Geography Teaching Today

The curriculum making course was excellent. It was good to meet with other teachers and specialists, to share ideas and discuss different possibilities. We all need to have the opportunity to recharge our own batteries and be motivated into rethinking our own schemes of work, both for our personal satisfaction and in order to inspire the pupils we teach. Thank you.

Just a quick thank you to all involved in providing the curriculum making CPD during the course of this year. I throughly enjoyed the chance to share, develop and evaluate ideas with like-minded geographers. My department also loved the inspirational presentations E Lockwood commented on (July 2007). The quality of the CPD shows in the amount of work we have willingly undertaken on returning to school, despite energy levels normally being low at this time of year! If you haven't been involved, take the next opportunity that comes your way.

My work as a primary humanities consultant in Suffolk has been supported by the ESD course. All our CPD plans include ESD as an aspect and all our curriculum development projects have ESD as a thread, e.g. resource pack for Felixstowe as a contrasting locality, Year of Food and Farming, refreshed St Lucia. Our support for subject leaders includes how to embed ESD and this will feature in day courses, network meetings and a post-graduate degree module. Two of the Suffolk schools who took part will have their work featured in neswletters and InSET. The second day of the GA course provided links with teachers in other LAs who will be invited to contribute to our courses.

The 2 days in Cambridge on the curriculum making course were truly an inspiration. First it was a treat to be with other "geography minded " colleagues who did not write the subject off as only relevant if you liked colouring in or needed a place name for a crossword clue. I have returned to scool raelly wanting to reinvigorate the geography we do at KS2 and have been especially taken by how to improve the way we introduce new topics. Sharing others " stories" and experiences during the 2nd day have provided me with lots of ideas for the future....so thankyou for devising the programme - Paula Owens was a super "enabler"!

Hello there, seems that there has been a lot about curriculumn writting, I am in the process of updating the SOW for our school and was hoping to do this using the new curriculumn. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel and strongly believing in sharing of good practice is there anyone out that who has anything that i can news to get ready for the new year?
Please mail :shelly.meadows@dsl.pipex.com.

Having now completed the curriculum making course for ESD I just want to say how valuable I have found the whole process. It has been so good to connect with other geography teachers and to be stretched to think of new and exciting ways to present geography to my pupils. It has really set me thinking!

Just got back from the second Geography in action conference day in Manchester - it is great to get the opportunity to talk 'creatively' with other geographers. In my role now as T&L / AfL consultant for Lancashire i can and will spread the messages!

In my work, i have been able to get an overview of all curriculum subjects re key concepts and processes - it is very clear that we help to develop in our pupils some very distinctive yet important concepts which will enable them to may informed judgements about their place and role in the world. Many subjects are developing very similar concepts - surely this is an area that we can use to 'fight our corner' so to speak - and hopefully gain greater recognition than we sometimes do.

I loved the thought - provoking 'slide show' that formed part of the plenary... a real discussion point when thinking about redesigning a relevant exciting KS3 programme - thanks

The Curriculum Making Course primary geography and ICT has been excellent.

The first part of the course was inspirational. I went back to school full of ideas. It was great to have the opportunity to spend time with other enthusiastic geographers. The course leaders were great. They really valued the experience that we all brought to the course. Other members shared their ideas freely. I have used the resourses that I made, in school and the whole process has been most useful for our application for the bronze level Quality Mark.

I attended the evaluation day in Manchester on Thursday and came away with even more very useful ideas. It has been a great experience and I hope to get a place on the Citizenship course for next year. I would recommend this to everyone who is looking for new ideas

A brill day on the 21st June!!! free and easy chatting and discussion which made us realise that we are dong the correct things in our teaching. It was wonderful to share etc ....

great job from the GA Thanks...

Last week's curriculum making conference in Bristol provided a wonderful and rare opportunity to share ideas and innovations with colleagues. In fact this form of C.P.D. opportunity is often absent form the current market place that seems to focus on generic pedagogy, behaviour management, Use of data etc. (In fact as a The Secondary National Strategy Consultant for the Foundation Subjects strand I have been very concerned that this lack of subject expertise has been detrimental to promoting 'good geography', 'good history' etc.)

