Geography and all that Jazz

Earlier this year, Michael Palin was introduced as the new President of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) There's an interesting article in the Independent newspaper today, which can be read by clicking the link. A few interesting quotes on what Michael thinks about geography can be found in the article. "For some reason, geography is not seen as a popular subject in school. It's seen as very unglamorous. Yet when I was at school, I can remember geography offering me the chance to get out and go on field trips and go on walks, and I loved maps, I loved atlases, I loved learning about other countries and places where things were different from our own – and that's all covered by geography." Good to hear the interest in 'the Boss' too.... Ben Saunders is an Honorary Vice President of the Geographical Association. Ben Saunders from Ben Saunders on Vimeo . Follow Ben on Twitter @polarben is his account A recent twe...

Free Fieldwork courses: Teacher Master-class & AS Student Summer School An opportunity for students and teachers alike... The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) is providing fully funded opportunities for AS geography students and for geography teachers through our Learning and Leading programme. They are offering fully funded places on two separate residential courses, based at the RGS-IBG in London led by experienced staff from the Society and other professionals. Full costs will be covered including accommodation, food and travel to and from RGS-IBG: Teacher Fieldwork Masterclass: Monday 17th - Friday 21st August 2009 Teachers will visit a wide range of sites in London which provide opportunities for teaching and learning in geography – topics include the Olympics and sustainability. The course will cover a variety of fieldwork techniques, ideas for low cost and local fieldwork and safety management and ideas for easy to use ICT and GIS. There will be opportunities to share...

Any geography teacher reading this blog / post who is not a member of the GA or RGS , would you possible drop me an e-mail a.parkinson AT gmail.com as I have a few questions for you which will only take a moment of your time... Much appreciated...

Image by me... A very pleasant day at the Royal Geographical Society on Friday for a training day for Geography Regional Subject Advisers. Thanks to Judy Mansell and co for hosting us... The day was led by the National Subject Leads: David Rayner and Ruth Totterdell, and we also had sessions from Fred Martin, who provided an excellent overview on the use of GIS, and 2 GIS providers: Diana Freeman from the Advisory Unit with AEGIS, and James Sawle from Digital Worlds. The CfBT support is focussing on the use of GIS technologies this year. If you need some support with the use of GIS in your Key Stage 3 Geography teaching. get in touch, and I'll pass you on to the relevant adviser: if you teach in the East of England , you can get support from Katharine Hutchinson and I... Perhaps the easiest thing is to have a TAXI DRIVER for a geography teacher ? According to research by University College London, they have a particular type of brain... Image from UCL via BBC website And to win...

Caught a snippet on the news this morning which mentioned this website , which I have blogged about before, although not sure that the word 'geography' was mentioned at any point, despite it being a project in association with the RGS-IBG. Activities all week related to Citizenship and 'Britishness'. Wordle Word Cloud is for the statement by Rita Gardner describing the aims of the project. Who do you think you are ?

Another bit of gratuitous publicity on the GEOGRAPHYTEACHINGTODAY website.

Ordnance Survey Award for excellence in Geography teaching Had the great honour of receiving this award yesterday at the Royal Geographical Society . Congratulations to Louise Ellis, who won the 2nd Ordnance Survey Award, and thanks to the fellows and colleagues who nominated me. Congratulations also to all the other medal and award winners, and thanks to Vanessa Lawrence for presenting me with the award. Left to right Roger Jeans, Education Manager, Ordnance Survey Louise Ellis, Ordnance Survey award recipient Dr. Vanessa Lawrence, Director General and Chief Executive of Ordnance Survey (and also Honorary Vice President of the GA) Alan Parkinson (that's me...) Went down to the RGS yesterday to collect the award: a chunky piece of glass and a welcome and unexpected financial bonus, plus very nice scroll. Enjoyed the whole occasion. We had a tour of the society including some of its archive of objects, and also the Reception in the evening. Good to meet my new 'boss', and al...

2 RGS-IBG 'events'... Just catching up with the Monday night lecture that Robert MacFarlane gave at the Royal Geographical Society on the 14th of April relating to his wonderful book that I have blogged about before: " The Wild Places ". I was unable to attend this particular lecture (it being my daughter's birthday), but this is the next best thing... It's available to RGS-IBG members, and I would recommend that you listen to it. It's full of humour and powerful images, and introduces a new way of exploring the landscape: "border crossings" as Dr. MacFarlane calls them.... It was also good to hear mentions of some of my favourite authors: Barry Lopez (probably my favourite writer if pushed...), Colin Thubron, William Least-Heat Moon, Roger Deakin, Thoreau and Bruce Chatwin, and mentions of some of my favourite places, such as Camasunary and Coruisk on Skye, the Burren's limestone, Bleaklow in the Peak District and the wild expanse of Ran...

