Geography and all that Jazz

The latest issue of Teaching Geography is now available to download by those who subscribe to it.... It features a range of inspirational articles on the theme of place by Mark Jones, Eleanor Rawling, Becky Kitchen, Margaret Roberts and others... Articles range from a teacher visit to Greenland, to the urban re-branding and renaissance of Scarborough... To add a subscription to your GA membership, or to join (and gain access to the last five years of journals in electronic format) click the JOIN THE GA link.

The Geography of Sport has found its way onto many KS3 schemes of work. It made its way onto mine as I used to teach in a Sports college. The PE department had a lot of money, and we didn't so it made sense to start to make a few connections. Remember that at this time of austerity, any additional source of funding for geography departments needs to be explored. The World Cup has been and gone, the Olympics aren't until 2012 (although that is getting closer every day... literally a day closer)... Just been watching the first part of the opening ceremony for the COMMONWEALTH GAMES . The weblink above includes details on getting the bid document, for activities which involve planning a bid for the games in your local area... The idea of designing the cultural element of the opening ceremony of a similar event in your home area has already been explored elsewhere.... perhaps the giant helium balloon used in Delhi could become a giant Yorkshire pudding on which images o...

2 great videos made by Dave Holmes . The first is shot in London and provides some simple ideas for ethnographic fieldwork data collection.... "people watching"... The second is particularly helpful. It is a short video featuring Nick Blunsum: the Head of Geography at Kingsmead Community School What's great is that Nick talks about the impact of going through the process of gaining the Geographical Association's Secondary Geography Quality Mark. He talks about "evaluating what was good and developing areas that needed improvement" and also "giving back some of the control to students to stop the lessons being too teacher led..." - some good advice on controlled assessment too.... Thanks for sharing these Dave, and to @GeogAdviser for the tip off on Twitter....

For the last 3 or 4 years now, I have been involved in posting something on BLOG ACTION DAY on the particular theme of the year. The theme this year is WATER.  The Vimeo video sets the scene... Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo . Change.org | Start Petition Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion around an important issue that impacts us all. Our Goal First and last, the purpose of Blog Action Day is to create a discussion. We ask bloggers to take a single day out of their schedule and focus it on an important issue. By doing so on the same day, the blogging community effectively changes the conversation on the web and focuses audiences around the globe on that issue. Out of this discussion naturally flow ideas, advice, plans, and action. In 2007 with the theme of the environment, we saw bloggers running en...

The Cape Farewell voyages aim to bring a cultural response to the issue of Climate Change. Previous voyages involved Anthony Gormley, and Rachel Whiteread , who was inspired to fill the turbine hall at Tate Modern with white cubes. When teaching the now sadly ex-Pilot GCSE Geography course a few years back, I used the Cape Farewell pack that the Geographical Association produced. The blog posts that relate to my studies of this EXTREME ENVIRONMENT are available by following THIS LINK to the blog: you'll see student work and a range of other resources which I hope you might still find useful... The latest Cape Farewell expedition is going to follow the route shown on the map above, and it has JUST SET OFF ... you can follow if for the next few weeks by visiting the CAPE FAREWELL WEBSITE , or following CAPE FAREWELL on TWITTER.

Welcome back to the new academic year ! I hope the first day is going well. My daughter started secondary school today, and my son a new primary school, so my educational adventure continues over 40 years since I first passed through the doors of my own first school: Northfield Lane Infants School, Wickersley. For those starting school as a teacher for the first time, the GA has produced a new resource: an NQT SURVIVAL KIT. If you know an NQT, please direct them to this resource: a lot of it is not 100% geography specific: it's just solid advice... This is not a 'completed resource'. We would really appreciate any updates for the resource - send us your experiences, thoughts, ideas and tips for fellow colleagues who are starting out on their professional journey.