I feel that this form of C.P.D. is more collaborative than either 'mentoring' or 'coaching' as both (whether intentionally or not) seem to have a power demension in the relationship. Whereas joint plannning, delivery and evaluation led by subject specialists provides a unique chance to "get under the skin" of learning in geography. More please

Attending the curriculum making evaluation day in Bristol last week was a fantastic experience. I am just entering into the profession as an NQT and am really excited to see so much enthusiasm and drive amongst colleagues to embrace the KS3 changes and move into a more student centred curriculum, which holds relevance for the skills and challenges they will be faced with through life. It was an inspiring and thought provoking day.

I found the geography and ICT course inspiring. The resources are great and inspire both staff and children. The opportunity to work with specialists and to be able to share ideas was welcome. The course was very worthwhile and I look forward to attending future courses run by GA. Thank you Wendy for making it so enjoyable.

It has been really valuable to attend the two one day conferences and meet with other primary geography coordinators. Seeing the power point presentations was inspiring and I went away with enough confidence to have a go. My first attempt took hours. Now I can produce a presentation far more efficiently and my lessons and those I have created for colleagues have become far more interesting and challenging. Geography is about places and to be able to show pictures so clearly and simply is brilliant.

Coming back for the second day was very useful. It was valuable to see how other colleagues have developed their curriculum, a great opportunity to discuss problems and perhaps go away with some solutions.

Thank you for organising such a valuable course.

Just thought I'd let you know that I've just spent a happy and thoroughly rewarding hour re-planning a lesson using ideas I picked up at yesterdays "Quality Geography" conference (Leicester). I found the venn diagram (http://www.geographyteachingtoday.org.uk/images/misc/GA_TalkVenn.ppt) (prior learning, subject discipline, pedagogy) immensely useful in this process as I was consciously aware of these three vital elements and the need to include them in my planning (along with some other things I've been recently reading about).

I'm very much looking forward for our department joining the Quality Geography scheme as an associate member, and applying the ideas from the course in developing the teaching and learning of Geography at our school (once I've persuaded my Head of Department!). Our aim eventually of course would be to get the Quality Geography mark, and then go for the higher levels (outstanding features etc).

Anyway thanks for an excellent course and keep up the good work!

Attending the two one day conferences has enabled me as the only geographer teaching in a small special school to meet with a wider range of geography teachers and to discuss and compare the way I approach the subject. I have gained a new impetus and some good ideas about how I can develop my programmes of study.

I look forward to receiving follow up materials when they have been edited and following developments on the website.

I have just attended the evaluation day for the KS3 Curriculum Making course. It was a really inspirational dya with teachers from across the region actually having the time to talk to each other about what we do best - teaching Geography. The new programme of study for KS3 is a great opportunity to escape from the old fashioned and prescribed, content driven model and to really stretch our winds in developing geography for the 21st century. If the standards displayed at the GA today are indicative of what is going on in other school then the future is really bright. Mnay thanks to the GA for driving us all forwards.

As soon as I received notification of the conferences in Newcastle I took the opportunity to attend. There is so little geography training or involvement at primary level that the opportunity to be with geography enthusiasts could not be missed. I was involved in the geography and ICT with Wendy North, and found her support (involving spending part of a day with our school on fieldwork) of great benefit. The curriculum making has inspired me to develop a scheme of work for a two day residential visit which has been well received by the pupils and staff. It has led to exciting developments in the geography teaching and learning at school. I have already been involved in discussions with other members of staff at school and have looked afresh at the long term planning for geography. Hopefully curriculum plans developed by other geographers will be integrated into our long term plans and make the geogaphy teaching and learning more relevant and interesting to the pupils and staff. Many of the QCA schemes of work are not stimulating and do not always develop the geographical knowledge, skills and understanding of the children.

