David Rogers

Being able to answer case study questions correctly is vital if students are to succeed at GCSE.   This is a description of a simple idea that worked with a Year 10 group studying an LEDC foreign aid case study, in this case Goat Aid.  The OCR B Geography examination demands that three, well developed points are made about a relevant case study that includes place specific detail.  This lesson required: Some background information on Goat Aid, provided by a text book; iPads and students’ own devices in order to check / expand information; 9 blank A3 pieces of paper per pair; whatever they could find in the room, including textbooks and pens etc; some stickers; an examination question.   The lesson began with a Feedback 5 activity that allowed the class to focus on setting their own targets.  As a group, a particular weakness was the lack of specific detail within answers.  Another area that needed development was the wa...

I always remember the words of an older teacher during my first teaching post: 'If you need to do any planning, just make sure you walk to the classroom slower.' Not quite following this way of thinking, I decided to pop along to the shop today. I was racking my brains over how I could spice up a rather dull lesson on the flood defence options of Bangladesh. The result? Well over a BLT I decided to get the class to role-play. One 'volunteer' agreed to act as the BBC foreign correspondent while each group elected a spokesperson. Not rocket science so far! However, in the 10 minutes before the lesson I suddenly thought of filming myself acting as the BBC News anchor. I quickly used my digital camera, set to video mode. The result was a very crude, poorly produced video, but the class loved it, and made the outcome of the lesson much more fun! I hope to refine the video before using it with the next class. You can see the video (if you really want to!) here. I hope no fami...

This is the second simple idea that has had a positive effect in the classroom. Again, I can't claim the idea (although I have forgotten where the inspiration came from), although I have played around with the idea. The 'Post Its' method basically gets pupils to jot down ideas, questions thoughts or answers on a Post-It note and then place them onto a shared space, such as a classroom poster or flip chart. I have recently used the idea during an introductory lesson on tectonic hazards. After exploring what a hazard is (using a sorting activity taken from Teaching Geography) the idea of tectonic hazards was introduced. The classes then moved onto deciding how disasters can be measured. Finally I posed the question - 'Why would people live near volcanoes?'. I then asked the class to record 1-3 questions that they had on the subject of volcanoes on Post-It notes, The results can be seen here. I have used the results to structure the Hazards SoW for Year 9. At the e...

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...