JDMcDsblog

These days in Britain turn out at elections is falling; at local elections, perhaps only 3 or 4 in every 10 will bother to vote.; probably worse in Euro Elections. Polling stations are underwhelmed, and many ballots papers are left untouched.  Much is made of the hard won right to vote, the battles since the Reform Acts of the 19th Centuries, the Suffragette Movement, and increased particpation in democratic structures. Moves have been afoot to allow 16 year olds to vote, but it appears that the 18-24s are among the least likely to bother. Unfortunately, increrasingly, so are peopleof all ages. Bother to do what, exactly? Spend 10 minutes in a Primary school casting a vote in total peace and security? Put up with inane political broadcasts and wax lyrical at some dodgy expenses scam? Have a bit of banter with the local candidates or the school jannie at the door? Try to engage with issues and listen to the debate? It would seem that maybe that’s too much for many people now. It’s too much like hard work. So, what about today’s elections in Afghanistan?

What about the polling clerks in Kabul, the police guards, the women in burkas defiantly raising their fingers in indelible ink, risking amputation, or worse. The female candidates looking for a more liberal approach? Or the officials sorting out the ballot papers tonight? Each candidate, each particpant in today’s election runs a huge risk; to be mangled or incinerated by a roadside bomb ot a suicide attack. The young, committed  voters could be dead tomorrow because they could be bothered.  If so called “peasants” in baggy trousers can be bothered to queue, to risk everything to vote today, if 200 + soldiers from the UK alone, not to mention local soldiers and police and translators can lose their lives, then perhaps they don’t count democracy in this backward, war weary, impoverished country so cheap as many of our own folk seem to do.

We spent few days last week with friends in Oban; once again, we were blessed with excellent weather. Incredibly warm, still and humid, it was more similar to southern Europe than the west coast of Scotland. Enjoyed playing beachball at midnight on Tralee Bay at Benderloch, the temperature still in the high teens. Highlight was a sail around to Kerrera to see the seals; on the way out of harbour we were followed by a pod of common dolphins, their fins breaking the surface just metres from us. At regular intervals they would leap out the water completely. Plenty of bird life, too; cormorants, oyster catchers and gulls galore.
Heavy thundery rain on Friday somehow added to the atmoshpere on Seil Island, rain and tide lashed, with grim lowering dark cliffs and gaping old slate workings. Crossed the Atlantic at Clachan Bridge, and rewarded by seeing large heron slowly flapping its way upstream, like some kind of pteranadon.
On way home, went via Crianlarich, owing to the diversions caused by the Tornado crash in Glen Kinglas on 2nd July. Felt sorry for the two men killed-having once taught at RAF Gutersloh in Germany I have a real fondness for the RAF; indeed any service death is a huge blow to the families and comrades, whether in peace or action. A depressing number of deaths this week in Afghanistan, plus ghastly violence in China today. Struck by the sheer contrast between the beauty of a Scottish summer and the cruelty that haunts so much of the world.

Today was my 20th markers’ meeting for Credit/General Geography. The time seems to have flown since the 1990 paper, when Standard Grade was in its infancy. Scripts arrived in a hessian sack, and had to be posted back to Dalkeith envelope by envelope, each one stuck down by lurid yellow labels. Now they are sent off in two batches of high tech plastic bags, using ultra sticky irreversible gum. It used to give you some kudos to get hold of a marking scheme, as they were formerly strictly embargoed. Now they are online and at the back of the Past Paper books. Some questions have endured; old favourites like describe the course and features of a river, or explain the changes over time of a British Farm landscape are hardy annuals, almost. Other questions reflect recent changes in the UK economy; in 1995 we had a question on Chungwa Picture Tubes in Lanarkshire, which was a reflection of new investment in Scotland; now that is gone. Major international themes have remained fairly constant; deforestation, urbanisation and trade inequalities. Some questions from the early ’90s could easily be recycled for 2010; synoptic chart is a synoptic chart for example, and a corrie or ox bow lake is pretty much a banker for any year.

