WHAT

I realised in July 2006 that some of the websites and details mentioned in the What's New page weren't actually featured on other pages, so if I deleted them they would be lost... This is an archive of previous posts, starting in March 2006 & most recent at top, in true blog style...

February 19th

Registered a while ago for uLEARN: the new product from the company that produced Infomapper.

Details from Charles Worth. It's FREE to register.

uLearn offers:

· A FREE open cross-curricular resource library including links to every free and open resource created by every Grid for Learning

· FREE Web 2.0 tools to highlight the most popular resources, linked to your areas of interest

· Sophisticated yet simple tools for the creation of online resources (web pages / links) FREE

· Easy upload (even for video) FREE

· FREE tools to link resources (with associated maps if required) into Personalised Learning activities

· A rich set of maps and aerial imagery

· Drag and drop map selection

· Easy drag-and-drop linking to maps FREE

· Safe educational social networking providing multiple tools to create communities of users with the same learning interests FREE

· Thematic mapping (e.g. displaying pupil achievement data on maps) FREE

· ‘Activelink’ tools enabling you instantly to pull information from multiple websites regarding any location on the planet FREE

· Access from home FREE

· Commitment to ongoing development

With the exception of detailed mapping uLearn is available without charge to every school in the UK. This means that, for the first time ever, every school has access to the same free GIS-enabled schools-only learning platform. The shared nature of the new service is already coming into its own. We have sold mapping licenses to both Northern and Southern Ireland (amongst others). Southern Ireland in particular is using it as their key tool for the teaching of geography. They are therefore busy uploading resources to serve their curriculum. But because this is a shared tool there are now 2578 with the word Geography either in the description or as a Tag, in the open uLearn Resource library for all teachers to access.

In addition to this, although it is only in the early stages of our planned development, uLearn includes safe schools-only Social Networking tools.

February 17th

Thought I'd keep a bit of a record of my half-term 'holiday'. Not a day went by without some work imposing. Plenty of ongoing projects. An interesting story on whether the Polish tide has turned in several papers this week. The Times had it on its cover - rising costs of living, alongside a growing economy in Poland are leading to many people returning home. Also spent some time on the NEW EDEXCEL section of GeographyPages to prepare the grounding for the next lot of planning. Thanks to Chris Lloyd Staples for some more excellent planning materials relating to the CfBT conferences. Skyped some friends in France.

Friday 8th

Broke up finally ! It's been a bit of a half term all in all... Just got a departmental review when I get back and a load of other deadlines to meet. Watched Mr. Benn on DVD with my son.

Continued to write the 82 Year 9 reports that I had to write. The deadline had been extended for a couple of days due to a fire in the USA where the servers holding the online reporting system was held. Globalisation in action ! Just as well really as I would never have finished them all in time as well as marking the most recent GLOBAL LIFE assessments.

Completed an article on the use of Nings to support learning for the next issue of Tony Cassidy's Teaching and Learning newsletter, and sent it off.

Marked a set of books and continued with the reports. Filled in an order for some resources for the department. Also some thinking relating to the 6th form field day in Cambridge, and also a few possible leads for new residential experience. Also a bit of work on the Secondary Geography Quality Mark project. Working through some of the 7 steps that are involved in applying for the SGQM.

Out for a pint at the club on the way back from Hunstanton. Nice to sit with a pint and relax for a few moments.

Out to Holkham Bay for a walk along the dunes and out to the beach. Lovely sunny day once again ! Marked another set of books and continued with the reports. Spent another 3 hours and FINALLY finished them after a week of them occupying every spare moment. Just got to finish marking the latest assessments and feeding those in to the reports as well. Thanks to Tony Cassidy for sending me a timely resource on the Sharia controversy, and also to Danny O' C for some great student hazards movies. We will be using this as models for new AS level I think.. Choose your hazard.

A bit of work on the forthcoming CfBT Eastern regional conference (later this month !) - also set up new page for the conference, and working on presentation and exchanging some e-mails.

Over to Cromer in more bright sunshine apart from one large patch of fog near Fakenham which suddenly descended. Quite busy and the pier was busy. Hot chocolate on the pier theatre in the sunshine, and into the town. Free entry into Cromer Museum in February if you're in the area.

Getting a little more cloudy. A spot more marking done. Have a lot of materials to mark relating to a GLOBALISATION assessment.

Foggy day. Fog never lifted all day and chilly ! Out for some bits and pieces in Hunstanton. Took over blogging duties from Val Vannet on the final leg of Mark Beaumont's journey. He's cycling up through France towards the finish line at Paris.

A cold and cloudy start once again. Some work on book, and also a BECTa project. Family out to see the new 'Water Horse' film.

Into town, and into work for a few hours in the morning to do some sorting - trying to sort out some new filing cabinets to make sure that all the 'old stuff' is moved out, and the new stuff comes in. Have a wealth of resources and want to make sure that people can find them. The MART is in town in King's Lynn. Mark Beaumont finished his epic round the world cycle tour ! Followed him in with a few final blog posts at GEOBLOGGING WITH MARK.

Saturday 16th

Another frosty start, and a sunny day to follow. Got stuck into a few small jobs and some website work to add resources and update.

Spent a couple of hours planning my session at the CfBT conference in a couple of weeks. Thanks to Chris Ellesse from SLN for some great new resources on planning.

A new CONCEPT page put up to share resources for new KEY STAGE 3.

Out to help run quiz night fund raiser at my local club. A packed hall: fish and chips and a quiz. Apparently one of the teams were on the 'Eggheads' at some point.

Agenda and various letters written. Reading DAVID ROGERS' blog which is going to follow the rather unwelcome attentions of an OFSTED subject inspection immediately after half term.

Sunday 17th

A very sunny morning after a hard frost. Out to take some pictures and then upload them to Flickr. Made a FOOD set. You're all welcome to use them, but give me a credit...

Some more marking, and then with Countryfile on Severn barrage, added some new content to my Edexcel 'AS' page. Some more FA Cup football on BBC and then Sky.

January 26th

New journals now available for download from GA website. You can download the article on Digital Learning Resources and also samples from the new 'Geography' journal.