Just caught up with the p ublication of a piece by Professor David Lambert in the TES , published on the 27th of August, while I was away on holiday. I saw the original piece, and haven't checked yet for any possible editing of the piece for publication. It was titled "Crack curriculum's core and open a world of opportunity" If politicians want more focus on knowledge, subject teachers should decide what is crucial The Government appears determined to reform the school curriculum again. This is something that some teachers may resist - it will appear as yet more change, when not enough time has been allowed for the last alterations to settle. And because of the return to "knowledge" as opposed to "skills", changes could be accompanied by much Gradgrind-sounding rhetoric about facts and old-fashioned subjects. It could sound like a rush to restore a golden age of subjects past, and undo the curriculum reforms of the last government. However, if w...

There was some exciting news earlier this week ! Hans Rosling is the Director of the Gapminder Foundation , and produced one of the most exciting tools for geographers in recent times: GAPMINDER (now in a desktop version too) Thanks in part to some work by our colleague Bob Lang earlier in the year, it is now confirmed that Hans will be doing the keynote lecture at the Geographical Association's conference at the University of Surrey in Guildford in April 2011. One for your diaries: for the chance to see Hans in action - get a flavour of his presentations by watching this TED TALK . Online booking for the conference is now available! GA members get substantial discounts! Full time and PGCE students get FREE registration! Delegate fees have been frozen to 2009 levels ! Follow the GA on Twitter (@The_GA) with the hashtag: #gaconf11 This year, the conference will also be raising money for ACTION AID : the President's chosen charity.

You can now show your appreciation of all things geographical by shopping at the new GA ONLINE SHOP.... The shop is organised through CafePress , and each item is individually manufactured and shipped. Get in touch if you want to suggest other items, or colours in addition to those that we have already added. I have just done some shopping of my own, and will post a picture of myself in my new GA shirt once it arrives...

A few months ago, Tim Handley , a PGCE student at UEA hosted the first Teachmeet in East Anglia, and also started to collate tips for fellow PGCE tips using the hashtag #pgcetips A few months later, with the help of a range of people, he collated these into an e-book . The finished book is now available online. It can be downloaded, or a hard copy can be purchased via Lulu for just £6.91 I was delighted to contribute an article on Curriculum making to the book. The article can be seen thanks to SCRIBD. I recommend that you follow Tim as he undertakes his NQT year in a Norfolk primary school. Tim's blog makes good reading as he reflects on his educational journey. And if you, like Tim, finished your PGCE year last year you may be interested in 3 regional events that we are going to be running in March 2011. They are going to be designed specifically for NQT Geographers . You'll spend the day working with me on a range of projects and workshops designed to get you up and running...

Yesterday was the big day for the launch of our Mission:Explore London iPhone app . The app was developed in association with the WORKSHOP. If you don't have an iPhone / iPod touch / iPad (and if not, why not ?) you can see all the missions on our MISSION EXPLORE WEBSITE and also remember to BUY THE BOOK ... If you have an iPhone, download the app and give us a review / rating please... We had the Golden Hinde booked for the event. Here's a slideshow of the first part of the event. Thanks to everyone who came along and enjoyed the evening...

The Academies Bill is being debated. This could well affect hundreds of thousands of pupils and teachers... and look at the turn out of MPs....

I have said before (and also used it as part of my Chartered Geographer update evidence last year) my job is like having 365 days of CPD a year ... I learn things every day from the people I work with, and who get in touch with us. When I'm being asked questions all the time, or asked to present a session on something that I need to be authoritative about, it's a challenge. This requires a lot of reading, and an attempt to keep on top of a huge amount of new thinking on curriculum and pedagogy. Here is a piece of imaginative writing by my colleague Ben Major, who works on our website, and other projects. It imagines a world where geography had not been "invented"... The Invention of Geography Let us know what you think of Ben's piece...

