David Rogers

This is here to support my session later today.

Ever since being part of the 21st Century Learning Alliance Fellowship back in 2010, I've been inspired by Sir Tim Brighouse's words around teachers talking to teaching.  Low cost, high impact. This has led me to develop the concept of campfire culture  and start getting together TeachMeet Solutions .  At the moment, I'm completing my CPD log to retain the Chartered Geographer (Teacher) status that I enjoy from the Royal Geographical Society.  The process has made me reflect on the nature of teaching CPD, and to many I'm sure this post will be a continuation of 'David states to bleeding obvious.' The analogy of a campfire can be extended to CPD.  Courses and big conferences and large TeachMeets have their place, but they can provide far too much fuel.  I always leave with a mind full of ideas, but only ever implement a few. I've got many notebooks that are filled with analogue scrawls and ideas that have never been realised.  Too much fuel added a...

I'm certain that very few people have failed to notice that GCSEs are changing.  In terms of Geography, the biggest challenge that many face is the changes to fieldwork. During the Year of Fieldwork, we see the most distinctive part of the subject reduce from 25% to 15% and from Controlled Assessment to and examination paper. Many will not be sorry to see Controlled Assessment go in terms of workload. Although I can understand this, I see it as a great loss to our ability to explore high quality geography: the fieldwork enquiry is  what geographers do.  The fear around an exam paper is that students can be drilled to pass them, and I hope that Ofqual try to ensure that this doesn't happen. Having said this, there are positives: Students will need a deeper understanding of fieldwork and therefore do more of it. The inclusion of two contrasting environments and a signed statement of fieldwork completed provides powerful leverage for more fieldwork. Geography's po...

As a PGCE student in 2003, I was introduced to the  Staffordshire Learning Network's geography Forum . It started in 1999, and many of its inhabitants have been blogging for over a decade. This isn't a story about bashing networks, nor is it the words of a wise old elf wriggling out.  I have benefited massively from social media, and it is very useful so it would be disingenuous of me to bash them. Just that, Twitter, Blogs, Forums, TeachMeets are all great, but it's the people that make them great, not the social networks that facilitate them. What is more, it is our decisions as users around how we curate the different feeds that enables great CPD packages to be put together. It's the creativity of individuals that create some fantastic opportunities. However, true CPD is rooted in the deliberate practice of skills, and although ideas can be shared over networks, unless these ideas are practised and perfected in classrooms, their impact is limited. Social netwo...

Pupil Premium from David Rogers Here are the slides to accompany my session this afternoon.

Vision and imagination can get you a long way.  These are just some thoughts, not in anyway original, about CPD.  What follows is a blend of ideas from Bay House School, TLAB14 and conversations with others.  There may be some of me in there too. My view is that effective and well focused CPD is the most important factor in moving a school forward.  If it doesn’t make a lot of sense, don’t worry – it’s a thought dump for me to return to.  Not in any particular order. 1. Create the school’s own version of what constitutes a great lesson / learning.  Use this, not Ofsted, to self-assess where teachers are. CPD to be individualised by middle leaders. And before you go ape about measuring teachers, read what I wrote here about using monitoring to develop teaching and learning.  I really think that teachers and school can be trusted to figure it out, and therefore own teaching and learning. 2. Make changes to learning based upon research.  Have...

Sometimes, it’s hard to see the answers.  Thinking generates more questions.  These posts will lay out a problem I’m grappling with and trying to get my head around so don’t expect fully formed thoughts! Lots of people gave me lots of grief about making changes when head of geography and when I led CPD for the school.  I didn’t much care for the criticism, especially when the impact was measurable.  Especially when pupil outcomes were raised.  Of course, constructive criticism is always welcome and needed in order to shape ideas and policies.  I am left wondering though about the credibility of CPD. I’ve spoken at lots of places, but all I have really done is tell stories.  A narrative of what worked well in my context by doing particular things in a particular way.  Linked to some evidence of impact.  This is important as there’s no guarantee that it will work.  This is where those engaged with CPD need to reflect, consider the ev...

I’ve just finished Teacher Proof and enjoyed Tom Bennett’s writing and his points. Indeed, I recommend it to any teacher, especially those about to start out on classroom adventures for the first time.  The book aligns with my belief that teachers should never stop learning and engage with educational research (by which I mean reading critically).  I enjoyed Tom’s style of debunking many of the educational fashions of recent (ish) years, and it’s made me reflect upon my own practice, what and how I write on this blog and my own approach. As a former Fasttrack teacher I can identify with Tom’s experience of NLP (I have to admit to reading the course bumph and writing it off. I chose to go on a project management thing instead).  As someone who looked after whole school CPD, I can also attest to the power of Headteachers and Inset.  You know the deal, the whole school gives over a whole day to a certain strategy.  A speaker is invited in, you aren’t allowed t...

