Subject Leadership: A Priory Geography Classroom

Priory geography classroom from David Rogers

Over the past week, I have been reflecting upon some of the changes introduced at Priory Geography. One of these was to introduce a consistent approach to the information displayed at the front of classrooms. This information should be the stuff referred to on a daily basis. Specific key terms can be displayed either through word mats or changing displays around the room.

The slideshare above is best viewed full screen. What follows is a brief overview of each element, including a description of its use. Clockwise from top left corner:

Image of the week:

Taken mainly from the Guardian but can be images from fieldwork or a major news story. Designed to provoke discussion or tie in to a current topic. In practice, it's easy to forget to update this. A way around this can be to assign one of your tutor group the task of sourcing and pinning up the work.

Core geographical terms:

These are the terms that students need most or struggle with. The classification of countries (MEDC / LEDC) is consistent with our GCSE specification (OCR B) and are used from lesson one in Year 7.

Banned Words:

See this 2006 post. These are the core words, there are unit specific words to ban. Great for improving literacy especially in GCSE point marked questions. Again, used from the first lesson in Year 7.

Teacher email address:

Not giving out your work email address so students (and parents) can contact you is bonkers.

Social media links:

Resources available for students: Facebook and Twitter.

Key Command Words:

Definitions from the GCSE specification and again used from Year 7.

Connectives and groups of people:

If you have Banned Words, you need something to support the literacy. Connectives are important, especially for building geographical arguments. Our students are weak at referring to specific groups of people, so this list helps them. Both are used most lessons from Year 7.

Learning Objective board

If you're using learning objectives (and if you're not, why not?) then they should be displayed throughout the lesson.

Different maps

It's a geography classroom.....

More connectives

These use the hinges, bolts and sealers approach and are repeated around the room.

Grade mountains

Also used as laminated A3 mats, these are referred to every lesson. Put together by Sam Atkins. These are also linked to the target sheets in front of exercise books and our marking feedback.

Priory Geography mantra

These are repeated around the class room. So what? - means explain, expand, link (and used in conjunction with PEED). Prove it mean use data.

Stevenson screen

Objects linked to a current unit, in this case Year 7 Weather and Climate. Students had to explain why these were used after their microclimate investigation.

Pupil work on current unit

When Year 10 are going through a unit, it's an opportunity to revise and revisit with Year 11. This is a great way to facilitate that. Also used with Year 9 in a linked unit - 'this time next year...' a la Del Boy.

Big whiteboard

In my opinion, IWBs are a waste of money.

Year 10 Controlled Assessment Tracker

A daily reminder of where they shold be.

The Priory Geography Team

We are a good looking lot.

Priory Geography enquiry flow chart

This is how we do enquiry. We do enquiry every lesson. Used from Year 7.

A saying

Deep.

High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge. I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post. I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff. If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey. As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others. Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up. I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions. From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment. From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die. How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach? Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment is not always conducive to profound

The danger of Teaching and Twitter conversations: poorly formed bipolar arguments.

Sometimes in life, there really are only two options. Get the wrong one and you can look like a muppet. Take this useful sign for the toilets in Morocco. I successfully navigated it, choosing the right option. The result? No egg on my face. As a mountain leader, there are many right or wrong decisions that I’ve faced, as there are all over life. It’s not a good idea to let inexperienced young people walk themselves down Snowdon. They may die or be seriously injured. If someone is showing the signs and symptoms of hyperthermia, you need to treat it fast in a specified way. There is no real arguing with this sign: Other options are less obvious. Take this sign recently spotted near to where I live: Now, I wouldn’t consider sleeping in a bin. However, faced with a sub-zero night, I could see the appeal. The danger? Being tipped into one of those huge lorries with a compactor. (by the way, I only really considered all of this thanks to questions from my four year old boy).

David Rogers

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