sharegeography.co.uk

For Part.3

31. Establish a geography club, plan some interesting activities, and make them active. Use this as an opportunity to develop relationships and challenge their thinking and perceptions of geography.

32. What’s the point? Highlight why it is important to study particular concepts or issues in Geography. Sometimes it is necessary to focus on the selfish, what’s in it for me?

33. Take the opportunity to give a geographical assembly on a topic close to your heart. Year leaders are often happy to have a break from this task.

34. Look at the Key Stage 3 curriculum, how can it be made more relevant and interesting to students? Ask their viewpoints on topics.

35. Develop an interesting PowerPoint about geography and its study. Have it playing at open days and parent’s evening.

36. Don’t do down other subjects, maintain your professionalism. Highlight and stress the cross-curricular nature of Geography.

37. Get a group of GCSE students to develop an alternative leaflet for GCSE geography.

38. Make use of the R.G.S ambassadors scheme.

39. Set up a YouTube channel/Flickr account for your department, use them to share student work to a wider audience.

40. Work towards the Geography Quality Mark.

I think I’ve exhausted my creative juices, any other suggestions are gladly welcome…

For Part.2

21. If your department has an expertise in a certain area, for example thinking skills, offer to provide inset for colleagues.

22. Speak to the citizenship coordinator and offer your department’s services for a one-day event based around sustainable development, non-governmental organisations, the European Union or United Nations. Consider how your department can contribute to the wider citizenship curriculum.

23. Consider developing email/Twitter links or shared blogs with schools aboard, this will give students the opportunity to experience life from different perspectives, in time, exchanges may develop.

24. Adopt a charity/NGO, incorporate their work into your curriculum and devise fundraising opportunities.

25. Organise a geography day or week. Arrange special events and assemblies.

26. At Key Stage 3 allow time to survey students and ask which area of geography they would like to study. This encourages ownership of their learning and increases motivation.

27. Speak to your transition coordinator and offer your services supporting primary liaison, could your geographers become involved in a joint project for year 6 students? Or could you go into primary schools and give a taster session?

28. Invite past students to give their experiences of GCSE and A-level study. Remember that ‘peer-speak’ is often more effective in influencing students to take the subject further.

29. Take the opportunity for the geography department to lead whole school campaigns, there are many to choose from, fair-trade, climate change.

30. Make sure that Geography is seen as relevant and contemporary, take the opportunity to highlight events linked to geography in the news, these could develop into whole lessons, or just discussion points. Make sure that your geography in the news board is up to date. Reward students for finding geographical articles.

See also Part.1

11. How is Geography represented on the school website? Work with the ICT technicians or alternatively ask a group of students to develop the department Website. Make sure your site is student and parent interactive, post resources and help sheets, offer links to other sites with relevant information.

12. Develop a department blog, Geography Pages has many examples by geographer educators.

13. Highlight student success! Ring or write home, alternatively a geographical postcard may do the trick. Parents and students remember these positive comments.

14. Have an annual geographical writing competition for geographers at both key stages. Get the English department to help with the judging, as well as senior management and governors.

15. Share your work with the wider geographical community; there are a number of sites that offer to display good practice and ideas. Remember to highlight these to management, highlighting how your practice is influencing others!

16. Do you have student teachers? Often a great source of new ideas shows  students that geographers are also young and trendy!

17. Use the ‘Jensen Waiting Room effect’; this states that people often unconsciously pick up visual messages. Have a series of inspirational ‘Bon-Mots’ around the classroom and department, highlighting the importance of Geography. Use quotes from leading figures in the world of geographical education.

18. In year 9, why not introduce some GCSE style exam questions related to your topics, foundation tiers are often accessible to all students, whilst higher tier questions can challenge the more able. Show them that they could succeed in the subject.

19. Develop a local support group for geographers, have regular meetings and share good practice.

20. Geographical parents evening. At Key Stage 4 challenge parents to test their geographical knowledge against students. Provide some food and wine, and watch the competitiveness begin.

NB- I’m thinking aloud here…  not proscribing prescribing any form of good practice.

When looking through some old CDs of resources I discovered a list of strategies for raising the profile of Geography, which I wrote many moons ago, some are probably outdated, but I thought I’d work through them, they may be of use to some people. Feel free to comment or add further suggestions, I’ll add them to the list.

Interestingly, in respect to the previous post, it begins…

‘Developing an interest Geography shouldn’t just be a year 9 priority, students will make decisions about studying geography from day one in year 7.’

1. Have a geography board, make sure it is bright interesting and in a suitable place! It could include careers, news stories, fieldtrip photos etc. What about some subverted media images? Richard Allaway has a produced set of ready made posters with geography quotes for use.

2. Why not have a late great geographers gallery? Or a contemporary geographers gallery? Highlight their contribution to the study and enhancement of geographical knowledge.

3. Do you encourage students to access contemporary literature and film with geographical undertones? Develop a library of magazines, books and DVD’s in your classroom. Encourage students to borrow them. Read students extracts from books within lessons and make links to the geography curriculum. Work with your librarian to make sure the geography section is contemporary and relevant to your programmes of study.

4. Hold a yearly geographical quiz for form groups; give prizes to the successful forms. Perhaps extend this to a local partnership league.

5. Invite outside speakers into your lessons, or arrange special seminars after school or at dinnertimes. Show them the relevance of being a geographer to the real world. Develop links with local business and commerce, further education and higher education geography departments.

6. Develop an unofficial film club for Key Stage 4 Geographers; allow them access to challenging films with geographical undertones, for example the work of Michael Moore. Encourage debate between students with regards to the issues raised. Check with management and parents first about the suitability of screening such films.

7. Look at your fieldwork provision, what can be improved at Key Stage 3 to motivate students towards studying geography further? Do you have a residential fieldtrip at Key Stage 4? This doesn’t have to be aboard, fieldwork not only helps develop relevant skills but also develops a sense of being a ‘geographer’.

8. Liaise with the careers co-coordinator, try and develop partnerships with organisations that can provide geographical work experience placements for students.

9. Work with other departments, joint curriculum projects, public debating with English, field visits with modern foreign languages.

10. Make regular use of the school newsletter/website; highlight successes, developments and future events.