Thanks to Alex Murchie for some great pics of the 'birds nest' Olympic stadium in Beijing, which is apparently attracting loads of tourists in advance of the games.

Also check out new resources on GTT website made by people who've been on curriculum making courses:

http://www.geographyteachingtoday.org.uk/curriculum-making/teaching-ideas/

Also an excellent CPD unit on GLOBALISATION:

http://www.geographyteachingtoday.org.uk/ks3-resources/online-cpd/globalisation/

http://www.geographyteachingtoday.org.uk/curriculum-making/teaching-ideas/does-your-shopping-measure-up/ - does your shopping measure up ? - like this one...

Also a new idea on me: the 'information race' via Victoria Ellis:

Students are in groups, and each group has a set of information (e.g. textbooks, print-outs from websites, etc.). At the front, I have a set of questions for each group, each set on different coloured paper, and each question on a separate slip of paper. Students collect question 1, find the answer in their information and bring it to me - if their answer is satisfactory, they get question 2, and so on. I tend to vary the questions in terms of the length of the response and the level of difficulty - a couple of quick answers to get them started, then some longer ones with shorter ones in between. Often include at least one question that involves them drawing a map or diagram, and have recently experimented with having a task on the last one, e.g. creating a poster with the key points that they've learnt, or some kind of mini-DME based on what they've learnt.

January 22nd

Up to Sheffield for a meeting at GA headquarters, relating to the Secondary Geography Quality Mark.

BECTa article that I wrote along with Val Vannet included in January 2008 issue of 'Teaching Geography'. This will shortly be available for download from the GA website.

GA Webwatch in the latest GA Magazine too.

Site also linked to from the new Ministry of Defence DEFENCE DYNAMICS site, which has some very useful resources on the BOSCASTLE floods. I will be adding these to the flooding page shortly.

There is also a good link back to this site with a nice review:

"Acclaimed resource, featuring extensive resources to support all levels of Geography teaching. Site acts as a highly effective portal to many other websites which feature topic specific resource materials. The content also contains useful links throughout."

January 2nd

Final day of the holiday.. Trying to get back into school mood today, and failing...

Welcome back to Tony Cassidy's RADICAL GEOGRAPHY. Look out for new content soon, and some old classics...

Don't forget to sign up for your free CfBT REGIONAL CONFERENCE for the new KS3

Upgraded my ANIMOTO account and downloaded a few long movies already. Check out ANIMOTO for cool movies. Another cool place to get movies made is BOOKR, which uses your FLICKR pictures to create an animated book you can flip through.

Val has taken back the blogging of Mark across the USA.

December 26th

Mark now left New Zealand en route to San Francisco. Follow the BLOG here.

Lots of interesting news stories over the Christmas period:

Earthrace: biofuel fuelled boat aiming to circle the globe
Independent on 'the unluckiest baby in the world', born in Sierra Leone
Independent on London as the capital city of the world
Fog which has delayed many people's Christmas flights
Poles leading to increase in Catholic church attendances
3 million tonnes of waste to be created by festive packaging - an extra 750 million glass containers and 500 million cans
Leicester to become the first city with 'ethnic plurality'
Justin Rose: winner of European Order of Merit committed to becoming carbon neutral in 2008
Global warming is melting Santa's grotto at Rovaniemi on the Arctic Circle - this is a story I shall refer back to again...
China - new law will make the trading of 7 species of wild birds illegal from January 1st, because of shortages in their numbers
The value of peat bogs

Also thanks to the 583 visitors that I had on Christmas Day

December 6th

Added some new JELLY BABY resources to my SLIDESHARE page. Don't forget to book your place on your REGIONAL SUBJECT SUPPORT CONFERENCE. Just been watching Dispatches: Britain Under Water, which features some heart-breaking stories of the Summer flooding in places like Toll Bar and Dinnington. The report on the flooding has been released, and this BBC NEWS story talks about the failings in the summer. This also links to a whole range of FACTS AND FIGURES. Apparently KING'S LYNN is one of the 10 places most likely to flood, and the most significant chance of property is in BOSTON just across the Wash with the River Witham running through it. There is more severe and erratic weather on its way according to the MET OFFICE. Interesting analogy of the flood resources that were available: "like having a king sized bed and only a single sized duvet...." The OUR WORLD FILM FESTIVAL will take place the night before the GA Conference has been launched on the GA Conference page.

December 1st

First lie in for about 3 weeks today. Finally stepped up to Digital SLR this week with the purchase of a Nikon D40X. Nice piece of kit !

Just catching up with Earth: the Power of the Planet - superb so far. Amazing scenes on the methane filled lakes of Siberia - you can watch some video clips by following the link...

BBC News article coincidentally talking about the 50th anniversary of the KEELING CURVE. There is also an article in today's GUARDIAN Weekend magazine by Guy Browning. Read it and see what you think... How to do Geography Out to Ancient Mariner in Old Hunstanton last night for a meal, and enjoyed a pint of Barnstormer from Bath Ales. Recommended !

November 27th

Just taking stock of all the things that I've done since the weekend. Sunday was spent with author John Widdowson refining a certain forthcoming textbook. Some interesting stuff in the papers: FAVELA holidays at a place called the Maze, London mapping, Liverpool's regeneration as part of its European City of Culture status.

Also news of another project I might be involved in which links my home town Rotherham, the summer floods and some Google Earth stuff, and also finalising a bid for another exciting possibility for 2008.

Clone Towns featured on the ONE SHOW and updated my page with a few new additions, also relating to MILL ROAD campaign against TESCO. A NEW STATESMAN article on Clone Towns by Andrew Simms is worth reading.

Did some reports today, and also did some materials relating to PARK HILL FLATS in Sheffield (see forthcoming blog post)

Off to Leicester tomorrow for GA Project meeting. Don't forget next Tuesday's GUARDIAN for my BECTa supplement on Geography resources.

Still very much enjoying David Peace's THE DAMNED UTD., and going to move on to GB84 about the miners' strike when I've finished it.

November 24th

Here's a link to the new SECONDARY GEOGRAPHY HANDBOOK EXTENSION materials - check out the EAL materials which I wrote.

