GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS PLEASE HELP!!!!

[Unemployable]

I´ve been offered a PT job teaching Geography out of the blue and starting next week!!! I worked as a French teacher for a while 10 years ago and have no real clue about what teaching Geography will involve.. Do you have any tips, good links to give me a headstart on lesson planning..? ANYTHING to give me a bit of confidence! Links to class management, discipline ideas would be good to. It´s a private school by the way. What about the pay scale?

you dont know how much you are paid?
god i d hate ny kdis to be in you class tbh

congrats on the job but isn't it a bit strange that they've hired you as a geog teacherr but haven't taught it before? French is a far cry from geog!
browse in a good bookstore - lots of teaching books on discipline classroom management, or try the TES online chat, lots of tips there too

and they are paying for it
i rest my case about private schools

you don tknow how to control a class??
have you done a pgce?

pay scale often not as much as state system

what age will you be teaching

good news but wont you feel extremekly nervous you poor thing>

congrats on getting the job, but I would be really concerned if my children were being taught a subject which wasnt exactly the teachers speciality, sorry- but good luck.

theyll get her wiht the rubbers as soon as her back is truned.
or do the BEST ever trick "the BEE"

is it for primary aged kids? that would make more sense to me..?

erm... shouldnt the school be providing you with this info? bit strange that you have no geographical teaching experience...dh used to teach it, and cant imagine anyone doing it without experience as its not something you can just pick up in a week... i would guess best place to start is the NC.
PAyscale... dont private schools have their own arrangements?

it is ususal that you may do a class fo a term or so that you dont know - i did once do some geography BUt for YOUNg kids wiht a lto fo hlep fomrt he department and i was a trained teacher anyway,
i want happy wiht it but hey ho,

wasnt

For geography teaching contact the geography association, they have a web site and excellent professional development materials, the geography section on Staffordshire learning net used to be great with good links and chat rooms but I haven't taught for a year so don't know if its still active. Will there be other people in the department? Are there schemes of work in place? Do they follow a set text? My only experience of private school was on teaching practice and there I was basically handed a text book and told to pick a chapter to teach, not very inspiring for the kids but if thats what they are expecting you probably will manage ok.

Ok, simmer down!! I´m actually a VERY COMPETENT and fully trained teacher of FRENCH, but it has been 10 years! First degree is in GEOGRAPHY, the school is abroad and teaching FOREIGN children Geography - so they actually be learning a lot of vocab along with the actual subject content. One of the reasons they thought of me is because they have lost their teacher unexpectedly and they want someone who is free and multilingual. Geography is a very a minor option - 2 hours a week max. Kids are 14 -16.

My main concern is how to make Geography INTERESTING! And by the way, after 10 years I fear I´ve just forgotten good techniques to keep discipline.

Thanks Geogteach, that looks like a good start.

not sure if it's right age range, but text book wise, dh used lots by David Waugh. Also, the GA pubish a GCSE journal called Geography... other stuff i remember is a level and above I'm afraid. The GA are very helpful though

Isn't Geography just colouring in?

TBH I would avoid all the dull geology and stick to teaching where places actually ARE if it's an option. I can vaguely remember being taught about escarpment and fluvial flood plains but couldn't place most countries on a map of Europe!
And I have a C in GCSE Geography. But then maybe that's an adult way of looking at it. I digress: Good Luck!

this is good on classroom management

In our school lots of Humanities nowadays is about learning logic and reasoning, i.e. a move away from learning any facts in particular, and towards skills in understanding charts and tables, using sources correctly and critically, etc. I've no idea what the curriculum might be in the country you're in.

Good luck and congratulations btw!

stick to teaching where places are¬!!!!! oh please, geography is far more than that.... development issues, poverty, social class, housing, climate, the environment, planning, trade...... teaching kids the content of a map is pointless if they dont know what goes on in the places they can name! (sorry unemployable, bit of hijack..)

i knew there would be a reasonable explanation!!!

Thanks ladies, I´m feeling more confident every minute.. BTW, how do teachers cope with mobile phones in the classroom? What is the typical policy towards them in schools?

I have a friend who is teaching geog. to that age group, in a private school. She loves it but they are monkeys, sometimes. Can you find the syllabus for GCSEs to get started...?

we ban them.

other schools allow them but insist they are switched off during lesson time

don't tolerate mobile phones! most schools have a no phones policy during lessons i would imagine????