JDMcDsblog

The aims of this set of lessons are 

1. To understand the need for symbols in any map

2. To use the key in the Philips Foundation Atlas to find a range of places, features and countries

3. To learn the most commonly used symbols in Ordnance Survey maps (and to think about the best way to learn and memorise them!)

There’s lots of useful information here.

In First Year we have been looking at Atlas Skills. You should be able to look up any place in the index, and find it in the Atlas. Each place is identified by its latitude and longitude. people often mix them up:

Latitude-this is a measure of distance North or South of the Equator. As the world’s surface is curved, we measure distance as an angle. So, we talk about the number of degrees north or south of the equator. The Equator is Zero degrees, the North Pole is 90 North and the South Pole is 90 south. Latitude has a big impact on temperature-the closer places are to the equator, the warmer they tend to be. Places far from the equator are much cooler. Can you think why? (post a comment if you have an answer)

Longitude-Lines of longitude allow us to say how far east or west a place is. All lines of longitude run north-south from the North Pole to the South Pole. Longitude is measured in degrees west or east of the Prime Median which runs through Greenwich in London. The Greenwich Meridian is used  to work out all time zones in the world. Places EAST of Greenwich are AHEAD of us, because the sun rises in the east. Places WEST of Greenwich are BEHIND US.

In class we have been looking at some important news events from a geographical point of view. The biggest story has probably been Hurricane Gustav. This was a powerful tropical storm which started in the Caribbean Sea, and was predicted to strike the large city of New Orleans, in the US state of Louisiana. New Orleans was very badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and many people lost their lives. This time, taking no chances, over 2 million residents evacuated the city, heading to higher ground. Thankfully, the storm has passed and people can now begin to return to their homes.

For  more on hurricane Gustav, click here.

We also found out about the shrinking ice cap in the Arctic; click here to find out more on the BBC’s news page-

Homework; 1.You should write up two further news reports about Geography in the News.

                 2. Practise writing a comment on this blog. Rules for posting comments are:

                 write in proper sentences

                 full words; don’t use slang expressions or text language

                 first name only

In a Hurry!

Originally uploaded by jmmcdgll

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Originally uploaded by jmmcdgll

My S1 pupils have experimented with using the “Rule of Thirds” *(see earlier post). They were asked to subdivide their pages and each take responsibility for the different sections. In my most recent Flicr posting I’ve put five posters by one S1 class. They were asked to sum up key points in the S1 curriculum.

I have made up a wiki, or shared web space called HutchieInternational. Its main purpose will be to act as place to make up collaborative pages, made up of contributions from pupils in our school, and our partner schools. But to for this to be of any use, you need to log on to the site and request permission to become a member. Only then can you add your own text.

So, here are the instructions.

Go to the wiki at http://hutchieinternational.wikispaces.com/

This will take you to the home page. At this point, you can read, but not edit.
To edit and to add new material, go to top right and click “join”

A dialogue box will pop up; fill in the fields as follows:

user name-whatever you wish (eg FredBloggs)
password-something you will remember
email your e-mail address no

click “Join”

You should now see your user name at the top right of the Home Page, beside the envelope icon.
Go along to the side bar on the left hand side and click “Join this space”

This brings up a box entitled,

“Request membership to HutchieInternational
To join the space, hutchieinternational, submit a request to the space organizers.”
No need to write a comment.
Click on “Request membership”

When I receive this request, I shall then grant permission to edit and you can begin to add comments.

What next?

1. S1- Go to “Where we live” (left hand pane). Add a brief comment about your home area.

2. S2 Go to International Trade (left hand pane) Add a comment about international trade, based on what you have found out by researching the websites in your Global Studies workbook 3. This comment shoud mention eg debt, fair trade, the work of Oxfam, poverty cycle, etc.

I have been reading about Comment Challenge 08. In fact I heard about it while listening to Dave Noble’s excellent podcast, Booruch, . It’s a bit late to get started on this, since it’s been running since 1st May, but I am going to have a go, and follow my own time frame, commencing on 25th May. The idea is to encourage us to become better bloggers, by focusing a bit more on what we actually post and the kinds of comments we write. There’s some excellent material on Sue Waters blog, and also on a dedicated wikispace:
http://commentchallenge.wikispaces.com . There are plenty of ideas, here are some:

1. Set up a plan for tracking your comments–use CoComment or another tool.
2. Comment at a blog where you’ve never left a comment before.
3. Find three new bloggers and leave comments for them.
4.Comment on a blog post you don’t agree with.
5.Respond to another commenter on a post.
6.Find three bloggers that are not related to your normal niche and leave comments.

exam time

Originally uploaded by jenjemeer

This is the time of year when many teachers go into Purdah. Sacks of scripts, securely fastened by plastic handcuffs are delivered, accompanied by fastidious instructions for the marking, filling in Ex forms and returning of papers -by the next day, if possible. At this time of year, juts before exam leave, senior pupils are generally bipolar-manically optimistic aboutr exam succuess for no good reason or inconsolable that they have forgotten everything they ever learned. The Sixth Year revert to Primary 1 levels of maturity and regress or simply dissolve, a school career that started with cheery shots of first day at school ending in a wimper.
Markers meet in cavernous stadia to dissect scripts and agree a marking scheme-the lucky ones get to mark at home, at a time and place of their choosing; the less fortunate are coralled into barns and sheds to mark centrally in a given time frame.

This is my 18th year of marking Standard Grade Geography-I came in near the beginning when there were quite small teams for each level, and now there are over 100 Credit markers. For a while I used to be an examiner and setter, too, which meant standing in front of your peers and defending decisions on where to award marks for contentious evaluation questions. I loved the cameraderie of working in the exam team, meeting colleagues from across Scotland. So, despite my annual vow not to mark again, I’ll be joining the throng at Hamden to go through the 2008 Geography paper, and no doubt enjoying some good banter along the way.

coloured panels

Originally uploaded by jmmcdgll

I am fascinated by colour and I love the interplay between colour and shape, the positioning and relationships between blocks and background. I am a big fan of Kandinski. I like the idea that the juxtaposition of certain colours creates particular effects, rather like chords in music-unexpected sounds are created by merging certain notes to create tingle factors-like Jazz harmonies or the famous “Tristan chord” by Wagner. I doubt my son Fraser was thinking about that when he played around with Paint application to make this painting. What does it mean?!!

I attended a meeting chaired by Councillor Irfan Rabbani of Glasgow City Council. Council.lor Rabbani has particular responsibilities for equalities. This was a very interesting group of representatives from many sectors, mostly council agencies, but also some private organisations and independent schools such as Hutchesons and Craigholme. The main goals were to examine the provision of services for young people in Pollokshields, and to consider ways of improving the delivery of such services. I welcomed the chance to make contact with some key workers representing the local Moslem community, the community council, police.

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