Last year, Nick Dennis and team put together the first Teaching, Learning & Assessment in Berkhamsted. The event was slick and a great success, even before Wales ripped the RBS Six Nations Grand Slam from England’s grasp in excellent style .  The team looked after every detail, even providing a screen to watch the match after the final keynote and thanks. My contribution to last year’s event on Inspirational Geography, can be found here and search the blog for the hashtag ‘#TLAB13’ for a flavour of the event.  Anyway, to stop rambling on, I’m delighted that Nick has asked me to be involved in next year’s #TLAB14, and there is a fantastic range of speakers already confirmed as seen on the Lanyrd page . The event is a bargain (around the cost of some 6 Nations or a gig ticket…).  Details are still being finalised, but it’s worth keeping an eye on the Twitter Feed and Webpage for the event. I plan to do a session about practical geography, so some experiments ...

Delighted to be involved in the Teaching and Learning Takeover event taking place in October.  I’ll be speaking about Progress and  Assessment: Am looking forward to the event and will put the resources up here in due course.  There are going to be a great line up of speakers .

When Professional Tutor (looking after whole school CPD) at Priory School, I wanted to set up some work experience for the teaching staff.  The thing is, most INSET days (call them what you will) focus on staff being told what’s good or working with the same teams of people that they normally do.  There’s nothing inherently wrong with this, but it doesn’t involve staff finding out for themselves, nor setting their own agenda.  As a Geographer, enquiry learning is central to my approach: setting up some questions and gathering information that leads to an outcome or change. In addition, professional learning needs to be personalised.  That’s not a choice within a narrow set of workshops (although that’s a great approach too – tools in the box remember).  Finally, teaching staff have the ability to identify what they need to work upon and put into action a plan. This isn’t an original plan, but included here as interest to others as I’ve received a number of q...

This is the final post of six reflecting upon the Teaching, Learning and Assessment Conference held at Berkhamsted School.   This post will provide an overview the closing keynote session by Bill Rankin . The session definately came away with the prize for most entertaining, and in the graveyard slot this was needed.  Especially for people like me who have trouble concentrating at the best of times!  I’m going to focus on some of the main themes that I took away from the session, and my thoughts about them.  I’m not certain about the scientific basis for some of this as I’m still following them up, however the points have created some interesting discussion.   The first thing that got me thinking was this slide.  In a nutshell, young people’s brains are inactive during class.  I tried to link this to my own experience.  Of course, the immediate reaction is to dash the notion on the rocks of sillyness.  However, think beyond my...

This is the fourth of six posts reflecting upon the Teaching, Learning and Assessment Conference held at Berkhamsted School.   This post will talk about Bill Lucas’ keynote session. I didn’t make too many notes from the second keynote session.  I have to admit to being more than a little sceptical when I’,m greeted by an ‘invite’ to sign up to a network for £500, but I kept an open mind.  The session was delivered in a contrasting style to the first and focused on ‘ Expansive Education’ .  I’m not going to talk about the network, but about the three things that I took away from the session. 1. The BayHouse educational journal I am currently Professional Tutor and have the CPD brief.  Coming across Bay House’s journal was a revelation.  This is something that I am following up, not least because the school is only a short stretch of water away from my own.  This could be an excellent way in which to engage and stretch teachers who are...

  This is the fourth of six posts reflecting upon the Teaching, Learning and Assessment Conference held at Berkhamsted School.   This brief post will focus on the ‘pre-event’. In my experience, there are two types of TeachMeet: those that have a local feel and those before big events that have a strange ‘out-of-body’ feel.  Happily, the TeachMeet held the evening before #TLAB13 was of the former variety.  The event had a few elements common to  #TMPompey that meant I came away with actual ideas that could be used in the classroom the following day.  These elements were: Hardly any tech only talks.  Both featured simple ideas linked to assessment and feedback and marking.  Many speakers didn’t even use the computers (only three at the pre #TLAB13 event).  This was really refreshing as the talks were focused on pedagogy rather than larger ideas that were product reliant.  The ideas could be (and have been) implemented wit...