Interesting news item: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7109887.stm Just registered on RGS website to be able to view Monday lectures from the past as webcasts. Just caught up with Colin Thubron's lecture on the Silk Road, and listening to Jessica Boyd talking about the Zabbaleen in Cairo: a favourite of ours at KES from last year. Also reading about Andy Strangeway, the ISLAND MAN who has been in the news this week.

Plus the sinking of the M/S Explorer in Antarctica. This TELEGRAPH ARTICLE has a good video and links to related stories

And Sheringham saying NO to Tesco.

Go to Juicy Geography and take a look at Noel's new REVISION PODCAST MOVIES and don't forget to click that PAYPAL button....

November 20th

Busy weekend with a trip up to York. Some new bits of the A1 open, which made a change after nearly 20 years of struggling round the same old junction. The section north of Doncaster is now a great bit of road.

Yesterday it was down to London (on a Monday evening, I must be mad) to a Chartered Geographers event at the RGS. A mad dash out of school (thanks to Mr. Brown for taking the last part of my lesson) and down to the RGS in the rain - ice rink outside the Natural History Museum. Had a reception and meeting complete with a few glasses of Rioja - then it was into the theatre where I'd been presenting a couple of weeks earlier to see a lecture by Nick Crane on his GREAT BRITISH JOURNEYS series. Started with some outtakes from the series, then to talk through the 8 people who he featured in the series. Had an hour or so on the train back home and a wait at King Cross as I just missed a train on the way back, to read David Peace's excellent "The Damned Utd." about Brian Clough's 44 days in charge of Leeds United.

Previous lectures can be viewed at the RGS-IBG website if you are a member or fellow. There are some great resources there.

Later this week is Year 11 options evening, and next week is the Young People's Geographies meeting.

Worth checking out the Daily Telegraph newspaper (or website) all this week for some very useful articles on how RURAL LIFE is changing and some of the issues facing Rural settlements.

My EAL resources went live on the GeographyTeachingToday website this week as well.

Also the dates of the CfBT EASTERN REGION conference have now been posted - sign up your

November 11th

A couple of days where the visitor numbers have topped the 3000 mark, and had over 700 visits to my page about the 1953 Floods. All down to the storm surge which caused damage to the Norfolk coast. Special feature in the EDP, and some good images online.

Also added some links to a new section on Andrew Stacey's website. This has some useful materials on the importance of saving RURAL POST OFFICES.

Also some images relating to the Storm Surge of this week.

http://www.stacey.peak-media.co.uk/Suffolk/Suffolk%20Surge%20Nov%209%202007/SuffolkSurgeNov2007.htm

November 8th

Just back from Network meeting where I had a little input on the new KS3 (thanks to Rob Lodge for the claret) and had an impressive presentation by Jon Hootton and 4 students who had visited Shanghai and Dongtan as part of an exchange with Chinese school. Also a nice pressie from Sandy Betlem of NEAD of a flash drive loaded with lots of nice environmental links and ideas for the GLOBAL MESSENGERS project, and early stages of planning a conference.

Loads of Geo news in the newspapers in last few days:

REGENERATION MONEY WASTED: good reporting on Five Live yesterday
THE BIG IMMIGRATION DEBATE - on Newsnight tonight (and website for a while afterwards) - check out the debate
Where will the 3 million new houses that we need be built ? On the Green Belt ? - Times article
PALM OIL and destruction of rainforests
INCREDIBLE HULK and other movies being filmed in favelas
Report on impact of SUPERMARKETS, and Tesco opening in USA

My latest plan is to get the GOOGLE APPS work up and running that Noel Jenkins is using, hosting it on my domain, but I may wait until the promised VLE appears in school, as it must I understand by the end of 2008.

October 31st

Got a mailing from Christian Aid with information about new resources on Global issues on their website.

Also sent me a nice TREES and CHIMNEYS board game which looks at climate change.GLOBAL FOOTPRINT

There's also a poetry competition in association with DIVINE CHOCOLATE (Fairtrade) judged by Michael Morpurgo.

Also a good poster related to the CRAZY CLIMATE.

Scottish schools looking at the issue of reducing their school's GLOBAL FOOTPRINT have a useful site I've linked to (on a postcard I picked up at SAGT...) They will also all apparently be getting a copy of 'An Inconvenient Truth' next year too, as with schools in England.

Also worth mentioning that Tony Cassidy has returned from a half term visit to Bangladesh and has started to post about his trip and has also put up a large set of photos on his FLICKR account.

October 28th - clocks have gone back...

A very busy 10 days since the last update. To begin with was the end of term, and then a drive down to London - the M25 is always a pleasure...

Then had 4 days with the family in DISNEYLAND PARIS, travelling by EUROSTAR and TGV. A few timetabling issues along the way, but the EUROSTAR legs were very pleasant - recommended ! A few of my favourite images on a FLICKR SET here. You're welcome to use them as a teaching resource. Paris was flipping freezing !

The GUARDIAN have launched a new website which aims to explore ways of reducing our carbon footprint: TREAD LIGHTLY.

CHECK OUT 2 NEW SITES FROM THE RGS-IBG (SAGT Award Winners 2007)

YOUR CLIMATE YOUR LIFE

PASSPORT TO THE POLES (see more on this site on the Global Warming page) - get your school involved.

Up to Edinburgh at the end of the week for the SAGT Conference.

Read my ILLUSTRATED ACCOUNT of the conference at the GEOGRAPHYJAZZ blog.

Just about to light a fire and get sorted for the week to come...

Also worth mentioning an e-mail I got giving a link to a report on the Carbon Footprint of the Live Earth concerts (PDF download)

Also check this out: http://liveearth.visiblestrategies.com/

October 12th

Friday night... Thank goodness. What a week. Had some very full days at work with numerous school events including performance management, reports and parents' evenings. In between had 2 days of hectic stuff, and also trying to fight off some virus which left me really tired.

