Fairtrade Facebooking. A tired and late entry for #pedagoofriday

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When you teach rotations in the lower year groups, its sometimes hard to surprise students (their pals have told them what you cover and how they'll do it). It's even harder maintaining teacher motivation if, for example, you have 3 second year classes and are teaching the same lesson for the 6th time. This was a dilemma when we swapped rotations at Christmas and I found myself teaching fairtrade again in quick succession on Friday past. Instead of following a lesson looking at its impact on individuals through character case studies, I asked the class to create their own characters. We were able to start this via a rather excellent show and tell from a couple of the girls in the class which started to give us an idea of the location of fairtrade producers, the likely demographic, what they might be producing and how they benefit. We mapped some of this in the centre of the class and I then distributed mock Facebook profiles found on Tony Cassidy's ever useful http://www.radicalgeography.co.uk . I listed the criteria on the board (see the image above) and, in twenty minutes, the class created some really nice summaries of typical fairtrade producers and its positive impact. I've shared some examples, which I meant to include in #pedagoofriday but a Burns Supper and general fatigue at the weekend put paid to that. If I had ict access, it would have been nice to make these look more professional or use Russel Tarr's Fakebook as originally intended but, in the time we had, I thought this was a nice productive use of it.

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Cities of the future

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I had a bit of space with one class to experiment a little today. I thought it was a good opportunity to share this http://www.glasgowcityvision.com/ . I had already summarised the main desires of this vision last night and thought it would be a great opportunity for some geography in the news. We started the period with a rolling Flickr slideshow of Glasgow images and discussed the likelihood that as the students became more independently mobile and their own needs and tastes changed that the nearest big city would become more important in their lives. Indeed, some would probably end up as residents. As this was their future and not mine, I asked them to imagine their ideal city of the future, specific to Glasgow. At this point, I showed an image of Coruscant from the Star Wars films. We tried to link as closely to the themes in the vision document as possible, for example, making more use of the River Clyde, promoting healthier lifestyles, creativity in the use of space and sustainable development. I employed a 'runner' to bring developed ideas on sticky notes to place on the board and told the class we would try to create our own survey return from these. The results were fantastic and the enthusiasm with which the students approached this, particularly as this was last period in the day, was outstanding. The pictures offer only a snapshot of a rich range of suggestions. A very simple lesson, introduced by the teacher but driven by the students.

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More fieldwork discussion

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Rivers fieldwork discussion

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Methods discussion

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Analysing data discussion

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Methods discussion continued

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Hypothesis discussion

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Hole in the wall learning? #pedagoofriday

I'm sitting here trying to mark prelims for S4 and my thoughts are already turning towards the Higher. Anyone who has taught or is familiar with the structure of the Higher course will know that it is impossible to do full course coverage by January and there is a real pressure of time on teachers. Furthermore, we sometimes find ourselves in the situation of hurry-up teaching, where learning becomes lecturing and notes instead of engagement and thinking. As such, I had been worried that a highly technical topic, atmosphere, would be fudged and would be barely understood in such circumstances. My solution (and it remains to be seen whether its right) was to create space for what Sugata Mitra might call 'Hole in the wall' learning. For those not familiar with this, as I myself wasn't until a couple of days ago, Sugata Mitra tried an experiment where a computer was placed in a hole in the wall of an Indian slum. The natural curiosity of children led to self tuition, the central assertion being that children learn best by collaborating with one another as opposed to adult led tuition. Mitra tried the same with a class in the UK, who were given GCSE problems they had no content knowledge of, grouped them into 4 and gave them one computer, encouraged free movement between groups and even copying. The average grade on the responses was 76%. To prove deep learning had taken place, he assessed the same group later in a formal exam and the average grade was exactly the same. I have mirrored this with my higher and included some of their resulting work. It will be interesting to see if a seed has been planted when we revisit both the topic for a brief pre prelim run through, and the questions themselves. Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android

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Climate in Jos Chris Nelis.docx Download this file

Liam Callie Emma Catriona.docx Download this file

Tropical atmosphere question.docx Download this file

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Another Fair trade roleplay: Mr Wal Mart meets Mr Bean

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No litigation, please, I didn't choose the names! Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android

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Fair Trade broadcast

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My S2 are doing roleplay for fair trade. Here is an example of their work. Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android

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U shaped valleys as a Dylan card sort

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Another presentation from the learning event generator of John Davitt. Check over at http://www.twitter.com/marrgeog for the same task fed back through hanging mobiles, children's books, board games and more. A great way to engage learners

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Talking with the geographers

I had an insightful discussion with my advanced higher class today which was really broad ranging. I had asked first of all for some of their thoughts on why they had carried on with geography through their school careers, as we are currently trying to structure our new S3 courses to attract interest for potential S4 choice and content coverage. It was interesting to hear that several students miss the opportunity to focus study around a single country, something they were afforded in the lower school, and something which many geography departments seem to be phasing out. They also liked "old fashioned" skills like using the atlas and had noted its absence from nearly all of their geography until advanced higher.
In terms of certificate classes, I was intrigued by how local geographies influenced enjoyment. Coasts, for instance, and glaciation (Arran lies just a short boat trip away) were very popular, yet in my previous school, senior students usually focused their study on human geography, a product of their urban environment.
The most surprising product of the discussion lay in the attitudes and opinions around advanced higher. I have had several students in the past thank me after they had completed the course, but in one case, the thanks came two years after! Many previous students have simply not been prepared for either the level of independence or the volume of work and, unfortunately, its occasionally the teacher who is viewed as the root cause of this injustice :) Only with hindsight have students realised the benefits, but this group seem very aware of them. One student said they felt it had been the best possible grounding for what lay ahead next year- not geography, but medicine, I believe! They had qualified this by talking about the realisation that the folio would not complete itself (70% of the overall grade) and as a result, they really had to organise and motivate themselves in a way they hadn't previously. Home study had been different too, as it had been commented on that, although high expectations had been put on the students in terms of workload, unlike higher, the teachers were not chasing for it as the onus was on the student to manage it. Contrary to what I may have thought, students appreciated front loading the course with statistical, sampling and graphical techniques as they now felt well equipped to include these in their own work. Most importantly, every student, even the one candidate who had questioned whether she would have chosen the course if given the choice again, were pleased that they had the greatest amount of control over their learning, their chosen interest and how they explored it, moving away from the prescriptive content in other years. The small group dynamic makes this an enjoyable class to teach, but also allowed a rich discussion about geographical learning that is sometimes not even possible with colleagues within the constraints of the school day. As The Jam once said, or to paraphrase at least, the kids know where its at :)