The Network Newsletter for Geography Teachers Term 2, 2014 Issue 62 Chairperson’s Report Kia ora and welcome to the Term 2 edition of The Network. Inside this issue The focus for this edition is Professional Chairperson’s Report Learning and Development and we have Editorial some funds to give away, so please read on! Where is this place? As you work your way through this Regional Reports edition I hope you find some things that are helpful to you and your students. Curriculum One of the aims of the Board is to Development provide support around the crucial aspect of classroom teaching. We Pedagogy Focus endeavour to do this on a number of Featured Website levels. One way is to provide ideas and hopefully some inspiration through this quarterly edition. At the regional level, branches offer a number of opportunities From the Classroom during the year, while the NZGS website (http://nzgs.co.nz/teachers-resources ) which hosts our NZBoGT pages has ideas around developing geography Assessment Update programmes and is the focus of the Featured Website section of this edition. As a Board, we don’t consider ourselves to be experts in this area at all and we Wondering about… always welcome ideas from you, our membership. Out in the Field This year we have tried to find some new ways to support teachers as you News and Notices consider how your professional learning and development might progress. With limited department budgets, the Board felt it would like to offer some financial Advertisements assistance to help enable teachers to go to either a conference or professional learning workshop that has some relevance to geography teaching. These were The NZBoGT advertised in the Term 1 edition of The Network but as yet, no-one has applied for this fund which can support costs up to the value of $500. We really want to support teachers and so we have extended the deadline for this award until Friday 4th July. The details of this award and how to apply can be found in the News and Notices section of this edition. The Board would also like to recognise the outcomes of teachers’ on-going professional learning. To that end, we have established a second award to recognise ‘Excellence and Innovation in Geography Teaching and Learning’. We would like to celebrate the success of up to two teachers in recognition of their inspirational work in the classroom to the value of $500 each. Could this be you (don’t be afraid to blow your own trumpet a bit)? Or perhaps you could encourage someone in your department or from another school to apply. Again, The New Zealand Board of Geography Teachers. The Network. Term 2, 2014 2 we have extended the deadline for this award until Monday 1st September and the details of this award and how to apply can be found in the News and Notices section of this edition. Let’s not forget the students in all of this. The Board is committed to providing a range of competitions to help engage them in their learning. This term sees the Year 11 Maatangi Whenua competition take place throughout the regions in weeks 7 or 8 (June 16 – 27) and I hope as many of you as possible will take part in what is always a very fun and competitive event. A selection camp for the Year 12 Olympiad Competition to decide next year’s team to compete in Moscow will take place in the next school holidays and we will be able to announce these winners and those of the Geography Research Competition in the Term 3 edition of The Network. Finally, a new competition with a focus on international field trips is outlined in the Advertisements section of this edition. As you can see, there are plenty of opportunities out there for students to be recognised. Please encourage them to take part. Finally, I would like to welcome Louise Richards (Rongotai College) to the Board as the new representative for the Wellington Region. Louise takes over from Anna Wilson who has done a sterling job for the region over the last six years. We also hope to have an announcement on the new Waikato/BOP representative soon – watch this space. Just a reminder, to be eligible for all of these opportunities, you need to have paid your membership. Subscription forms can be downloaded at: http://nzgs.co.nz/images/stories/nzgs/pdfs/nzgs%20subscription%20form%202014%20schools.pdf May you have a productive, enjoyable and not too stressful Term 2. Nick Page Chairperson, NZBoGT. Editorial: Why study geography? It is worth reminding ourselves as teachers of the big picture reasons for students to study geography at school. The Rationale section in the Curriculum Guide for geography notes how the subject should: Stimulate a sense of wonder about the world. Inspire students to help shape a better future. Equip students with skills for the future. http://seniorsecondary.tki.org.nz/index.php/Social-sciences/Geography/Rationale The learning area statement for the Social Sciences (p. 30 in The New Zealand Curriculum) also outlines broad aims for the subject in the section Why study the social sciences? It stresses that students can develop knowledge and skills to understand, participate and contribute. While qualifications resulting from achievement in the standards are important, teachers and students should be aware of such aims and be mindful of them when planning for each year/term. Recently I have been reminded on a number of occasions of the broad aims of geography. One example was at a seminar for teachers on water resources hosted by ECan (Environment Canterbury – the local Regional Council). Jocelyn Papprill, an ex-teacher of geography who now works as an ECan Youth Engagement Advisor, outlined how students can develop their understanding of resources and the opportunities there are for them to become involved in consultation regarding the management of water. Information on the Canterbury Water Management Strategy can be found at: http://ecan.govt.nz/get-involved/canterburywater/Pages/Default.aspx The New Zealand Board of Geography Teachers. The Network. Term 2, 2014 3 The photograph below shows students in the New Zealand Geography Olympiad team preparing for the 2014 iGeo competition to be held in Poland later this year. They are presenting their suggestions for the redevelopment of the residential red zone area of Christchurch along the lower Avon River. The students shown are Deena Parr, Nic Wilson, Wan Zhi Tay and Emily Moore. This activity provided them with the opportunity to study a topic of real interest and relevance, within the framework of the Christchurch City Council’s request for input to assist the development of a district plan. The activity was designed to help students to develop conceptual understanding (in relation to sustainability) and to be able to participate and contribute to democratic processes. The activity is further outlined in the From the Field section later in this issue. The focus for this issue of The Network is geography teacher professional learning and development and a number of articles refer to this. The Curriculum Development section covers some of the opportunities available to teachers from groups and organisations outside schools. The Pedagogy section outlines how professional development can be carries out within departments. At an individual teacher level, participation in local geography subject association activities is a valuable opportunity for development. Roger Baldwin [email protected] Where is this place? Can you identify the part of New Zealand that this Google Earth image shows? It is a place that had particular geographic significance related to people’s use of the natural environment. (The answer is given later in The Network.) The New Zealand Board of Geography Teachers. The Network. Term 2, 2014 4 Regional Representatives’ Reports Auckland – Steve Mouldey We have all had such a busy start to Term 2 - lots of field trips, internal assessments and teaching of course. The AGTA committee has planned a busy year for teachers in the region, but also available to members outside our area. The after-school sessions will continue from last year and this year will cover: New teachers to geography (Term 2). What/how to teach Extreme Natural Events (most likely Term 3). Teaching for excellence in externals with a focus on Level 3 (Term 3). The end of year course will run late in Term 4 with a focus on Level 1 courses, new topics to teach and field trips. With the change in the focus of the scholarship paper in 2014 we have changed the format of the workshops for our students. We will be focusing on urbanisation with students having a short lecture from an urban specialist. The dates for this are: Wednesday 2 July, Wednesday 20 August and Wednesday 22 October As with 2013, the AGTA committee is writing exams for members to use. These will be available towards the end of term. Twitter - Follow AGTA on @AucklandGeog How many of you are on twitter? It is great PD – lots of good ideas can be found when you follow people. There are some cool geography teachers on twitter with lots of good ideas that they share. The article http://www.educationreview.co.nz/ict-and-procurement/november-2013/10-twitter-tips-for- teachers/#.U3J_2q2SyDE has some good advice on using twitter to get ideas. I have also created a list tracking all the NZ geography teachers so we can keep up with each other in one place: https://twitter.com/GeoMouldey/lists/nz-geo-teachers Waikato/BOP – Nick Page (Chairperson NZBoGT, on behalf of region) There was a good turnout for a series of cluster meetings run by Jane Evans at the beginning of this term looking at NCEA assessment and understanding how the external examinations are marked.