Without the GA there would be very little professional development offered to geography teachers. It is fantastic that these curriculum making courses have been offered free of charge because otherwise ir is very difficult to ask a Head if you can attend when you know that money is tight. That aside the days I have attended have been excellent and are really bringing geography teaching into the 21st century. Geography is all around us and as such it is crucial that we make pupils aware of their impact and how to make informed choices and decisions. It is invaluable to meet othet geography teachers to share ideas and work together on planning for the new curriculum. Thank you to the GA and, of course, for their very informative website.

Having attended both days of the curriculum making CPD, I left feeling enthusiatic and determined to re-invigorate our curriculum. The greatest benefit was sharing ideas and resources and finding others who had had similar problems and discovered ingenious solutions! Discussion of new PoS and changes to SoW was overtly positive all round and for once change seems to for the better, not simply driven to achieve seemingly impossible standards.
Everyone was keen to discuss what resources they had developed and evaluations for future use. The fact that we will all soon be able to share these is fantastic, and I look forward to keeping up the momentum back in school.

Being involved in the curriculum making work with the GA has given my school the push to update our KS2 geography planning. No longer must we as teachers be tied to teaching the same units again and again. The QCA units are ten years old and due for updating.
I know that there is a comfort fact in teaching a unit one knows well and has all the resources for but it is rather well, boring and safe. Give curriculum making a go - you might like it!

Curriculum making course
The curriculum making course has been helpful in crystalizing ideas to use within our new curriculum. The ideas and resources picked up from the course, and the online CPD, have enabled me to make a positive contribution to our whole school curriculum for geography. The support given, and the links made with other experts and practioners , have given food for thought and impetus to go forward.

Attending the two conferences has given me many new ideas to combine Geography with ICT. I am currently rewriting the medium term planning for the whole school so am inspired to try to tailor-make resources that suit our children and our topics. I hope my enthusiasm rubs off on the rest of the staff. I now feel more able to give advice to staff wishing to make their own resources.I feel a move away from published worksheets will be a refreshing change. A big thank you to Wendy North who was very supportive throughout.
Regards
Pauline

I have gained so much from making the SoW 'Geography of Music' it's been fantastic! As it's part of a Masters course I will shortly gain 30 credits for the course and I will also gain a stage 2 certificate from the tla organised by the GTc. Due to the SoW being based cross-curricular I have run a workshop during a school INSET and later presented my work to other teachers at an LEA run day course. All of this experience has increased my subject knowledge and confidence together with helping to gain a new job in the area. It's deffinately worth doing and the pupils enjoy being asked their thoughts on the work that I have created.

Curriculum making
As a local authority FSS consultant, the curriculum making CPD has been a very positive trigger for collaborative work with one school and development work with a group of schools. This will enable us to explore the revised QCA geography PoS and focus on the key concepts and process skills and seek to offer curriculum content that is relevant and inspriring. Being able to access a bank of ideas via the GA will be very helpful. We are being supported by Di Swift in putting together a one day conference in October for local schools so that we can disseminate GA information and put geography teaching at the centre of things in school.

I am designing a KS3 curriculum across all subjects and am having trouble finding any teaching objectives for Geography and History. I have the programs of study and am using that as a guide. I would feel more confident however if I could compare my teaching topics to actual teaching objectives to ensure my KS3 kids are being adequately prepared for KS4. Where can I find teaching objectives online? Please dont say the standards site or national curriculum online. I have searched all over these sites.

Regards

mark

I would hope that the revised geography KS3 curriculum will be sufficiently liberating to allow for lateral thinking in developing an appropriate scheme of work. In Year 9 students are being asked to make choices for GCSE courses, often vocational courses whose nature may well be completely new to them. Geography could have a key role in areas such as travel and tourism, manufacturing industry, and engineering. Since these are not going to emerge as new subject areas in the National Curriculum , is there not an obl;igation for existing subject areas to consider how they may contribute - and enhance not only their KS3 courses but also possibly their uptake at GCSE because of their perceived relevance? Geography being a prime example.