Tuesday was very wet: over to Gressenhall for Norfolk Geographers Conference. Went through some 'Digging Deeper' work that he did at the RSA meeting, and also some Self Evaluation work. Then I ran 2 workshops: one on SEN, where we looked at Affective mapping, and the use of my literacy activity as well as classroom organisation. The venue was great: we were in the Chapel for the first sessions. Thanks to my colleagues on SEN working group.

If you are visiting GRESSENHALL there is an ECO HOUSE display as part of the working farm. Royal Geographical Society on Thursday. My wife was organising a BIG DRAW event at her school, recreating the Sergeant Peppers Album cover. Down on the train, and met up with various folk at the RGS: into the Ondaatje theatre to set up, and then delivered my session on Study Skills with Blogs, Casting and Nings. Check out all the details HERE. new website launched by the RGS to support the choices that people make to CHOOSE GEOGRAPHY at degree level. Also came across the AMBASSADORS page which features some short video clips of various ambassadors. One of whom is Lucy Verasamy from Sky Weather. I taught her 'A' level Geography.

The clips are on the RGS website, and one, which is rather good, says how Lucy had "great teachers..." - you heard it here first...

http://www.geographyteachingtoday.org.uk/ambassadors/ambassadors-online/ to see the clips

Added information on COURT CHALLENGE to school's being able to show "An Inconvenient Truth" - this has now been allowed to be shown as long as it is used with the court advice. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7037671.stm - BBC News article which has information...

Doing some ideas on:

BOTTLED WATER
DONALD TRUMP's GOLF COURSE PLANS for the Menie dunes
GREEN BELT
THE GREAT STORM OF 1987 - 20th anniversary next week...

A week to half term. Got fieldtrip and then a day speaking to PGCE students at the University of East Anglia.

Got a rather nice resource from the NFU: WHY FARMING MATTERS: an introduction for secondary schools - some great photo cards and a CD of accompanying resources well put together. Farming will struggle to stay on some programmes of study other than the more recent ideas of consumerism and food miles, or perhaps rural rebranding. Also heard on Countryfile that setaside is being relaxed for next year because of shortages of grain, which have forced an increase in the price of pasta in Italy for example.

http://www.nfuonline.com/nfuwfmlive/

http://www.face-online.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=997&Itemid=940 - ORDER FORM for the booklet

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc-home/vtc-ks4-home/vtc-ks4-geography - new GCSE resources on Welsh NGFL site

October 8th

A busy week again. Sheffield on Saturday was an adventure... see the blogs for more...

Contacted by Hugo Ahlenius from Stockholm with this message.

Me and my collagues, at the UN Environment Programme UNEP/GRID-Arendal, have a resource that might be of interest to you, and your readers. We have created

 a website collecting hundreds of maps and graphics on environmental issues, that we have been preparing for publications and

events over the years. There is quite an extensive archive of maps (including interactive maps) on climate change, waste, pollution,

poverty and biodiversity in this resource: http://maps.grida.no/ Thanks for considering this!

Some great maps and diagrams here, particularly useful for the blogs on Pilot Geography.

September 30th

Final day of a rather hectic month, which is as nothing compared to the next one to come... Spent the day in London yesterday at the Radisson hotel near the British Museum. Managed to nip over and catch the queues, and buy some terracotta replica figures. Was down for a conference to set up a new support network for the new NATIONAL CURRICULUM which is due to be introduced for Year 7 from September 2008.

Have been taken on as one of over 20 Regional Subject advisers, who are working in a unique partnership between the QCA, DCSF, CfBT and the Geographical Association.

More on this to come shortly.

If you teach in the EAST OF ENGLAND and want to get involved in some networking to support new KS3 developments for next September, why not go to the new NING and request an invitation...

http://geography08support.ning.com

September 15th

OK, so that was a rather busy week...

All groups now been taught, and starting to plough through other administration as well as various other projects and work, and marking...

SEN stuff, EAL stuff, book editing and resources, fieldtrip administration etc. Also don't forget to come and see me at the RGS STUDY DAY or the SAGT CONFERENCE on similar themes of study skills.

Finished a forthcoming item for 'Teaching Geography' today too... And also preparing my resources for the visit to the UEA

Finished off Robert MacFarlane's "The Wild Places" which is a fine piece of work.

More students joining the NING. Good news.. Need to develop the community !

A lot of interesting news stories this week - some added to the POPULATION page in particular, and thanks to Mr. Stone for telling me about the great ice animations at the Cryosphere site - the NW passage has been found !

Also more details of the BECTA OS Map PILOT, which we're also involved in.

Check out new GA project: http://www.geography.org.uk/projects/buildingsustainablecommunities/onlinecpdunit/

This was flagged up in the papers: book to accompany a new BBC series coming soon... Description:

In this lavish companion to the BBC series "Earth: The Power of the Planet", renowned science writers Iain Stewart and John Lynch use stunning imagery and the latest scientific discoveries to explain how our remarkable planet functions. Earth has survived four and a half billion years of being 'stirred from below and bombarded from above' but at the start of the twenty-first century our planet faces new threats, brought about by human actions. It is the perfect time to look back on an extraordinary life and give Earth a thorough health-check. Each chapter focuses on one of Earth's most powerful forces - meteor impacts, plate tectonics, the ocean, atmosphere and ice - and explores their central role in keeping Earth alive. These are the forces that drive our planet and shape its destiny. We discover how a devastating cosmic impact blasted a huge chunk of Earth into space to form the Moon, how Earth nearly froze to death when it was completely encased in ice for millions of years, and how Earth's remarkable heat engine, its molten core, saved the day. Earth has been able to sustain complex life thanks to an extraordinary number of lucky breaks and coincidences.

Let's hope the sun keeps shining on your weekend...

August 13th

Just back from a trip to Cromer Carnival. Some pics on my Flickr page, but you get a nice feel for the place here: http://www.tournorfolk.co.uk/cromer.html I climbed the tower of St. Peter and St. Paul: the highest church tower in Norfolk, and 172 steps, and got some good pictures from the top. Also some chips from Mary Jane's. Lots of people fishing for crabs off the pier, and some pink poodles too...

Just watching Sanjeev in Kolkatta. Good detail on Howrah bridge: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howrah_Bridge the busiest in the world.