Being on the Geography exam team has been one of my best times in teaching. I liked the debates we had when putting together the papers and sharing ideas for questions at the “shredding meetings”, where questions were torn up and rewritten, but most of all the chat afterwards over a few pints. My favourite night was a celebrated Burns Supper at Keavil House in 2002, where each of us on the team had to do a turn, or perhaps the impromptu piano duet in front of Welsh rugby fans one February evening. Marking’s a grind at times, but it’s a great way to meet colleagues from other schools and parts of the country, and keep up to speed with your subject.

Here is the brief. Please use the comments to outline youtr suggestions for the Valpak award.

The Valpak Awards 2009, now in their 8th year, are renowned for showcasing excellence and innovation in recycling and resource management. This award is open to the next generation of recyclers and business people who have taken on the challenge of resource management. Valpak is looking to identify young individuals who have shown innovation, commitment and drive in the field of recycling and resource management. They may have
designed a new product,
set up a new business venture
have outstanding ideas to reduce, reuse and recycle waste materials

Two worksheets on Farming which pupils uploaded to Scribd. We then embedded the code on to the blog. More sheets to follow.

Farm Exercise Sheet

Farmers Year 29-5-09

The BBC published this simple graphic today. An article on a forthcoming climb up Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief by celebrities included a very effective comparison between Everest, Kilimanjaro and Ben Nevis.

Some fruitful questions:

• How are mountains formed?
• Why are some mountains higher than others?
• Why is it cooler at the top of a mountain when it is “nearer” the sun?

Scribd is a document sharing site,which according to its own statistics, houses 2 million documents. It was established in 2007.

I have used Scrib to upload a Word document I used for my First Year class, to show an organisation chart on physical geography.

Glasgow Harbour, October 07

Resources: Summary Booklet, S1&2 Geography, acess to laptops (Plan A) or to digital projector (Plan B)

Aim: To recognise and describe the characteristics of Glasgow’s land use zones;

        to develop familiarity with Geograph as tool for searching for geographical images.

Background We have learned that Glasgow has four main land use zones:#

1. Central Business District

2 Inner City

3. Inner Suburbs

4. Outer Suburbs

We have made a land use map that shows the location of land use zones in Glasgow. This map should be pasted into your jotter.

Purpose: What we want to do is to LINK your map with some images of Glasgow.

Exposition: You are going to compare the descriptions of land use on pages 6 and 7 of your Summary Booklet with a selection of photographs on the photoshare website Geograph.

Tasks

Bring up Geograph home page. It should say “Welcome to Geograph”

In your jotter, put the heading Geograph exercise

Have your summary booklet open at page 6.

1. Copy out the definition of Geograph

2. Put the sub-heading, Geograph images of Grid Squares in Glasgow

Now click on this link here to get a map of Glasgow.

You will see that each grid square on the map has a small purple circle; Click on the map to bring up more details about that particular grid square.

Spend some time getting used to this feature-click on various squares around Glasgow. You will see that some have more photos than others. Notice that every grid square in Glasgow starts with the 2 letter code NS.

Now select two photos that you feel BEST represent the features of each of Glasgow’s four land use zones, ie two for the CBD, two for the outer suburbs, etc-8 in total.

Write out your results as follows:

Zone: CBD

1 Grid Square: NS____  <Title> by <photographer>

Featuresof the CBD that are shown in this photograph are …………………………………………

Repeat this for the other 7 photographs.

Photo taken from Flickr

A settlement is a place where people live. There are many types of settlement so we group them according to populationsize

single building (eg a farm or a house)

hamlet-small collection of houses, with few if any shops

village-small settlement, with basic shops ans services

town- can be quite a sizeable settlement, with many shops and offices; many roads will meet here.

city:  large settlement covering a large area and/or having a very important function (eg caital city)

Homework-Read S1&S2 Geography, pages 118-119 Do questions 1 and 2 on page 119.

This map shows countries of the world, not by their actual size and shape, but distorted to show the ones which have seen the biggest economic growth.

This is one example of how maps can be used to show information in eye catching and challenging ways. But remember, all maps distort reality, because it is impossible to accurately depict a curved surface on to a flat page

What do you think of this map? Add a comment to let me know!

More details can be found on Mark Easton’s BBC blog at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/ , where he has a map of the week.