David Attenborough Got a nice surprise yesterday: entered a ballot for RGS-IBG members earlier in the year, and a ticket arrived in the post ! Image by Flickr User Bryan Ledgard (made available under Creative Commons) Monday 31 March at 18.30 RGS-IBG Balloted lecture Members only Wallace and the birds of paradise Sir David Attenborough David shows film footage and describes the various species that so obsessed Alfred Russel Wallace, who was the first European to see the display of the spectacular birds of paradise. Please note that this lecture is balloted. One ticket entry per member. Anyone else successful ?

Rural England In November of this year, a conference was held at the RGS on the theme of "What is Rural England For ?" The presentations from the day are available to download from HERE : the Rural Evidence Research Centre. There's a lot here to add a bit of substance to work on RURAL URBAN Interrelationships at AS/A2, and also a bit for Rural Rebranding and growth. Also a great presentation on RURAL-URBAN migration which tackles the obvious issue - which rural ? how rural ?

If you have the chance to get to the RGS on Saturday 20th of October , there is what sounds like a fascinating day. INTERDEPENDENCE DAY In a host of talks, workshops, music, film, art and games, Interdependence Day will explore what it means to live in an interdependent world. For anyone who cares about the earth and the people we share it with. The new and extraordinary challenges that lie before us at the start of the twenty-first century - creeping globalisation, climate change, seemingly unstoppable and impossible to fully comprehend - can appear beyond the control of any one person. Finding ways to take a fresh approach to the defining questions of our time are the inspiration for Interdependence Day 2007. Speakers : Mark Lynas , author of High Tide: the truth about our climate crisis , Anuradha Vittachi , co-founder of the Oneworld Network, Andrew Simms , policy director of nef and author of Tescopoly: How one shop came out on top and why it matte...

Some good news.. Got a letter from RGS today, containing a ticket which said I'd been successful in the ballot for a seat to see Michael Palin Monday 8 October at 18.30 RGS-IBG Ballot Members only New Europe Michael Palin Michael talks about the making of his new BBC series, in which he sets out to discover the eastern half of his own continent, which he finds in a dramatic state of change. Going to be cutting it fine to get there from school and then back up the same evening, and will also be at RGS that same Thursday, and doing Norfolk conference the following day, and the previous weekend I'll have been up for Rush in Sheffield and the following Saturday it's down to London for GA meeting... The things I do for Geography...

It's a NING thing!! At the weekend, I came across my new favourite online thing, and it's called NING . This is a tool for creating social networks. This means that you can create an online space where you can meet with people who you either choose to have as members or you can exclude those you don't. I created a NING at the weekend called GEOPOLIS : geographical metropolis: a virtual world where geographers can exchange information, or form groups to discuss issues. I already have some online colleagues who have joined up. This is just a trial at the moment, so that I can explore the features, but it seems to me that it has great potential. Just uploaded a few images very easily in a FLICKR like way, with the ability to add TAGS (will come back to these later) and also add the geolocation of the image on a nice Google Map , and also create a mini SLIDESHOW of the images as well. Teachers can now share their materials with their students in lots of new ways. They don...

Chartered Geographer Want professional recognition for all that you do for the Geography community and for Geography within your current school ? Why not apply for Chartered Geographer (Teacher) status from the RGS-IBG. I applied this year, and in April heard that I have been accepted, so I am now a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a Chartered Geographer. If you would like to know more about the process, or what I did for my application please get in touch. I also have a very nice framed shiny 'halo' for my wall...

New KS3 Resources on GTT website. Geography Teaching Today website has added the first set of resources, some images of London 2012. Keep an eye out for more from Jonathan and the crew...

Got a lot of Geography experience and want to get professional recognition for all that you do for the subject ? The RGS-IBG have introduced the Chartered Geographer (Teacher) qualification. If you meet the requirements below, you might like to apply. You will need: an Honours degree in geography, a B.Ed with geography or a related degree (or 15 years teaching experience if no relevant degree is held); at least six years teaching experience, and demonstrable commitment to CPD, embedding it in your practice, and supporting others. Chartered Geographer (Teacher) is the only ongoing professional accreditation linked to CPD in Geography and is being aligned to be relevant to the developing TDA framework of professional and occupational standards for teachers. CGeog (Teacher) can support your application for a leadership or Advanced Teacher role and enhances you career portfolio and employability.

Good news today for the RGS-IBG: the Discovering Antarctica website. It has been nominated for a BAFTA in the 'Learning Secondary' category - just one away from Spongebob Squarepants! Congratulations to Simon Scoones and the project team, and all involved with the site. As I produced the Curriculum links for KS3, GCSE and Pilot GCSE for the site, does that mean I've been 1% nominated for a BAFTA ?