JDMcDsblog

Had a look at TeacherTube, a clone of YouTube, but dedicated for teachers, so hopefully more rigorously vetted. Am going to try embedding some clips in the next few posts. Here is a random sample, for starters:

Download Video: Posted by teacheroz at TeacherTube.com.

Underground Map

Originally uploaded by amphalon

This map was prompted by reading the work of Edward Tufte, an American professor who has written extensively on the visual representation of data. He discusses the London Underground map by Harry Beck. Tufte goes on to say,

“Although geographically inaccurate, the map provides a coherent overview of a complex system. With excellent color printing, classic British railroad typography (by Edward Johnson), and, in the modern style, (using) only horizontal, vertical, and 45 degree lines, the map became a beautiful organizing image of London. For apparently quite a number of people, the map organized London (rather than London organizing the map).”

My first year class have been devising mental maps of their home area; it is interesting to consider the extent to which maps define rather than reflect our sense of place. What is worth noting in the above map is that this is shows the real underground distances- not Beck’s distorted topological version we all know, yet somehow this, geographicaly more accurate map is the one that appears “wrong”…

Continental drift in beautiful "action"

Originally uploaded by olikristinn

Found this photo on Flickr; caption as follows:

“Flosagjá is one of the main faults at Þingvellir, with crystal clear water up to 25 metres deep.
The Eurasian and North American continent plates are drifting apart at a rate of 2 centimetres per year. The evidence is nowhere clearer or easier to measure than here at Thingvellir. “

I like this photo because it shows at the micro scale the impact of macro scale tectonic movements; a case of using the local example to illustrate a global idea, a theme important in many aspects of geography. Hopefully this specific example helps pupils visualise the general concepts of plates and continental drift.

I also love the Icelandic place names-they are straight out of Tolkein-and remind me of saga and myths-great stuff!

There is a good revision aid online at BBC Bitesize, which reinforces the topic of Earth Movements.

TeachMeet07

Originally uploaded by Edublogger

Looking forward to attending my first TeachMeet (un) conference-don;’t know quite what to expect, but I think this will be a fantastic opportunity to meet up with some of the most inflential thinkers and practioners of web 2.0 methodology.

Also interested to read management guru Tom Peter’s take on educational initiatives. Citing the recently opened Thomas Deacon Academy in Peterborogh, Peters, perhaps more used to commenting on US corporations than schools commends its ground breaking and radical approach, which the Head Alan McMurdo hopes will help shape the future of British education.

He goes on to quote an article from Sunday’s Observer which describes a school with no break, no playground, no bells and no register.

Says McMurdo:

‘People have got to realise that things develop…. We know more about the brain, about how people work and about effective teaching. It would be an outrage if you went to the doctor and they were still treating you like they did 40 years ago.’

McMurdo has created a school day during which children will not be placed in a tutor group with pupils of the same age, will sit through longer, 90-minute lessons that mix different subjects and be free to go home at 2.30pm. His most controversial decision is to take the morning break off the timetable.

‘There will be no formal break time,’ instead there would be short time-outs during lessons. ‘If I am a teacher and in period two it seems like the pupils need a break, then they get a break.’ With more than seven full-sized pitches, netball and tennis courts set over more than 30 acres, there is no risk of the pupils failing to get fit, he said.

Ice Age

Originally uploaded by tony cassidy

Found this series of film posters on Tony Cassidy’s Flickr site, cunningly adapted to promote geography.

There’s a good one, based on Lost in which OS map symbols are superimposed on the characters . I think it’s a good idea to use quirky, arresting ideas, to get pupils thinking-in fact I’m going to get my first year class to make up their own poster in the same style as this, and see what they come up with.

have also discovered slide share and am going to experiment with uploading some powerpoints. Trial version here;

[slideshare id=102589&doc=posters795&w=425]

Titisee

Originally uploaded by jmmcdgll

It’s a wet. drizzly day, so I thought I’d remind myself of a beautiful hot summer we spent afew years back in southern Germany and Switzerland. This is Titisee in the Black Forest, not far from Frieburg. It’s a real honeypot site, packed with coachloads of Germans, Brits, Italians, etc, and full of cafes and souvenir shops. There’s a massive Christmas shop, on two levels , selling all manner of festve trinkets all year round, including outsize nutcrackers and smoking men-kind of surreal ito browse to the sound of Christmas music in the heart of summer. as you’d expect from the Black Forest, plenty of wooden toys and cuckoo clocks, too. We stopped here en route from Schaffhausen in northern Switzerland to Colmar, just over the Rhine border between France and Germany, in Alsace.