A few new projects to work on as well... Started my new blog project for one.

Just to let you know about a new GeoBlog I've started as part of my investigations into Cultural Geography.

You'll find at it http://cultcha.blogspot.com - Required reading for all Year 11 Geographers...

August 1st

Just spent a lot of money: Eurostar and Disneyland Paris tickets for the family, plus train and accommodation for SAGT conference, plus 2 nights over in the NW and Wales to see the Anthony Gormley installation ANOTHER PLACE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_Place and try to get over to Portmeirion too.

SAGT Conference is moving to Edinburgh Academy this year, and have just downloaded the latest details for the 27th of October 2007

Programme

From 8.30 Registration and Publishers’ Exhibition

Coffee and bacon rolls will be served in the dining hall

9.30 Publishers’ Awards

10.00 Presidential Address (Colin Tucker)

10.15 The Royal Scottish Geographical Society Lecture

‘Climate Change Research: A View from the Tropics’ Professor Sandy Tudhope

School of Geosciences, Edinburgh University

11.05 SQA Awards

11.20 Seminar Session 1*

12.10 Lunch & Publishers Exhibition

13.30 Seminar Session 2*

14.20 Fraternal greetings from the Geographical Association

14.30 Hodder Gibson Lecture

‘Action Speaks Louder Education for Sustainable Development… the choice is ours.’

Phil Williams Plan-it Eco

15.25 Vote of Thanks

I'm doing Seminar 10: here are the details of my seminar.

Study Skills

Going beyond CTRL-C, CTRL-V

Alan Parkinson, Head of Geography, King Edward VII School

King’s Lynn, Norfolk

This will be an opportunity to see a presentation which will be given at a Royal Geographical Society conference earlier that month. It looks at some ideas for using Web 2.0 technologies (don’t worry, that’s simpler that it sounds) to sustain student involvement between lessons.

I will look at the use of weblogs, podcasting and the use of social networks such as NINGS. I will also flag up useful websites which offer content to support students in the run up to exams, and try to provide a range of strategies for going beyond “cut and paste” (which explains the strange title) It will be broadly complementary to the sessions run by Ollie Bray, Rob Chambers and Val Vannet. As in the last two years, I would appreciate some interactivity. If anyone who has particular documents or websites that they have used to support students and doesn’t mind sharing them could e-mail them to me at a.parkinson@gmail.com , I will add them to an online resource that will be created at the website. Although it might not always seem like it, ICT should be saving us time and effort…

Sun has finally come out and have spent time in the garden, plus a day on the golf course yesterday.

New MOD website launches in September with Geography content on Boscastle and Migration including refugees from the Balkans.

July 10th

A lot has happened in the last 5 days... First of all on Friday was the final meeting of the Young People's Geographies project. This introduced me to the THINKING SPACE resource produced by Dan Ellison, and I duly ordered 30 of them...

On Saturday and Sunday, the TOUR DE FRANCE set off from London. Over the weekend, it was the 2nd SLN FIELD WEEKEND. We had a very enjoyable couple of days where we explored the coastline and had a few rather pleasant meals. Roll on Cuba 2009 ?

On Monday, I went down to a meeting to develop some new resources for the GEOGRAPHY TEACHING TODAY website. If you haven't already visited, or haven't visited for a while, there is a growing amount of material going up on the site.

June 20th

I thought the end of term was supposed to be a quiet time ! Invited to speak to Geography mentors at Homerton College next week: standing in for Rob Chambers. Also got an SEN meeting coming up, looking at writing materials to support students with the new topics in the KS3 PoS

Also a new idea from Rob Chambers: the VOKI site, which allows you to create animated figures on a customised background and then 'give' them words to say either by using a text to speech facility or by using a microphone or sound file.

Thanks also to Bob Lang for sending a CD of materials from Edexcel event related to the new GCE (AS/A2) specifications. Plenty of useful materials to support the planning for the new topics which we will be delivering from 2008. On the back of this, I also this week put up a new series of pages which can be reached from the NEW EDEXCEL page, where I will put the ideas that we develop at KES for the new Edexcel Geography specification, which is the one we will be delivering from 2008 (at the moment....) Also a new NING to support the development of new units and materials. Which is not my number one priority at the moment obviously but is worth thinking about in terms of gathering useful articles and links between now and 2008. Going to GLASTONBURY ?? Keep an eye out for the G TEAM TENT... They will be on hand with a tent full of free goodies to hand to the 150 000 punters... Hope they have some wellies... Some flash flooding around the place last night: I unplugged my router because of the lightning (an old trick my granny taught me)

June 8th

Spent the day at a CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE at Carrow Road in Norwich. Met up with a few familiar faces.

A wet trip over in the minibus, and chat to a few people. They were setting up for the George Michael concert which my wife is going to next week.

Have added a WORD DOCUMENT with details and weblinks from the day. Was impressed with the presentation from Jason Borthwick from EARTHLY IDEAS, who runs the Burnham Deepdale venue where the SLN meeting is being held in July. He is a diversification consultant. Check out some of his website tips: http://www.earthlyideas.co.uk/usefulwebsites.asp

Also my MOO CARDS arrived - very nice !

May 26th

Half term finally here! (and with it the rain...)

Good luck to all Year 13s with their exams, especially members of my form group.

Spent several hours today working on the images and lesson sequences for my book, and having fun creating some of the resources that will be used. Need to consolidate the various ideas which are on 3 separate computers at the moment. Some changes from the original ideas taking place. Also added an EAL page as part of my forthcoming involvement in another project. New TESCO article on GEOGRAPHY IN THE NEWS site.

Very useful article on WIND TURBINES at Marshland St. James near King's Lynn, which have been in the local news in fairly tragic circumstances. Wind Power is an emotive issue locally. Don't forget to get your FREE DVD on Wind Power from http://www.windpower-dvd.org/

May 19th

Another lost weekend coming up! Busy week with various exciting e-mails and new projects to get involved with as well as some ongoing issues..

http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/publications/environment.jsp - a very useful list of documents... Added a new FOOTPRINT page to collate various resources which had been spread around the site in various places. Also added some exciting new KS3 possibilities to the new KS3 BLOG: at http://kes-geography.blogspot.com Also some new materials for AS SKILLS paper in advance of the exam which was yesterday.

