http://bit.ly/HuhDBa
As I sit here writing this, looking at the rain streaming
down our patio windows, my eldest two children should be revising hard for
their A2 exams? Although there is some 21 months between them, they are both
doing their A2 exams this summer (as my daughter gave up doing IB after a year). Already we are talking about
performance-related payments for results –they are both going on holiday with
friends after results come out. My daughter may cost me a lot of money – she
already has achieved enough UCAS points for her first choice university as a
result of some excellent January module results and retakes on of some papers
taken last year. My son, on the other hand, doesn’t quite have the same work ethic
but is gifted at languages. He is however, also a talented sportsman and hopes
to spend a gap year coaching sport at a school before university in 2013, while
my daughter is following me in studying Geography
Despite my ramblings above, I spend a lot of time actively
involving myself in their revision. My daughter is doing the same Geography A
level I teach and as well as giving her extra sessions, I have been into her
college and given her friends revision sessions. The two other A levels that
are subjects I have taught in the past, so helping with revision is easy. My value
to my son is limited as he is doing mainly languages.
In the run-up to the holiday, our academic deputy head spoke
to all our exam candidates and along with a briefing on regulations, he spoke
about the expectation to revise during the holiday period as exams will soon be
upon us after Easter etc. Modular exams
have led to retake culture in many schools like mine, where Year 12 pupils
think along the lines of why bother now when I can do it another time. Despite
this talk, I have had a procession of emails from concerned parents, whose
offspring where switched off when I spoke about revision and where to find the materials
needed to revise. Our faculty tend not to give out sheaves of printed past
papers but instead post all of the material our pupils need on our Virtual
Learning Environment and they print off exactly what they need. Although the
VLE has been around for a few years, it came into its own after the
Eyjafjallajokull eruption in 2010 when around a third of our pupils (and some
staff) where marooned overseas at the end of their Easter break. Despite this,
relatively few pupils appear to use it though it is a useful tool to have on
board when parents attempt to point accusing fingers (as they sometimes do in
schools of our type).
Recently as a school, we have been debating the pros and
cons of our pupils doing all of their modules at the end of the 2nd
year of the A level course (possibly doing Pre-U exams in preference to A
levels.) Now, I read that the move away
from modularity to linearity is likely to take place with universities taking a
greater role in the setting of A levels. But wait, when I first started marking
A levels in the days of the Mullet haircut and Borg and McEnroe reigned supreme
at Wimbledon, Edexcel were known as University of London Examinations and we
had linear exams. All I hope is that we
don’t return to having study two world regions (North America and South-East
Asia were my specialities) or dreadfully tedious topics like central place and
isodopanes (as suggested by Dr Alex Standish.)
Universities really could take the bull by the horns and introduce new,
exciting topics that could inspire students to take Geography into the 6th
form and beyond.
For most of the last 15 years, I have spent part of my
Easter holiday in London working in tutorial college teaching revision courses.
This is year however has been different. Numbers wanting to do Edexcel
Geography A level revision courses seem to have taken a bit of a nosedive in
recent years. Is this a sign of the times as far as the economy is concerned as
these courses are not cheap? Probably not, according to the Director of Studies
who organises these courses at the tutorial college – that occurred around 2009/10. The more
likely reason is that teachers in the schools, where most of the customers come
from are teaching Edexcel AS and A2 so well, their pupils are getting good
results. Instead I have spent time writing for publication in my holiday.
I always tend to have a couple of writing projects on the
back boiler. My pupils seem to think that I am raking in the extra cash from
various writing projects in a “David Waugh-esque” fashion. If only that was
true! They are always very proud to show their parents the revision guide I
contributed to and one group asked me to sign their copies. Another asked why I
bother doing it all, if I don’t do it for the money. My answer was that a) I
enjoy doing the research and writing and b) I invariably write about topics
that will enhance my teaching and their learning. After around 5
or 6 different variations on a theme based on the Liverpool Rebranding for the
2008 Capital of Culture for various publishers, I am now researching my last
Liverpool piece for the time being on ‘Managing Social Inequality in Liverpool
for GeoActive. I will be then moving on to write about Rural Rebranding in Shropshire
for Geography Review. A comparison of the success of rebranding in Ludlow and
Wem is the plan – two places that seem miles apart in how they have tried to
regenerate, but in fact are very similar. I have also written a couple of
pieces for the GA Independent Schools Special Interest Group occasional
newsletter that will be available at the GA Conference in Manchester later this
week.
I would encourage all Geography teachers to publish. The
likes of GeoActive and GeoFile are always looking for new authors – believe it
or not the reason why the same authors always seem to crop up is that there are
not many people willing to research and write. Geography Review is similar; the
human geography editor told me there is a shortage of articles and asked me to
a) write more and b) encourage as many people as I can to contribute. While you are never going to be mega-rich, it
does you get you noticed. I have had a number of requests to do talks at
schools, colleges and GA branches on various topics as a result of published
articles along with the member ship of a RGS-IBG working group. A section on
your CV entitled ‘Recent Publications’ is impressive for prospective employers
and shows academic rigour on your part. My head also sees the value of his
teachers writing as it is all free marketing for the school.
Finally I can’t blog without reference to my greatest
passion! With the start of the first class cricket season last week, the
weather took a plunge this last week and snow was recorded in Shrewsbury (but
not where I am spending my holiday in West Lancashire). With nothing to do on
Easter Saturday, I decided to go and watch our local club play a pre-season
friendly game at Neston, just north of Chester. Having heard that this weekend
we have exceptionally high spring tides, I checked the tide times and found
that high tide was around midday, I left an hour early than I needed to watch
one of nature’s greatest spectacles at nearby Parkgate. Parkgate used to be a
major fishing port on the River Dee, but since the estuary silted up around the
18th century, the port was abandoned and salt marshes now come right
up to the old waterfront, while an eclectic mix of fisherman’s cottages and
inns face the old wharf.
When there is a high spring tide, the spectacle of seeing
various small mammals and birds fleeing the encroaching sea water is something
not to be missed. I parked my car at the cricket ground and walked the short
distance down to the estuary to be greeted by hundreds of people doing the
same.
A description of what happens can be found here- http://www.deeestuary.co.uk/news1201.htm,
while a you tube video (from BBC Coast) can be found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_XjmXoERfU
This week I am attending the GA Conference in Manchester-
come and find me to say hello and have a tea or coffee Next week I will be
blogging about the conference and my return to school.
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