sharegeography.co.uk

Is looming- two weeks and counting for any final submissions….

and snowed…

and closed.

Year 11, please use the addition time to complete your cultural one assignment, which should be with me by the end of the day.

I’ve now finished marking the Year Ten Antarctica and Year Eleven flooding 2 coursework- please email if you want your mark before I see you.

Year 11, a gentle reminder that flooding 3 needs to be completed for this Friday.

Interesting bit of cultural geography (next topic for Year 11), what are they trying to say about the British? Watch the full video here.

Advance notice of coursework deadlines

Year 11 Sustainable flood management assignment needs to be handed in on Friday 5th of December 2008.

Year 10 Extreme Environment assignment needs to be handed in on Monday 8th of December 2008.

Year 11 students should check their emails for further details.

Reminder support documents can be found here, or via the floods tab at the top of the blog.

Deadline is 17th October 2008, via email please.

On the outstanding results, sorry I couldn’t be present, hope to see you at the celebration evening in November.

Enjoyed watching Iain Stewart’s Earth: The Power of the Planet: Ice. Lots of revision here for Year 11, nice preview for year 10.

FloodSim – FloodSim

One to have have a play with in preparation for the Year 11 module, Coping with Floods. I thought it was pretty decent.

Hat-tip J.Barlow.

What does it mean to be a Geographer?

I’m asking for a few minutes of your time, indulge me for moment, away from the glossy leaflets, the surprisingly interesting lessons that have come your way, PowerPoints that raise subjects to God-like status, the potential applications for future careers, combinations of complimentary subjects, the past achievements of students, the trips, the hard sell. What does it mean to be a Geographer?

I often think back to when I found my geographical eye, probably not the result of one event but many, but someday it opened. Some people find it, others never do, perhaps it’s a gift, perhaps love, maybe interest. You can study for it, you can train it, but sometimes it just appears. Take the test, look through the window, what do you see? If only objects, then I’m afraid you may not be one of us, but it you see politics, conflict, inequality, the power of nature and the power of man to imitate, then perhaps you’re a natural.

The problem with the eye is that once you’ve found it, it becomes impulsive, addictive, consuming. Nothing is ever the same. Watching the news becomes a field trip, the world becomes local, the conflict enters your living room, environmental destruction is like a loss of a dear friend, the natural disaster is no longer an act of God but a symbol of the power of the earth. Your mind races through the causes, the impacts, and the effects. It becomes hungry for more, but the problem is the feast is too plentiful, like eating from a king’s table, indulge yourself, but be happy that there is always more.

Soon it becomes a lifestyle choice, the supermarket visit becomes a conflicting battle of ideology, the coffee becomes an issue of fair trade, the trainers become a symbol of workers’ rights, a holiday becomes an issue of human rights, it’s so hard to switch it off. Your body becomes an entity, an instrument; your senses feed from the environment, the walk outside represents a journey through a contested landscape, the rain and wind becomes not a hindrance but a joy, a refreshing reminder of nature’s concern.

Symbiotic in its nature, it grows, it controls you, and it plays with the emotions. It makes you angry and hunger for the just cause, it makes you weak at knees at the power of nature, you become one within its all-encompassing power, it empowers and disarms; it makes a friend of a stranger.

Will geography make you interesting? Maybe. Will it make you employable? Maybe. Will it make you a better person? Maybe. But geography is more than an exam, more than a grade, it’s a continuum of knowledge passed from generation to generation, for the length of human life, it’s a proud tradition carried from the ancient libraries of Babylon, it’s nourishment for the soul, it’s an interest that will never die.

Finally, you realise that everything is geography; nothing escapes its conquering march. Stand to the side and it passes you, sit in its path, and it will sweep you along in its raging waters. Ignore it and it’ll haunt you.

© “Malcom”

Best of luck Year 11 for the future.

TC