Thanks also to Dr Andrew Lee for letting me know about his THINKINGEOGRAPHY site. This has a nice design and some promising content already, and will no doubt develop further.

Goodbye to Year 11s, good luck with the exams !

Some interesting speculation as to possible exam titles on SLN. Thanks also to TONY CASSIDY for guiding me to EARTH GUIDE: http://jvsc.jst.go.jp/earth/guide/english/data/top.html and for a wonderful EUROVISION RESOURCE too.

Check out the I SURVIVED THE FOLKESTONE EARTHQUAKE t-shirts. E-mailed for details of how to get hold of one. Don't forget the GGiP shop as well. Also read this NEW STATESMAN article on Climate Change: http://www.newstatesman.com/200704230025 - very useful article !

http://www.geographyalltheway.com/igcse_geography/economic_development/environmental_risk/igcse_recycling.htm - great Rich Allaway post on McDonalds and recycling

http://www.optimumpopulation.org/opt.media.html - useful article on the true value of a condom highlighted by Danny O Callaghan

Good luck to all Year 11s, who went off on Study Leave yesterday...

May 7th

Busy week coming up now for PILOT GCSE: both for teachers and students ! Spent most of the day in Norwich on Friday producing some pre-release materials for the exam and taking a look at some of the coursework that has been produced by other centres. Thanks to colleagues from Rosemary Musker (especially Penny Parry for her booklet), Notre Dame and Thorpe St. Andrew schools for their input. New materials now on the EXAM PREPARATION page if you're a Pilot centre. Also got the RGS-IBG newsletter and annual review, and confirmation that Val Vannet will be awarded the Ordnance Survey excellence in Secondary teaching award in June at the RGS-IBG AGM. Well done Val !

Also reading through my latest GA MAGAZINE. A good illustrated conference review, and my latest WEBWATCH article all about BLOGGING. If you're a GA member, you can download a copy from the website. Just reading through some of the materials from the conference sessions which I was unable to attend. Rain for first time in weeks today - well, it is a Bank Holiday after all...

Also, my biography now added to list of CGeog (Teacher) on RGS website.

May 1st

Busy week. Over in the sun through the Norfolk countryside to Gressenhall Rural Life Museum near East Dereham for the afternoon for an SLN working group meeting: the resources we put together will soon be available on the site. Also sorting out coursework issues, and lots of other departmental issues. Plenty of marking and reports of course as well. Check out this BBC article for a flavour: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6611083.stm

Just under 2 months to the Pilot GCSE exam.

Preparing resource packs for a meeting on Friday on the PILOT GCSE PRE RELEASE materials. Lots of new materials on the BLOGS too. Lots of resources for others. Plans for various other INSET sessions.

April 28th

Two months to go to the Pilot GCSE exam!

Earthquake this morning in Kent which occurred as I was watching the BBC breakfast news about quarter past 8. Turned out to be around 4.3 on Richter scale or so. Lots of structural damage in the area around Folkestone and electricity and phones were affected. Pictures appearing on the internet and weblogs very promptly, including a seismograph. Lots of news footage during the day. Epicentre off the coast of Folkestone in the Dover Straits, and lasted around 5 seconds. Added a quick POWERPOINT on new page.

Also lots of worrying stuff in the Independent about evidence for Global warming and possible futures.

Remember the SLIDESHARE resource I mentioned to several groups: try those posted by VAL VANNET for example: http://www.slideshare.net/ValVannet or mine... More to go online when I get a moment...

April 13th - 14th

Check out the GA Conference Report - it was a great weekend. Materials already appearing on the GA WEBSITE.

Also check out ANDREW STACEY's wonderful image galleries of the conference and beyond...

Also at the conference, I heard about Rob Chambers' wonderful recent creation: the GEOGRAPHY DIRECTORY 2007, which runs to 180 pages. To download it you'll have to go to GEOBYTES then clicking on the DEPARTMENT link which is down the left hand side of the screen, and then choosing the GEOGRAPHY DIRECTORY download - be warned thought that it's a chunky 5+Mb and will take a while to download on dial-up (but then, who has dial-up these days ? - oh, you do....) A must for every geography department and student wanting in depth revision materials... Here's a FRENCH version of the resource with live links: http://clioweb.free.fr/peda/chambers/chambers.htm probably something to do with Daniel Letouzey!

Thanks to Tony Cassidy for producing some shopping materials (though the downloads keep running out...)

Also back from the conference to find out that I had received the certificate to confirm that I have been granted the qualification of CHARTERED GEOGRAPHER by the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) - a great honour !

Well done also to Tom Biebrach CGeog and Sally Sumner CGeog

April 7th

Sitting in the garden as I write this: lovely sunshine - warmer than average weather. A writing day...

Later on, will upload the GA Presentation on GIS for Beginners (well, my bit anyway) to SLIDESHARE.

New BBC Interactive Map on the effects of Climate Change, and Emma Johns has produced a good worksheet to go along with the map.

Also saw report on the BBC News about one way of reducing the carbon footprint of a trip to Australia: a 12 week coach trip on the OZ BUS. Could be a basis for a lesson: itinerary planning, tracing the trip, creative writing etc. Would certainly like to go, although it's £3750 and I doubt I'll get the time off work. Also came across the CASA Google Maps download and some of the maps that have been produced with it, such as the WORLD GDP map. A sort of do-it-yourself Maplecroft.

April 6th

A lot of marking done today - reports to come... Reading "Return to Akenfield" - some good links with rural-urban relationships and the growth of second home ownership, also got "Three Sheets to the Wind" by Pete Brown to look forward to. Fetched my wife and daughter from the airport.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6524251.stm - report from IPCC meeting this week - widely reported

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6532323.stm - some sort of agreement reached

Investigating the idea of NEOGEOGRAPHY which seems to be spreading online. Also a new feature on GOOGLE MAPS to allow you to create your own maps (MY MAPS) with drawing tools. Good for FIELDTRIP maps - Simon Renshaw has already had a go...