Have been following up something from earlier today about the sounds of Sheffield .... Steel, Peach and Tozers (or Steelos) as everyone called it, was the place where my dad started work in the mid 1950s ... He was a draughtsman before moving into engineering role, and moved to a number of other mills, including Hatfields (now Meadowhall) before finishing at Aldwarke Works, Parkgate almost 50 years later... I remember doing a photography project on the area between Rotherham and Sheffield and its dereliction in the late 1980s, after the earlier industrial development, with its attendant environmental implications. Came across an album called THE SONG OF STEEL . Listen to the album on SPOTIFY if you have access to this... One of the things that also features on the disc is the mention of " beer note s ". My dad used to be one of the people who handed out beer notes which could be exchanged at the Temple pub just outside the foundry (which is now a museum called Magna, and ...

One of the most frequent requests that I get at the GA is for a site that can produce simple outline maps of counties that you can then customise for your own use. That is now possible thanks to the appearance of Step Map . Have spent part of today making a guide to using this website, and am discovering even more features as I work through it. Has a whole host of weather symbols, so could make a weather map... There are also options to choose a whole range of maps in different colours, with outlines, shading and backgrounds. You can even choose to have an image as the background to the map: your face in the shape of a country of your choosing, or a map to show a person or item that is associated with a country. Other symbols include sets of arrows in various directions and (like Google Earth) custom icons can also be used Some example to follow perhaps... Give it a go...

There are apparently 93 different brown signs as shown on maps and roadsigns. They denote locations which are of tourist interest. I know this because I've been following the Brown Sign Way... AMANDA HONE's BROWN SIGN BLOG is going to document visits to as many Brown sign locations as possible. Why not explore the BROWN SIGNS in your local area - once you start noticing them, you'll find them everywhere (although I might have an advantage living in a tourist area of Norfolk...) In the village where I used to live there was an interesting labelling. The brown sign used the generic "FARM PARK" to point to the attraction, which was actually called "PARK FARM": some locals assumed the sign had been made with the words the wrong way round... One of my nearest brown signs.... picture by Alan Parkinson Follow Amanda's progress on TWITTER and check out the blog. And watch out for a forthcoming article in Ordnance Survey "Mapping News"...

A very exciting new Google Earth layer was launched this week. The layer has been produced in association with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and shows information about a possible 4 degree rise in temperature A range of YOUTUBE videos are available for use with the layer. The Tyndall Centre were involved in its creation... Don't forget the Teachers TV programmes which I was involved in, which has a focus on a poem looking at various degrees of warming and the potential impact on the UK.

The GA is carrying out a CPD survey with regard to its CPD offerings for next year. Please go along and spare a couple of minutes of your time to let us shape our courses and other materials for the year ahead. What are your priorities ? What do you want from us ? Be careful what you wish for, you could end up spending the day with me... I look forward to a whole range of new venues and events for 2010-11 !

New life pushing up through the ash deposits from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano: image by Val Vannet, taken last week After many years of waiting, it seems like I will finally be going to Iceland later this year. I will be accompanying teachers on an inspection visit to Iceland in October 2010. The visit is organised by the Brighton based company TRAVELBOUND Download an itinerary HERE (PDF download) and I might have the chance to spend a few days with you exploring and curriculum making ... Some of the places that are here are on the lists of places that must be seen when visiting Iceland... Blue Lagoon near Reykjavik Hekla Solheimajokull Glacier trek Kerid Crater and Thingvellir National Park Reykjavik Geysirs and waterfalls Hellishollar Why not request a copy of the brochure, or visit the Travelbound website to find out more. If you'd like to come on the inspection visit, the price is £199, and you will need to do the following: Contact James Walker on: 01273 265 266 for deta...

Urban Earth is a project developed by Dan Raven Ellison . I have blogged about it on numerous occasions before as a way for young people to re-present the urban spaces that they inhabit. Ben Major has put together a great resource called URBAN STORIES on the GA website. This suggests some additional ideas for using Dan's original URBAN EARTH walks and images....