Dear geographer,

PGCE Secondary Geography

You should by now have received official notification of the offer of a place on the PGCE Secondary Geography course for 2014- 2015.

Firstly, well done and I hope you are looking forward to starting with us in September. In the mean time you can use the time constructively to prepare for the course. You can do this in a number of ways, which are outlined below for you:

1. Join the Geographical Association (GA). Either subscribe to the one journal Teaching Geography or two journals Geography and Teaching Geography. This is the professional body which supports geography teachers. By joining the GA you will have online access to its journals going back 100 years and receive hard copies for the time you are a member. The GA is a key organisation in providing you with ongoing Continuing Professional Development (CPD) through articles, papers, lectures and conferences.Go to http://www.geography.org.uk/loginjoin/subscriptioninformation/

2. Purchase copies of the core texts (these will be essential in supporting your Master’s level assignments and your practice in school)

For Geography the core texts are:

Lambert, D. and Jones, M. (eds.) (2013) Debates in Geography Education, Abingdon: Routledge.

ISBN: 978-0-415-68779-9

and

Lambert, D. and Balderstone, D. (2010) Learning to Teach Geography in the Secondary School: A Companion to School Experience 2nd ed, London and New York: Routledge.

ISBN 978-0-415-43786-8

Also these books are very useful to support your professional practice and assignment writing:

Balderstone, D. (ed.) (2006) The Secondary Geography Handbook, Sheffield: Geographical Association.

Brooks, C. (ed.) (2010) Studying PGCE geography at M level. London and New York: Routledge.

Butt, G. (ed.) (2011) Geography, Education and the Future. London: Continuum.

Roberts, M. (2013) Geography Through Enquiry. Sheffield: Geographical Association.

For the Professional Development lectures and seminars the core text is:

Capel, S; Leask, M. and Turner, T. (eds). (2013) Learning to Teach in the Secondary School: A Companion to School Experience 6thed, London and New York: Routledge.ISBN: 978-0-415-51836-9

Also these books are very useful to support your Professional Development (PD), professional practice in school and assignment writing :

Capel, S; Leask, M. and Turner, T. (eds) (2010) Readings for Learning to Teach in the Secondary School: A Companion to M Level Study. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN: 978-0-415-55210-3

Dymock, S. (ed.) 2008) Reflective Teaching and Learning in the Secondary school. London: Sage.

Hayes, D. (2011) The Guided Reader to Teaching and Learning. London and New York: Routledge.

Sewell, K. (2008) Doing your PGCE at M level: A guide for students. London: Sage.

3. Purchase a new memory stick/eternal hard-drive This will be invaluable to you in planning lessons, downloading and sharing resources with each other

4. Work on your Subject Knowledge - geography

Work on your subject knowledge, which areas are weak or you have not studied for a while? A full audit will be carried out when you start the course.

Key Stage 3. It is worth starting by looking at the content of the Key Stage 3 Geography National Curriculum (DfE, 2013)

GCSE and A level the content taught at GCSE and A’ level is determined by the main Awarding Bodies (AQA, OCR, Edexcel and WJEC) The specifications, past papers and mark schemes are online.

Look up examples of specifications and examination paper questions from the main examination board web sites, these web sites will also give you the specifications (syllabuses) for the AS and A2 qualifications so you can see what is studied in school today e.g. www.edexcel.org.uk , www.ocr.org.uk , www.aqa.org.uk and www.wjec.co.uk

You could take one theme that you have not covered and read and make notes from A level text books on geography such as those listed on the page ‘Resources for improving subject knowledge’ below.