Yesterday evening saw the second TeachMeet Pompey (Portsmouth to the uninitiated) take place.  The was a fantastic atmosphere and around fifty people attended in the end which was great.  Some common themes through the presentation included creative ideas and lots of young people, with two presentations by or including young people, and almost all presentations featuring real work by young people.  I may be biased, but that hasn’t happened at many TeachMeets that I’ve been along to recently. Of course, the highlight for me was watching our on DiGITAL LEADERS give a visionary and professional presentation.  They had put this together independently and without any direction from myself. There wasn’t a live stream nor sponsorship as I was aiming to keep teachers talking and learning at the centre of the event and that sort of stuff often detracts from the core purpose.  Of course, the TeachMeet Pompey Laser Quest was again a great success and added a litt...

TeachMeet Pompey is returning in March.  Action Stations has kindly agreed to host the event for the second time which is great news.  We’d like the event to be better than ever, it really is an informal get together. There’s even optional Laser Quest for those with energy to burn.  It;s not that scary and even our pupils took part last year. So, please help promote the event and sign up to see you there Details can be found on the TMPompey page , email me at drogers@priory.portsmouth.sch.uk or tweet me. If you’re new to TeachMeets, here’s the general blurb: What is TeachMeet? Learn something new, be amazed, amused and enthused. This is an informal gathering of those curious about teaching and learning. Anyone can share great ideas they've trialled in their classrooms, ask important questions or simply sign up to take part in learning conversations. Education professionals from all sectors are welcome to take part. The main part of TeachMee...

This will be the first in a planned series of posts that will highlight various aspects of my new role as Professional Tutor.  Future posts will cover Professional Learning Time; developing a cadre of expert coaches and new staff induction. Was pondering what to blog about this morning when I stumbled across the following tweets: In turn, this led me to this excellent post by the Learning Spy that contains a thought provoking response by Ian Gilbert .  What follows is an attempt to describe what I’m aiming for at my school after my secondment to Professional Tutor in July this year. You can read my vision for the role here . They way I see it, INSET has a problem.  The time has to be identified in advance and yet it has to respond to the needs of teachers.  These will invariably change over the year.  I can’t offer any cast iron way of making INSET better, but here’s a story about what we’re attempting to do.  I’d like to think that thi...

Often, it seems that CPD is still seen as courses away from school.  This isn’t a problem, but what happens when the participant returns to school often is.  What happens is that the learning often stops at the end of the conference / course. It goes without saying, that for CPD to be really effective, the learning gained must be passed on and engaged with after the event has closed. I have found that this hasn't been the case during three recent encounters with high quality CPD.  This post aims to provide three short case studies. 1. Microsoft Partners in Learning Stuart and Kristen do a great job with the UK arm of Partners in Learning (PIL).  I got involved this time last year after being spurred on to enter their Innovative Teacher Award by a blog post by Ollie Bray. So far I have attended the UK Innovative Teaching Forum , the European Innovative Teaching Forum and the Microsoft Fun Free Friday . I have already discussed how conversations always cen...

Great to see from Alan that the GA Conference already has a hashtag #gaconf10. I am just beginning to think about what I'm up to at the conference, and I hope to see some of you there! One of last year's highlights was sharing the biggest naan in the world with, amongst others, Rich Allaway and the SPC Committee. I was involved in a number of sessions last year, including a workshop on different ways to use textbooks , Dan Raven-Ellison's Urban Earth session and the SPC's Doorstep Geography session coordinated by SPC member Emma. This year I will be avoiding the barn again! Thursday 8th April Association at Work - a chance for the working groups to think about, er, stuff Public Lecture, this year delivered by Richard Waite of ESRI(UK) The Marston's Brewery tour, with some bangers and mash and a chance to catch up with a few people. Friday 9th April Putting geography back on the map - a workshop presented by the SPC where I will be sharing some of the experience...

This is quite a long post. Skip to the end if you just want the main learning points! What an epic Wednesday evening - Thursday! However, after some reflection, I have mixed feelings. The majisty and razamataz of BETT, while overwhelming, just hammered home the huge gap between what is available to learners and what learners are actually using. Of course, that statement has been molded by my own experiences (all we can ever do is speak from what we know). It is tempting to generalize. I'm angry and sad and optimistic all at the same time. How can there be such a gap? What is the point of lots of great gizmos? I feel like I am failing young people. But, is it really all that bad? Over the time there, I went to four different events. What sturck me, is that the same messages were coming across. What seems to be lacking is some joined up thinking between them. On Wednesday, I attended the TEDxOrenda event after the main exhibition had closed. This was an inspiring event. T...