Discover the World for a little while now, mainly on their award winning and free study aids . As I’m also a member of The Geography Collective, there is now an extra reason to enjoy Discover the World’s fieldtrips to Iceland: Mission:Explore Iceland. Find out more here .

Bett learn live 2013 s sh from David Rogers It’s been two years since we began the journey of creating a mobile device policy at Priory School. It was great to share the story with those who came along to see the Learn Live session at BETT on Friday.  This post is a collation of resources.  Above the presentation.  The main points are obvious from the slides, although do get in touch if you’d like to know more or would like to to work with your school or organisation. Below are two documents, the Mobile @ Priory Cookbook and the policy itself in one of the draft versions. Open publication - Free publishing - More cookbook Open publication - Free publishing - More byod

It’s well documented and widely agreed that one of the most effective ways to raise standards is through developing effective teacher feedback.  Indeed, when trawling through Inspection reports of schools that have been given Notice to Improve or put into Special Measures, a common target is often this (taken from a school’s inspection feedback and available online): “Raise achievement so that standards in all subjects are at least in line with national averages by improving the quality of teaching. Give priority to: − ensuring all teachers have high expectations and use assessment information to plan lessons that build systematically on students’ prior attainment − the close monitoring of progress in lessons so that teachers detect and tackle any gaps in understanding and move students to a higher level of learning when they are ready − improving the quality of feedback to students, including marking, so that it clarifies the steps that students need