GA Conference 2015 - 16 - Friday 10th April


STILL trying to finish my review of the GA conference... a few more posts to go...

Friday is the main day of the conference.

It started early, by having breakfast with one of my geography heroes: Margaret Roberts.
We talked about a number of things, including some overseas work she was preparing for, and as always it was great to catch up with Margaret.

I chatted to a few other folks before getting ready and heading over to the Renold building. The doors had opened at 8.30am, and I grabbed a conference booklet to start circling the sessions that I was going to be attending and a WiFi code. Down to the GA Secondary Phase Committee stand, which was in amongst the other stands for Special Interest Groups.
This is a good place to start as you can browse through resources created by the other groups. I came across the latest 'Geography Matters': produced by the Post 16 SIG, and also Notes and Queries, which is produced by the Independent Schools SIG. I had an article in the latter and also picked up a few useful ideas from the former.

For those who haven't been to the conference, there are several sessions throughout the day including lectures and workshops, and teacher-to-teacher sessions, as well as research updates. A separate programme runs for PGCE/NQT colleagues, and there is also a Young Geographers strand.

The first thing I went to was the Ideas Zone (see a previous post) and met up with Explorer HQ colleagues Dan and Helen and had a coffee.
I missed seeing the Presidential lecture this year (I don't often go to the lectures as a personal preference) and went to a session on curriculum making instead looking for some fresh perspectives.

I browsed the exhibition and talked to quite a few familiar faces from companies and organisations that I've worked with and written resources for over the years.

It was then up to the Leo Houlding lecture (of which more in a separate post)

After that, it was time for lunch and a chat with a few people, and a chance to finalise our lecture, which followed straight on. The catering was very efficient, and the food was tasty.
Over to the lecture theatre in D7 where my HoD Claire Kyndt and I were doing our lecture: The Impact of the Ordinary (see separate post no. 8 for more detail)

We had over 30 people choose to spend an hour of their schedule with us, which was great to see.
We also had some splendid feedback from one person in the audience, a Professor of Geography Education no less, who said it was one of the best presentations she'd seen at any conference... which was nice...

After the lecture, I had to get straight down to another room, where a GA Secondary Phase Committee workshop was going on, and I had time to listen in to some very useful workshops from colleagues (see separate blog post) before it was the end of my major involvement in the conference for the day.
I met with colleagues from the GeoCapabilities project and we headed for an hour long meeting, and then I wandered back to the Teachmeet venue where I'd been earlier as it was setting up to find I'd missed the wine and nibbles....
I did a presentation on 'The Day I met Bernard Clark' and watched the last half a dozen presentations....
Then it was down to the Beermeet. A little hungry as I hadn't eaten since lunchtime. Good chats to friends old and new, before heading back for the hotel...

A fairly epic geography day then.... follow the links for more detail on some of the specific events...

Search #gaconf15 in the box top left to find all the posts, which are also referenced on the GA's website as well.


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