'Windrush Child' - a Q and A with the author

This video appeared just before Christmas, and I have used it with my Year 7 groups. The page it's hosted on includes an extract from the book and a range of other detail on this book.

Endurance 2022

Today is the centenary of the death of 'The Boss': Sir Ernest Shackleton back in 1922.

One of the greatest survival stories in history involved the rescue of the crew of 'Endurance' after the ship sank in the ice during the Trans Antarctic Expedition he was leading. Shackleton led a march on the sea ice, a boat journey to Elephant Island, and then a trip in the James Caird through stormy seas which were peerlessly navigated by Frank Worsley, before an unprecedented first crossing  of the mountain range on South Georgia.

An expedition is heading off once again this year to try to locate the Endurance, using coordinates which were calculated for the location of the ship before it sank.

Check out the existing RGS-IBG Module.

I will be keeping my eye on the progress of this expedition.

Routes Journal

This is the 2nd issue of the 2nd volume of the ROUTES journal.

Routes is a peer-reviewed digital journal for sixth form and undergraduate geographers looking to read and publish geographical knowledge.

They publish work from all areas of geographical scholarship, including both human and physical geography.

Routes is a free, open-access journal with no pay-walls or subscriptions.

It is free to submit and review work for Routes and there are no deadlines for submission.

Well worth seeking out, particularly as I am pleased to have an article in the journal of my own research into the people who have previously held the position of GA President.

The editorial for the issue is here.

Well done to the other contributors to this issue as well:

Examining the impact of the East Coast Low Storm, June 2016 on Narrabeen-Collaroy Beach, Sydney, Australia

Anna Pennington (Teacher of Geography at Pangbourne College)

Landscape assessment: A useful tool for A Level enquiry

By Edward Jones (Geography Teacher at Buxton Community School)

Walking in Paris: locating hidden sights in the city

By Emily Chandler (Geography Teacher at St George’s The British International School – Düsseldorf Rhein-Ruhr)

I particularly like this article as it connects with some of the influences of my GA Presidential theme of 'Everyday Geographies'.

Exploring the interactions between children’s sense of self and their sense of place through sport

By Zoë Sayliss (Geography Teacher at Berkhamsted School)

The importance and relevance of geographies of wellness to A Level independent research

By Charlotte Fulham (Geography Teacher at Bedford Free School)

Why not suggest to your students that they write and submit an article for a future issue - all the information on how to do that is on the Routes website.

Thanks to editors Cyrus Nayeri and Lizzie Rushton, and the peer reviewers and to all those who have supported the journal in various ways, including submitting articles.

Cite my article as shown below:

Parkinson, A. (2022) Researching the changing professional profile of the Geographical Association’s Presidents 1893-2021. Routes 2(2): 67-79

Thought for the Day

Merry Christmas

Thanks to all those who've visited and read the blog this year.

Image by the wonderful Eric Ravilious - 'Considerable falls of snow' - not sure we will get them this year at Christmas time...

Stay safe and take care of yourself - see you in 2022

COP 26

Ahead of the COP26 conference, I was interviewed by students from Lesmahagow School in Scotland for part of the Green Room offering.

The interview was used in a newsroom resource.

There's some strange formatting and sequencing of what I said here, but the key messages come through I think..

I also get a mention here as part of the CEN Newsroom.

Not sure about the description here, but I'll take 'prominent scientist'...

'WIndrush Child' - some additional resources

I am currently working through the first running of a new unit on 'Windrush Child' by Benjamin Zephaniah. When I posted about this I got a lot of interest from teachers wanting to know more and have a copy of the scheme of work. This often happens whenever somebody posts a new resource which has perhaps taken them many hours to create. 

It is something going back many years to before the existence of TES resources.

I may share some of the document at a later stage, but wouldn't share something that hadn't been pressure tested by being taught at least once.

The teaching is going well so far.

With the two groups I teach, I am currently around a third of the way through the book and Leonard has just arrived in Manchester to meet his dad and settle in to the city.

'Windrush Child' - additional video resource

This film is part of the Geraldine Connor Foundation's Windrush Learning Resource, rebranded for 2020.

Antarctica Day - 1st of December

We celebrated this in the department...

Here's one of Mr P's origami penguins which was made with Year 6 help.

COMNAP Map of Antarctic Site Facilities

An excellent new map showing Antarctic facilities.

Click on any research station to find out more - a range of tools can be accessed from the toolbar at the bottom of the map too.

Mr P on the radio

This morning was the broadcast of an interview that Mr P had with Dorian Brown: a host on Teachers Talk Radio.

You can listen again here:

We talked about the GA and blogging and a whole range of other things. 

If you enjoyed it, check out some of Dorian's other recent guests, also from the GA 'community'.

Your commute for later sorted...

Thought for the Day

"The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world"

Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum.

The Diverse Book Award 2021

The DiverseBook Award 2021 goes to BenjaminZephaniah for Windrush Child.

We are using this book with our Year 7 groups this term and they will all be receiving a copy.

Congratulations to Ben on the award.

GeoFile Competition

This would be good for 'A' level Geographers.

The full rules and information can be obtained from this document (link leads to download)

Closing date is the 10th of January 2022

Food waste / plastic packaging

An interesting tweet which led me down some interesting avenues, and was a reminder of the importance of critical thinking which we hope our King's Ely Geographers are capable of...

Wrapping broccoli in a material that slows down its respiratory rate doubles it shelf life.

Going for the unwrapped version not only potentially doubles food waste (probably the greatest environmental threat to humanity), it can cause a nutrient decline of up to 90%. pic.twitter.com/A4OqymXieM

— James Wong (@Botanygeek) November 1, 2021

While we're at it, how about this one as well. 

Walking to the front entrance of the G20 summit, it’s basically a car park of vast vehicles, about 50% with their engines idling, among them the US presidential limousine. Absolutely absurd when we’re going in to hear Boris Johnson talk about reducing emissions. pic.twitter.com/0Poxb8KQvj

— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) October 31, 2021

Also check out the Climate Science video here: