Page 2 | Soooo Geography is the 'worst taught subject' and 'boring' surely not?!

Lucycat · 2008-01-17T13:24:40+00:00

well at least according to those who know nothing aka Ofsted I have a vested interest here as I do teach the fabulous subject - but what do your children think?

bobsmum · 17/01/2008 14:07

Eek - I'm getting academic itch again...stop it! Really can't afford to be a student again!

As an aside, Geography lectures got me and dh together - we got chatting after being introduced through friends and ery quickly it turned out we'd had the same lecturer even though I'd been at Glasgow uni and he'd been in Wales! The same lecturer based an entire 3 part lecture series on a tramp from dh's uni town, so I told dh-to-be at the time who told me the tramp had died . Lecturer was gutted. It was a really bizarre thing to have in common!

Similarly another geography professor who got dh into his uni in Wales, did my Viva exam and remembered dh - v weird!

HolidaysQueen · 17/01/2008 14:18

bobsmum - DH and I met in a field on a wet, windy day while measuring slope angles. The field was in Norfolk, where there aren't really any hills to measure, and we were wussy human geographers not keen on being in the bad weather so it bonded us for life

bobsmum · 17/01/2008 14:19

soil samples and statistics -

Original poster

Lucycat · 17/01/2008 14:46

ahh but the good side of getting wet in the field is the drying off in the pub - only at degree level obviously!

well done to ajandjjsmum's ds (wow that was difficult to type!)on his geography success!

OP posts:

southeastastra · 17/01/2008 16:28

oh 14 year old says he likes geography. studying tropical rainforests atm

Peapodlovescuddles · 17/01/2008 18:34

Ooooo I adored geography at school, had a great teacher who clearly adored the subject ( i think it is telling that the geography department was made up of him and 2 of his ex pupils!)
Am getting all nostalgic thinking about it!
Loved the field trips, on our upper vi one to the lake district he bought all 11 of us a drink in the pub, probably not quite kosher but lovely gesture! He was the one teacher I had every year from 11-18!
I think i might write to him saying how much i loved his lessons... or would that be a bit sad?

Peapodlovescuddles · 17/01/2008 18:34

Ooooo I adored geography at school, had a great teacher who clearly adored the subject ( i think it is telling that the geography department was made up of him and 2 of his ex pupils!)
Am getting all nostalgic thinking about it!
Loved the field trips, on our upper vi one to the lake district he bought all 11 of us a drink in the pub, probably not quite kosher but lovely gesture! He was the one teacher I had every year from 11-18!
I think i might write to him saying how much i loved his lessons... or would that be a bit sad?

Peapodlovescuddles · 17/01/2008 18:35

Ooooo I adored geography at school, had a great teacher who clearly adored the subject ( i think it is telling that the geography department was made up of him and 2 of his ex pupils!)
Am getting all nostalgic thinking about it!
Loved the field trips, on our upper vi one to the lake district he bought all 11 of us a drink in the pub, probably not quite kosher but lovely gesture! He was the one teacher I had every year from 11-18!
I think i might write to him saying how much i loved his lessons... or would that be a bit sad?

Peapodlovescuddles · 17/01/2008 18:35

Ooooo I adored geography at school, had a great teacher who clearly adored the subject ( i think it is telling that the geography department was made up of him and 2 of his ex pupils!)
Am getting all nostalgic thinking about it!
Loved the field trips, on our upper vi one to the lake district he bought all 11 of us a drink in the pub, probably not quite kosher but lovely gesture! He was the one teacher I had every year from 11-18!
I think i might write to him saying how much i loved his lessons... or would that be a bit sad?

Peapodlovescuddles · 17/01/2008 18:36

Ooooo I adored geography at school, had a great teacher who clearly adored the subject ( i think it is telling that the geography department was made up of him and 2 of his ex pupils!)
Am getting all nostalgic thinking about it!
Loved the field trips, on our upper vi one to the lake district he bought all 11 of us a drink in the pub, probably not quite kosher but lovely gesture! He was the one teacher I had every year from 11-18!
I think i might write to him saying how much i loved his lessons... or would that be a bit sad?

Peapodlovescuddles · 17/01/2008 18:36

Ooooo I adored geography at school, had a great teacher who clearly adored the subject ( i think it is telling that the geography department was made up of him and 2 of his ex pupils!)
Am getting all nostalgic thinking about it!
Loved the field trips, on our upper vi one to the lake district he bought all 11 of us a drink in the pub, probably not quite kosher but lovely gesture! He was the one teacher I had every year from 11-18!
I think i might write to him saying how much i loved his lessons... or would that be a bit sad?

Peapodlovescuddles · 17/01/2008 18:37

Ooooo I adored geography at school, had a great teacher who clearly adored the subject ( i think it is telling that the geography department was made up of him and 2 of his ex pupils!)
Am getting all nostalgic thinking about it!
Loved the field trips, on our upper vi one to the lake district he bought all 11 of us a drink in the pub, probably not quite kosher but lovely gesture! He was the one teacher I had every year from 11-18!
I think i might write to him saying how much i loved his lessons... or would that be a bit sad?

Blandmum · 17/01/2008 18:38

Blimey, Peapod, you must have likeld Geography!

Peapodlovescuddles · 17/01/2008 18:38

oh dear my internet went a bit dodgy...

southeastastra · 17/01/2008 18:39

peapod lolololol

Original poster

Lucycat · 17/01/2008 20:27

see how giddy it makes some people!

OP posts:

bobsmum · 17/01/2008 20:32

geography...better than sex

ScienceTeacher · 17/01/2008 20:41

I teach Geography, in addition to Science, so I am one of the non-specialist teachers that are one of the problems with the subject.

In my defence, I do feel that I know what I am teaching, and do a lot of research for each lesson. I am also fairly enthusiastic about my lessons. I did up to Higher Geography, and loved all aspects of it.

I was intrigued when I heard on the news this morning about the call for more money to be invested in Geography, and wondered what this really meant. If it's to do with resources then I see the issue that they are constantly out of date. We have reasonably recent textbooks, but when they mention population, GDP etc, the info is often not correct. I was teaching a lesson on the EU this week, and they of course made no mention of countries which joined in the last few years. Fortunately, Wikipedia set us straight, and I was able to project this onto the board.

One of the criticisms that I have come across of the Geography Curriculum (especially at KS4) is that it is overlapping too much with Science HSW, and between the two there is too much on global warming etc., to the point that it is all too depressing. I don't teach KS4 Geography, but on reflection, an awful lot of what we teach has a very negative slant.

unknownrebelbang · 17/01/2008 20:52

DS1 enjoys geography. He's in yr 9.

I've met his teacher on a few occasions, and he is full of enthusiasm and seems to plan interesting lessons.

I enjoyed geography at school, but did CSE instead of O Level (did O levels in every other subject). I wouldn't have enjoyed doing the O level syllabus, but I did get a Grade 1 in the CSE.

Think I've just proved I'm old, lol.

edam · 17/01/2008 20:58

wikipedia?

Did you mention that it isn't always (ahem) terribly reliable? I'm worried you might have a class of children thinking Moldovia, Ruritania and Lilliput have joined the EU...

edam · 17/01/2008 20:59

I mean, what was wrong with just looking up the EU's own central site and seeing who the new members are?

ScienceTeacher · 17/01/2008 21:04

Wikipedia is fab! And pretty reliable too. I do check major things with additional sources, but it is very useful for factoids. I love it.

ScienceTeacher · 17/01/2008 21:11

Just to add...I do actually know which countries are in the EU (therefore would be immediately aware if there was a Wikipedia error), and projecting the Wikipedia page is simply a compact way of sharing. I could, of course, have typed it all up into a Powerpoint, but I actually want my girls to know how to look for information for themselves. It's one of the skills I want them to develop.

Also, the Europa site is totally pants for KS3 geography. Maybe fine if you are writing a university thesis, but not really something that is suitable for schools.

Good jab at private school teacher though

fizzbuzz · 17/01/2008 21:27

Ds is choosing it for one of his options next year

ScienceTeacher · 17/01/2008 21:33

My DS2 is too, Fizzbuzz.

DS1 is doing his GCSE this year and is expected to get A*. I had great fun with him in the spring driving around various rivers to do his coursework (holding back the urge to help!).

He went to Iceland in the summer, so there goes the notion that there are no interesting fieldtrips - I was totally jealous.

My own school's fieldtrips this year are to Nepal and Australia. Alas, with having a family of my own, and only teaching KS3, I am not partaking.