5. Explore how teachers create lessons through combining different activities which relate to an enquiry question/ key question or lesson objective. The pupils will have to complete these activities and produce a number of outcomes e.g. a presentation, an annotated image, a piece of creative writing, a dairy extract, and answers to a series of questions and so on. A good place to start is the KS3 Resources page on the Geography Teaching Today Website. This was a resource put together by the GA and the RGS-IBG working together

6. Keep up to date with geography education - I recommend the following websites, blogs, nings and twitter

Geographical association ning (over 1800 geographers) Ning is short for networking and is a type of social network site like facebookGo to http://geographical.ning.com/profiles/members/

Living Geography Blog – Useful updates from Alan Parkinson in his role as Secondary Curriculum Development Leader of the Geographical Association. Go to http://livinggeography.blogspot.com/

GA on twitter Have updates on twitter http://twitter.com/The_GA

7. More School Experience If you have not been in a school environment for a while Go (back) into a local secondary school to observe some geography teaching but also to look at resources used and how these are adapted for different abilities (differentiation). It may be better to make contact now and find out when is a good time for the geography department at the school.

8. Complete the pre-course tasks – see page headed pre-course tasks

If you need any advice prior to starting in September please do not hesitate to contact me on Mark7.jones@uwe.ac.uk or telephone 0117 965 6261 ext. 4105

Mark Jones (Group Tutor, PGCE Secondary Geography

One of our aims on the Geography PGCE at the University of the West of England is to re-image geography through innovative, creative and challenging lessons. It is important to develop such creative approaches to learning in geography and embed these into our planning of geography lessons in our partnership secondary schools.

From the 1000s of pictures of places on the Tate website select one that you can relate to. It may be that you are familiar with a landscape, can understand the human or physical processes that have worked to shape the place illustrated or see geographical interactions reflected in the work.

1. You will need to access the Tate website or other art network to complete this task.http://www.tate.org.uk/art

2. Copy and paste the picture onto a powerpoint slide.

3. On a second powerpoint slide – past the picture and write a paragraph which describes why the picture speaks to you as a Geographer. Make sure you add your name to this one. These will form part of a display to raise awareness of geography and inform other PGCE students and visitors to the Department of Education about how geography is in everything we do and see around us!

I have modelled this for you by selecting and writing about one picture that appealed to me as a geographer.

Mark Jones

PGCE Geography Pre-course task -1 Geography though art

PGCE Geography Pre-course task -2 Geography though poetry

Choose two poems to email to the group tutor ahead of the first day on the course

Poem one – World War One

Select a poem written by somebody who experienced the First World War (28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918)

Poem two- Poetry of placeSelect a poem that has been written about a specific place. It can be real or imagined a city or town, a journey between two places, a natural feature or landscape.

Resources for improving subject knowledge

Text books:

Examination Board A level Specific texts:1. AQA AS Geography: Textbook: Student's Book (2008) ISBN 978-0-7487-8258-12. AQA A2 Geography: Textbook: Student’s book (2009) ISBN 978-0-7487-8259-83. Edexcel AS Geography Textbook (2008) ISBN 10: 03409492954. A2 Geography for Edexcel: Students' Book (2009) ISBN 10: 0199134839

Geography: An integrated approach (4th Ed.) (2009) David Waugh (Nelson)Most commonly used text book at A level for many years – full coverage of all topics likely to encounter on teaching placements. ISBN: 978-1-4085-0407-9

Contemporary approaches to geography series

Contemporary Approaches to Geography Volume 1: Human Geography (2010) ISBN: 978-1-899857-96-8

Contemporary Approaches to Geography Volume 2: Physical Geography (2010) ISBN: 978-1-899857-97-5

Contemporary Approaches to Geography Volume 3: Environmental Geography (2010) ISBN: 978-1-899857-98-2

Two older series (2000/2001) can be bought cheaply on amazon include: Geography Landmark Series (Collins) –aimed at post-16 (more detailed texts)Ecosystems & Human ActivityPopulation, Resources and DevelopmentManufacturing Industry: The impact of changeLeisure, recreation and tourismAtmospheric processes and human influenceWater Resources, processes and managementFieldwork techniques and projects in geographyLandform systemsUrbanisation: Changing environmentsHazards and responsesAgriculture and food

EPIC series (Stanley Thornes) supplements to A level coursesThe Urban WorldNatural HazardsRecreation and tourismNatural resources: Their use and abuseStudy advice for A levelThe fragile environment: Pollution and abuseSkills and techniques for Geography A level

Development: Disparity and Dependence: a study of the Asian Pacific region