Earth Primer: coming soon to the Geography department.... in fact it's here already...

A month or so ago, I picked up on an app that was getting ready for adding to the App store. I contacted Chaim Gingold, who worked on the game called SPORE some years ago, and found out more about it, and started to get excited about the potential for teaching the ideas that underpin geomorphology to a lower school audience, and those who may just be interested in finding out more about how the Earth works.

The app is now live on the App store at a cost of £7.99, and is called Earth Primer.
Take a look here.

It allows the user to explore the world in an exciting way and explore how processes that shape the earth work.
There are several sections which are possible to work through and these include a look beneath the surface of the Earth as well as the range of processes which change the surface.
Work through the book to unlock tools which can then be used in the Sandbox section of the app.

I'm working on some education materials for the app, which will be available in a few weeks time.

Curriculum 2014: WHERE will you be teaching about ?

Was reminded of my proposed use of PADLET (or Wallwisher as it used to be) with my forthcoming OSIRIS course earlier today by a tweet from Russel Tarr who was at an event in Amsterdam with Richard Allaway. Richard was using it for crowd-sourcing.
Once the board is created, others who know about the board can add to it....

The first board is asking WHERE people will teach about in a future curriculum...

Created with Padlet

Please feel free to add some places that you are going to be teaching about for the first time in 2014, or places which you are going to develop further....

iPads and BYOD

I will have access to some iPads this year.
They are iPad2 machines, which means that they have a rear and front camera and the ability to make use of some of the more recent apps, unlike my own first edition iPad which is largely used by my son to play Minecraft these days.

I'm also reading what other colleagues have to say about their use.
We're a long way from being in a position where we have a BYOD policy, and there will be a range of devices that students have access to I'm sure, but staff have been encouraged to use mobile devices in the classroom with students in an appropriate way.

Richard Allaway has shared his work.

I've also been following some of the work done in the Priory Geography department: a school I've worked with on a number of different occasions, as well as Paul Berry's work down in Devon, and Rob Chambers over at St. Ivo school.
There's also Richard Wells' useful posters and guides which I think are excellent.

Geography Rooms have Apple TV, and I'm grateful to Mackenzie for helping me use it for the first time last week. It worked very smoothly to stream video and audio from Mackenzie's iPad to the Smartboard in the room.

A useful article here on innovation with iPads.

Some useful tips for using the keyboard, copying and pasting text and accessing apps here.

Quite a few people are interested in the use of iPads, and this is also the subject of a few of the CPD sessions that I'm going to be running this term on the days when I'm not teaching. I'll share some of the apps I use here on the Blog as I use them...

Flipboard magazines on Cities...

Richard Allaway has come up with a perfectly timed post for Year 9.
I'd like to make use of the Flipboard app on iPads to allow students to 'curate' Flipboard magazines on the theme of cities.
There's a video here with further explanation on how that might work... A few technical aspects to sort out first, but I hope to be up and running soon...



Here's a useful article for other teachers who might be thinking of doing similar...
Here's my cities magazine, which I'll add to during this term...
So far, there are articles on the new 'fryscraper' in London, and the cardboard cathedral in Christchurch...

QR Codes

A useful guide with some ideas for using QR Codes in the classroom.
Joe Dale has been making a lot of use of these in languages for some time, and I used to use them for homeworks and a few other things in my previous teaching job, particularly with 6th form groups, although they are now just as likely to be used lower down the school as well. Useful article HERE.

I'll be making use of QR codes to add extra options for some of the work that students are doing.
Here's a useful guide to what QR codes are from Jon Tait.



Here's the first QR code to go up on the classroom walls... the first of many...

iPads in the classroom

I will have access to a small set of iPad 2 tablets for use in geography. I don't intend to use these in every lesson, but where they help support learning.

I'm going to be blogging some progress here on the blog, and also will be connecting it with some of the CPD and consultancy that I have already booked in for the new academic year.
In late September I'm heading back to Hull University again, where I trained as a teacher, to work with the new PGCE group there. All of the trainees have been given an iPad this year, so will be interesting to see how they are using them, and how it affects the

Rob Chambers has been a useful contact here, as he has been involved in a Pilot of iPad use in his school in St. Ivo, which is not too far from Ely, so perhaps I'll pay a visit one afternoon.
Here's a copy of the report that Rob put together. Visit the page to download.

Another useful contact here is Richard Wells, who actually teaches in New Zealand.
I've been in touch with Richard, who has produced a range of NUTSHELL guides, and plenty of other really useful documents for those who are trialling or using iPads in the Geography (and other) classroom...

I'll be blogging the results of my work with iPads once the term gets underway... along with the supporting technology and infrastructure that we have at the school...

Welcome to the blog

Hello, and welcome to my latest blog. 

Greetings to those who have come via LivingGeography, which will remain my main blog.

As you may have read there, I'm going to be back in the classroom from September 2013 for a second teaching 'career'. I'll be teaching Geography (of course) and be sharing some of my planning, thinking and thoughts here, as well as student work (with permission)
This will be a classroom-focussed blog compared with my others, and also focussed on KS3 for the most part.
I'm going to have access to a set of iPads so there'll be a bit of app-related / mobile learning related content too.
I've already started planning the units I'm going to be teaching, so expect some additions here between now and September when the action starts for real.