“Are you sitting comfortably.....??” I m a g e b y P s y c h o g e o g r a p h e r u n d e r C C l i c e n s e
Jun 22, 2015
“Are you sitting comfortably.....??”
Image by Psychogeographer under CC license
LiteracyGeography
Writing the earth
Secondary Curriculum Development Leader @ Geographical AssociationFormerly Head of Geography @ KES, King’s Lynn (1988-2008)
Image: Andy Riley
“Language provides the medium for learning geography in every classroom
and should therefore be a major consideration in the planning and
preparation of lessons.”Graham Butt, University of Birmingham
Originally contained in 2nd edition of Balderstone and Lambert (2010)
Kansas City Library , Car ParkTitles chosen by local people...
We live in a society where the image is becoming the dominant means of communication, and where once we used pictures to
illustrate our written texts, increasingly we are using written text to illustrate the pictures.
Most of us engage with moving image texts more than any other form of text in any given day, so the development of literacy skills in young people should recognise that fact.
What links all of these texts is that they are all a form of narrative, so when we develop literacy skills in young people
what we are developing is the set of skills which will enable them to engage critically with the range of narratives which are
in the world, and to be able to construct their own effective narratives.
Bill Boyd, Literacy Adviser, Scotland
Directed Activities Relating to Text
Travel Writing
Maps...
Doreen Massey quote...
Space is a cut across an infinite landscape of stories
Maps are not fixed
They are the surface on which stories happen...
Language of Landscape
Andy Riley – Great lies to tell small kids
It’s good to talk....
• Engage: relate new information to existing experience
• Explore: investigate, hypothesise, speculate, question, negotiate
• Transform: argue, reason, justify, consider, compare, evaluate, confirm, reassure, select
• Present: demonstrate understanding, narrate, describe
• Reflect: consider and evaluate new understanding
“Teacher talk dominates classrooms and controls the
process by which communication takes place, by deciding what kind
of talk is permissible, by whom and for how long.”Margaret Roberts
Image: Val Vannet – no Photoshop
Daily Telegraph – December 2009
Authors describing local geography
• Roger Deakin: “Wildwood”• Craig Taylor: “Return to Akenfield”• Arthur Ransome: “We didn’t mean to go to sea”• W.G. Sebald: “Rings of Saturn”
Activity from “Look at it this Way”With thanks to Gary Dawson
Brian: Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't NEED to follow ME, You don't NEED to follow ANYBODY! You've got to think for yourselves! You're ALL individuals!
The Crowd: Yes! We're all individuals!
Brian: You're all different!
The Crowd: Yes, we ARE all different!
Man in crowd: I'm not...
The Crowd: Sssssh!
Living Geography...http://livinggeography.blogspot.com