U shaped valleys as a Dylan card sort

VIDEO0053.3gp Watch on Posterous

VIDEO0053.3gp Watch on Posterous

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

Posted via email from Mr O'D's class posterous

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 :)

Test post

Conflict and co-operation

Categories: Geography General, Urban
Just a short post to keep everything together for tomorrow. I thought the water conflict mapmight be useful for Higher tomorrow, as we move from the need for water management schemes to the benefits and problems of their implementation. Before we do this, I'm going to adapt an exercise from Richard Allaway's site. It's a little revision exercise and I'm going to use some of the terminology and examples from the past few lessons e.g. seepa ge, multi-purpose scheme, Bureau of reclamation etc and do a taboo type exercise in four parts. I'm going to use the map to introduce some conflicts around dam construction and then will try to simulate a debate, with two groups in favour of management and two groups opposed. It might even be useful to bring in alternative examples which highlight issues, such as this, also from Rich. If we are able, I'd like to have some IT access for this activity. I also might try to pick up this for my own teaching.
With Advanced Higher, I'm going to do a bit of base mapping using the map table in prep for the Geographical Study and then tiptoe around the rest of the folio. Finally, with S4, I'm beginning to realise we are in the dash to the prelim and, although I'll start with this as recap on inner cities, I'll need to rattle through the suburbs tomorrow if possible.

So, were we right?

See the full gallery on Posterous

Here are some class attempts at placing people within the urban area, a follow up to a twitter/Facebook info haul taken from friends to inform this lesson. The statements are all on the photos and some examples of work to complement them. The discussion and reasoning part of this task was very pleasing.

Posted via email from Mr O'D's class posterous

So, were we right?

See the full gallery on Posterous

Here are some class attempts at placing people within the urban area, a follow up to a twitter/Facebook info haul taken from friends to inform this lesson. The statements are all on the photos and some examples of work to complement them. The discussion and reasoning part of this task was very pleasing.

Posted via email from Mr O'D's class posterous

Why it pays to be social

I suppose this is a bit of an advert for what twitter can offer for learners experiences, as I currently find myself in the situation where I'm looking to state a case for our departmental account adding value.
Context
My S4 classes have been looking at land use in towns & cities, primarily through a streetview tour of the mean and mild streets of Glasgow (I may have shown some bias in the choice of location). I wanted to assess the class understanding of the expected pattern of land use through real life examples. I needed to source these quickly while the topic was 'hot' and also wanted to extend thinking skills by using some examples which didn't exactly fit the norm. Enter the networks...
Social Services
I put out a tweet, more in hope than expectation, asking for any people in my network, if they had time, to share in 140 characters a little clue about their own urban environment - simple things such as the type of houses, services, transport, recreational space immediately surrounding them. My twitter timeline is public, but I also sought some help through good friends on Facebook, who had a little more room to express themselves. The response from my social network was quite staggering and in a very short space of time I had a rich source of lesson material.
Where am I?
I decided to keep the lesson simple for now with a possible follow up. I provided a blank urban model with clearly defined zones; the central district, inner town/city, suburbs and the rural/urban fringe. The students worked in pairs to put my friends names in the correct urban land use zone. For example, 'Andy' stayed next to a golf course, a lough and a convenience store but in a mostly residential area. Students quickly decided he was in the suburbs. This was correct, as Andy stays a few miles out of Belfast. Others were harder. For instance, 'Max' stayed in a pretty tree lined area, but also talked about the Southern mainline and the 5 takeaway shops on his doorstep. This kept the class occupied for most of the period but inevitably, students being full of doubt for my good intentions, they wanted proof that these were indeed real people. Which brings me to the potential follow up. I aim to put some students work out via posterous to let those who contributed see where their clue put them, but would also like some element of personal response to a selected few from the students.
Conclusions
This lesson was spur of the moment, quick to source but now sustainable as I have a permanent resource from it. I have been able to share the resource with the department, giving others the opportunity to use, adapt, create from it. My students interest was sufficiently sparked by the characters that they effectively engaged with both the activity and the learning intentions. The exercise required students to be critical thinkers and make decisions where the result wasn't always obvious and justify it. Finally, the lesson was created by drawing on a wide population sample giving a relevance and reality to the work that the class have been doing. Once again, a huge thank you to all who participated, without you, the lesson wouldn't have existed and, I suspect, the topic that bit more distant from the learners.