April 2nd

Over to Norwich to take my wife to the airport for a flight , then out to Woodbastwick to the Woodforde's Brewery Shop, and then lunch at the Fur and Feather - recommended if you're in the area, as is their Sundew Ale - then out to Happisburgh for a few pictures, then pootled back along the coast and via Felbrigg Hall home. A few internet problems tonight - not connecting to the server - hopefully OK tomorrow.

Tony Cassidy has launched instructions for making a WEBCAM WALL: would be a fantastic talking point as students come into the classroom: http://radicalwebcamgeography.co.uk/2007/04/02/creating-a-web-cam-wall/ - also some details on a new websitecartoon building idea called TOON DOO. I suggest you check out the WEB CAM WALL INSTRUCTIONS and have a go. It seems to work on one of my computers but not the other.

Now added the CAMBRIDGE FIELDWORK DATA for 6th Formers - you will need to add some more details to this over Easter. This is a little lacking in detail.

April 1st

Finally....

What a term that has just been...

Added lots of new materials to try to support various groups: more PILOT GCSE materials on weblog, new REVISION materials for the GCSE groups, new AS POPULATION MIGRATION materials (ready for a hectic April as we cover the remaining materials, and thanks to Simon Oakes for some useful guidance on population movement) and data from the recent CAMBRIDGE FIELDTRIP. Also a new QUARRYING page following the well received Doreen Quarry Queen video last week.

Ordered my free EU maps from http://www.europe.org.uk/maps/
Great posts on http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/ relating to Burma's new capital and Millau viaduct.
Thanks to the student who passed on a set of OU Course S278 Science Level 2 books 1, 2 & 3, a rock kit and DVD. Sure I can find a use for these!
Currently reading James Lovelock's 'Revenge of Gaia', and Andrew Simms' 'Tescopoly' - recommended.

Of course, having read the first couple of chapters I then had to go shopping - quick pootle through glorious sunny, crisp North Norfolk and a quick pint in my local (as you do...) and then it was into...er... oh OK, Tescos. (hypocrite !)

Hope to see some of you at the University of Derby on the 13th and 14th of April.

New blog from Tony Cassidy called SHARE GEOGRAPHY: http://www.sharegeography.co.uk - we need a few more people who are willing to do that.

March 19th

The start of another very hectic week. Had to cancel a few things this week, as exam groups need to take precedent as we come to the end of the courses for AS and A2. Still quite a lot to do on Population migration with the AS group.

Had a very pleasant weekend down in Suffolk. If you are in the SAXMUNDHAM area, can I recommend the GEORGIAN HOUSE HOTEL as a place to stay - very friendly welcome, good food and accommodation.

We went to Southwold on Saturday. On Ian Murray's recommendation, we went to Southwold Pier - usually we stay closer to the centre of town, but instead we hit the pier and the beach. Breezy, but sunny day. Visited the UNDER THE PIER show. This includes a range of quirky and bizarre home made arcade machines and experiences. http://www.underthepier.com has details on most of the machines, and some of them were made by Tim Hunkins. TIM HUNKIN's website has details of the machines that he built for the attraction - very imaginative.

Some of them have a geographical link. I loved the MICROBREAKS one, where you can take a package tour in 3 minutes without creating a large carbon footprint. Check out the attraction if you're in Southwold !

Then it was into the centre of Southwold for a quick trip to the ADNAMS brewery. I own quite a few Adnams mugs, clothing, posters etc. and I'm a big fan of the BEER FROM THE COAST campaign and its graphics. Blogged about this already... Some good bookshops and quirky galleries too. Wandered back via Dunwich, and also a view of Adnams' new environmentally friendly distribution centre on the road back towards Blythburgh.

On Sunday, it was Aldeburgh. Weather was turning very much colder. Very windy and wandered along the shingle, and at the end of the High Street is the famous Aldeburgh fish and chip shop. There was a long queue, but 'the girls' very kindly stood in it, while we amused the kids on the beach. Fantastic fish and chips. Good shops too... Back late on Sunday and spent some time organising TECTONICS page for first time in a year for students, and also planning materials for the week ahead. Lots of timetable changes this week too. Snow forecast for some areas early next week. We'll see...

March 11th

Doing work on the GA CONFERENCE workshop. Thanks to Tom Biebrach for his hard work on this, and my other colleagues on the SPC.

Also lots of marking and coursework stuff. Also reading EVERYTOWN - interesting reading the mixed responses and reviews in the various papers - on Saturday and Sunday - not everyone warming to the book. Reviewed some work I've been doing for GA too, and some overdue stuff on Gifted and Talented for my colleague Mr. Chappell. Some great new ideas from virtual colleagues: Noel Jenkins has produced an excellent teaching resource using GOOGLE EARTH and Philip Pullman's NORTHERN LIGHTS book. Check it out ! Also, Mark Batchelor and colleague at Bushloe School have a nice idea for doing a book review from the Horrible Geography series as a literacy crossover.

Lovely high pressure day, and out to do some gardening at Old Town club - the bikers were out in force in Hunstanton and family fun on the beach at Wells.

March 2nd

E-mail from Philip Collie of Schoolzone to say that GeographyPages has been rated a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED site by Schoolzone.

I'm already a 5 star site, so is a 5 Star rating better or worse than a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ? Thanks for the award !

Also got sent details of a new visitor attraction planned for Devon in association with the Met Office, which is now based in Exeter. It's to be called WEATHERWORLD, and you can download a PDF brochure by visiting the WEATHERWORLD site.

Also added a major set of posts to the KES PILOT weblog following a visit today by Mr. Clarke to the department to talk about planning in King's Lynn.

Another very busy week, and at least another 4 to come !

March 1st

St. David's Day - lots of daffodils at school today. Also teaching about FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT and COMIC RELIEF.

