"Look at it this way"

Quite good for a blog about a book that is now quite old... and available in limited quantities. Thanks for reading. 

Another small milestone for another one of my blogs... closing in on 200 000 page views too. A reminder that this blog was set up to support and add additional details to those teaching about landscapes, and in particular the Distinctive Landscapes topic of the OCR 'B' specification. The book is probably a little out of date now if I'm honest, and some of the ideas that were originally 'brand new' have since become common, or been appropriated by others... but it's still worth a look. Still available for purchase.

A small milestone to pass. Started this blog back in Augut 2007, when I'd just finished work on a book for the Geographical Association's KS3 Toolkit series, all about landscapes. The book was called 'Look at it this Way'. The book is still available to purchase, and this blog has shared relevant stories linked to the chapters and updates over the years. Some of the ideas have been adapted and used by others since, and they may not even know that the book was the first time they were shared in print. Thanks for reading. There will continue to be occasional postings as the book is still available to purchase.

At the moment, there is a 15% sale on a wide range of GA publications.  This includes all the KS3 toolkit books, so you can pick up a copy of 'Look at it this Way' much cheaper than it is available elsewhere, such as Amazon, and revisit some of the earlier posts on this blog for extra thoughts on how to use the activities. Some of them will seem familiar to you, but when first published, these were brand new.

Up to 400 posts on this blog. Remember that it was originally set up to support and extend the ideas in the KS3 Toolkit book that I wrote for the previous KS3 curriculum changes, which was called 'Look at it this Way'. There are still copies available to buy from the GA shop but I understand that they are running out…. This new GCSE toolkit on the subject of landscapes will be published in time for the Autumn term I understand - good for the new GCSEs… and written by Becky Kitchen from the GA.

It's usual at this time of year for me to share pictures of the yellowing fields, which also feature in Chapter 5 or 6 of the toolkit book: "Look at it this Way". Here's some rapeseed taken the other morning near East Lexham in Norfolk, on the way to work

This blog was started following the completion of my KS3 Toolkit book 'Look at it this Way' as a companion blog, and to include and use the various chapters and sections that didn't end up in the book - quite a lot of materials. It now shares ideas on landscapes and how to teach about them, and various ideas linked to landscapes... The book is still available to purchase from the GA shop. Today, the blog passed through 30 000 page views, so thanks for visiting and reading the blog...

In my KS3 Toolkit book for the GA, "Look at it this Way", there was an activity called 'First Class Landscapes' which explored the design of stamps to show a future landscape. Since then, plenty of stamp sets have emerged, and we are now about to have a really nice looking set of coastal landscapes.

This blog was launched to support my KS3 Toolkit book  when it was published. There are now 301 posts here, which include further resources to flesh out the lessons in the book, as well as other more general landscape-related posts. Thanks for reading. The book is still available from the GA shop - if you see me, I'm happy to sign your copy ;)

In early November  (later this week in fact), I'm going to be heading down to Somerset for the Somerset Geography Conference. I'm doing a session on my KS3 Toolkit book on landscapes (with updates) and ideas about teaching about landscapes. This will include mentions of the White Cliffs of Dover, Ash dieback, Brave and other Pixar films, burger boxes, Google Earth and other things.... The conference has been developed with a lot of work from Noel Jenkins, who has put together a great line-up for the conference. Sadly, like the SAGT conference at the weekend (see separate blog post), Iain Stewart was unable to attend as he had been allowed permission to film in Turkmenistan, which apparently is rare, but had to be this week. Don't forget that this award-winning Toolkit book has a blog to support it - as with many of my books, such as the Badger GCSE book which has its own blog HERE. If you can't make that event, you now have the option to join me for a virtu...

Noel Jenkins recently shared a KS3 Geography 'Fantasy' scheme that he had put together... It's great to see that in the Year 7, there's a healthy dose of Landscapes. You can still get your copy of ' Look at it this Way' from the GA ONLINE SHOP - now with free delivery.... Take a look at the SoW and see where you can fit landscapes into your KS3...

A new feature was added to the GA website yesterday, following discussions by the Website Editorial Board earlier in the year, and some great work by the web team. You can now  JOIN THE CONVERSATION.. As a GA member , when you log in you will be able to add a comment to any page of the website and, if you have purchased an item from the GA shop, you can also add a STAR RATING and a comment. Please feel free to add a comment on "Look at it this Way"... This development will let us develop more of a community feel to the website (non GA members will have to wait for their comment to be moderated) and if you are logged in you can add an image to your profile. I have added a comment to the page which contains my WINTER TEACHING IDEAS , so feel free to take a look at that and add your own thoughts... The snow is falling again outside the window as I press PUBLISH POST...

Images of Castleton area by Alan Parkinson and Simon Hathaway Lesson 3 of my toolkit looks at the impact of a road closure on a settlement. It is based on the closure of the road below Mam Tor near the Peak District settlement of Castleton. At a session in Gloucester yesterday, I talked about the connection with the settlements in Cumbria which have been affected by the closure of bridges following the unprecedented rainfall in the area over the weekend. There is lots of potential here for exploring the impact of sudden change, and the long term nature of that change... I have uploaded an old resource of mine which I developed for use around the same time, but which didn't make it into the toolkit. This is a "most likely to" activity based in the same area of Castleton in the Peak District. I used this extract numerous times throughout my teaching career, and it found its way into many a textbook and mapskills task... Castleton Most Likely To View more presentations fro...

First sighting of the full set of GA Toolkits , at the Wrexham Living Geography event earlier this week. All available from the GA Shop. And thanks to Anne Greaves for giving " Look at it this Way " pride of place on the newly re-designed GA website.

Image by John Lyon...