Had very interesting meeting yesterday in Sheffield at the GA headquarters as part of my role on the Pilot GCSE Sounding Board. It was good to meet up with Di Swift and Nicky Reckless again, plus Justin Woolliscroft, Phil Wood and Professor Noel Castree. We discussed a range of issues relating to the course and the forthcoming GEOGRAPHY 21 conference. Make sure that you sign up - its FREE ! For me, this was very interesting CPD. Had a fairly swift trip up to Sheffield on Monday evening and stayed with a friend in Sheffield. Monday night it was down to a favourite pub: the FAT CAT at the entrance to Kelham Island to drink Pale Rider and chat to some friends who are emigrating to New Zealand.

Another interesting period came after the meeting. Dropped Noel off at the Railway Station, and then realised that not only had all the road and building layout down from the University changed, but also the roundabout outside the station had completely gone. Ended up going up the hill past Park Hill flats, out to Mosbrough along the Supertram tracks and then realised I was going back in time to 1988 and my second term as a teacher when I worked in Eckington on the edge of Sheffield, and here I was on the road that I used to take each morning by bus through Swallownest, except virtually everything has changed and just now and again a building or a landscape feature jumped out as being 'familiar'.

The theme was picked up by my latest Amazon Marketplace purchase: "I'm a stranger here myself" which is about Bill Bryson's return to the USA having spent around 20 years living in the UK, and his response to returning 'home' and finding everything had changed.

Watched interesting Time Team special on Pugin.

Earlier in the week it was down to Bury St. Edmunds for a meeting related to the new Performance management arrangements. Interesting times once again....

Also had a couple of pieces of good news, but I'll have to wait until next month to tell you what it is...

February 25th

Finished Lynsey Hanley's 'ESTATES' - excellent book. Some resources to come, although some interesting discussion and letters querying some of the comments. Also started Philippe Legrain's 'Immigrants' book, and even after one chapter I can visualise the resources for population and migration that could come out of it.

Also watching new CLASS CLIPS programme, with Dan Ellison's consultancy - interesting clips and programmes

1. Urban regeneration / Olympics in Stratford 2012

2. Geography of Graffiti through enquiry including some good use of GPS and GIS.

3. Geography of Pets - dogs more specifically as a tool to explore key geographical concepts, with Jo Norcup from GEES

4. Clubbing tourism in Ibiza.. what are the +/-? How do the impacts change with proximity to clubbing centres?

5. Journey of a UK product... follows the production of Yeo Valley yoghurt from cow to shopping basket

Added some new materials to the

aa;ll;sdfklds';'loxcp'kpds'k;zck[;pdgorjg0ayggoe[tih9wueg8wutg-p[ju892u0tw9eugt4ougo3ut - sorry about that, I had to pretend to be Mummy Pig from Peppa Pig who is working on her computer at the moment on the video we're watching.... Oh dear, Peppa has just crashed the computer....

Just spent 2 hours backing up all my resources to an external hard drive.

How did Daddy Pig mend the computer by the way ? Well, he switched it off then switched it back on again. Of course...

Also working on some new ideas on landscapes in cartoons, Immigration and lots on the weblog for the PILOT GCSE.

Read Peter Jackson's chapter "Cultures of Difference" in the 3rd edition of "The Changing Geography of the United Kingdom" published by Routledge - great stuff for the Pilot. I think this year has been the one where I've had my own mini "cultural turn" towards the human aspects of Geography. Good piece by Joan Bakewell in 'The Independent' on Friday: http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/joan_bakewell/article2296800.ece

Also getting stuff ready for FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT, which starts tomorrow - plenty of chocolate in.

February 22nd

What a wasted week ! Had a virus since Monday night and while I've been off, I haven't even felt up to doing work, and also been looking after my kids who are also poorly. At least managed to watch a range of TV and catch up with some programmes on the Sky+ box, and made some notes on TESCO (Dispatches programme), BIRD FLU (Bernard Matthews), CONGESTION CHARGE extension, MIGRATION (BBC News 24 report), PEAK DISTRICT (Countryfile) and CHINA

Also preparing for some catch-up with my Year 12 group on the ideas of POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS and MIGRATION.

Also updated the TURKEY EARTHQUAKE materials for Year 9, GEOGRAPHY OF SPORT for Year 7 and some new PILOT GCSE pages for our potential Year 11 modules which we shall decide on soon.

Also got details from THE FORUM in Norwich. They are holding an event: the EARTH EVENT over the next few months which I think has great potential for us to visit.

It features Yann Arthus Bertrand's EARTH FROM THE AIR photos, which have already been displayed in London, Birmingham and Edinburgh. I saw the pictures when they were in Birmingham and it's an impressive exhibition. There's a teachers' twilight session in March which I'll try to get to if time permits, and well also make some connections with the CIVITAS initiative.

There's also a photo competition open to school students, which will be judged by HARRY CORY WRIGHT and others.

February 18th

Trip away for a few days: down to Orpington. Started with a journey down the M11 - black soil of the Fens, creative driving on the M25, Canary Wharf and Thames Gateway from Queen Elizabeth bridge, remains of downed trees from the storm. Next day it was into London. My son is really into Underground Ernie at the moment, and we made a trip in to ride on the Underground. Ernie has a lot of games on the website, and my son likes working out the routes on the Underground map.

Into London Bridge station: London Eye and Big Ben, and on to the underground at Charing Cross - to Hamley's, then through to Piccadilly Circus, and Leicester Square. An attempt underway to break the record for the largest number of people eating chips - loads of free cones of chips being handed out: more details at http://www.lovechips.co.uk - and through Chinatown with lanterns up for the New Year, and into Stanfords and Muji, then Long Acre and Covent Garden; down to the Strand and back to Orpington. Down into Orpington for lunch.

Friday it was out to Bluewater: like the Eden Project, it's built into an old quarry. Wander round and hit the Lego shop - lots of bowls on the conveyor belt at Yo Sushi!. Saturday morning it was out to Greenwich Park on a bright and sunny morning. Down to the Observatory and onto the Meridian line. Pottered around and then had winter vegetable casserole in the Pavilion Tea Rooms (recommended if you're in the area) and then it was back to Norfolk up the M11.

Friend Conor's 2nd book "SAGA" now out - available on Amazon but probably not in the shops yet.

Spent the day pottering ready for tomorrow - back to work.