Secondary Geography - A Level Essays

Tackling 'A' level Essay Writing

The start of Year 13 for me always begins with trying to teach A Level students how to write a successful essay. We do AQA and there is a lot of emphasis in terms of marks on the one essay they have to write for the Geog3 paper. Although students are usually used to writing essays in other subjects, I find that they often struggle to ‘get going’ on writing that first geography essay and the resulting quality is often poor.  

Last year I decided to have a department focus on essay writing. The marks on the essays that summer had been quite low and there were no Level 4 marks despite there being several A grade students. I spent one lesson going through examples of Level 4 essays and the mark schemes. In order to boost their confidence and get them working together as a team I decided to do the first essay as a whole class exercise. I chose a title that covered the work we had been doing in the first few weeks on plate tectonics – “Compare and contrast two plate margins and evaluate which is the most hazardous”. I felt that this covered three command words which we could explore and also covered the concept of ‘hazard’. The powerpoint I used through the lesson is attached here.

We began the exercise by using thinking maps (we are a thinking school and students are familiar with using them in lessons). We used a double bubble map to compare and contrast two margins (as a class the students chose Mid Atlantic Ridge and the North American subduction zone). This allowed them to focus on 'compare and contrast' and to develop their initial thoughts. 

We then used the circle map to define ‘hazard’ in terms of the two margins. A class discussion took place to plan out the structure of the essay. 6 paragraphs were then agreed on. As they were going to complete the conclusion at a later stage I took this out and then randomly selected five groups (I use Super Teacher Tools for random group making) and gave each group a large piece of sugar paper and some resources. Each piece had one of the paragraphs written as a heading. A café style exercise then took place – each group was given 3 minutes to write their ideas for the paragraph before moving onto the next table. In this manner every student had the chance to contribute an idea to each paragraph. 

Each group was then given one of the pieces of sugar paper to review. They crossed out ideas that they thought they wouldn’t use – I visited each group and asked them to justify their decision. A class discussion then ensued to ensure continuity and establish successful use of examples. Following this they were then given the task of writing the paragraph for the essay in their groups. They did this on laptops so that they could email me the finished version. Each group had a ‘runner’ who visited other groups to check that there was continuity between the paragraphs and each group had a check list of what to include in a successful paragraph (attached here). 

The resulting paragraphs were of a very high standard. I collated them together and they then wrote their conclusion as an individual homework. These then allowed me assess their individual progress but it also demonstrated the importance of reading through your essay before you write the conclusion to ensure that you are supporting the essay as a whole. It also allowed them to explore the concept of ‘hazard’ and be synoptic in their approach.

The whole exercise was a huge success - student feedback indicated that they enjoyed the lessons (it took 2 lessons to complete in total) and it gave them confidence. The next essay I gave them to write individually was of a much higher standard than I had seen the previous year. I also had one third of students achieve Level 4 in the essay question in the summer exams.

Tania Grigg

Head of Humanities at Clyst Vale Community College and Senior Examiner for AQA (GCSE and A level)

Secondary Science - The Nobel Prize for Chemistry

The “impossible” crystals -  The 2011 Nobel Prize for Chemistry

This year’s Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded to Prof. Daniel Shechtman of Israel.

The Story

In 1982, forty-one year old Daniel Shechtman was spending  a couple of years in the USA, on sabbatical from his post in the Materials Science Department at Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology.  He was using electron diffraction to investigate the structure of crystals of some alloys of aluminium..  The results gave a surprising pattern.  Shechtman checked and re-checked his results but they still seemed to show that the arrangement of the atoms in the crystal was what had previously been thought to be impossible.  His American colleagues thought his results were ridiculous and a journal refused to publish them. 

Shechtman returned to Israel and with help from friends succeeded in getting his results published. Many scientists criticised his work but others found other examples of the impossible crystals.

At the same time as Shechtman’s discovery, scientist Alan Mackay was building models using unusual patterns devised by the mathematician Roger Penrose.  Mackay’s models matched Shechtman’s results – the crystals were not impossible after all. Now the study of quasicrystals is growing and uses are being found for the strange materials.  Daniel Shechtman is still Professor of Materials Science at Technion.

The Science
It had always been thought that the arrangement of particles in crystals must be orderly, repetitive and symmetrical.  This means that only a limited number of patterns were allowed.  If we use 2-D patterns as an example, triangles, squares or hexagons can fit together with no gaps and the pattern repeated time after time.  Pentagons will not fit.  However Roger Penrose showed that patterns made up of rhombuses or other repeated simple shapes could be built up into patterns containing pentagons, but each part of the pattern looked different.  Islamic artists had made mosaics of tiles in these patterns in medieval Iran.  Mackay showed that these same patterns could be built in 3D using balls to represent atoms.

Electron diffraction pictures are obtained when crystals scatter a beam of electrons.  The effect is similar to using X-rays.  The pictures appear as a pattern of bright spots.  Normal crystals produce patterns of spots with multiples of 4 of 6 spots in circles corresponding to the normal cubic or hexagonal arrangement of the particles.  Shechtman’s pictures had rings of ten spots showing that the atoms were arranged in the non-repeating patterns predicted by Mackay’s models.

The applications

Since Shechtman’s discovery many quasicrystalline materials have been found and are beginning to find uses.  Steel containing quasicrystals embedded in the normal crystalline structure is hard and durable.  It is used in razor blades and fine needles.

Other quasicrystalline materials are poor conductors of heat and electricity and have non-stick surfaces and high melting points. They are being used in non-stick cookware, in electronic devices such as LEDs and to insulate engines.

The lessons for science

We think of scientists as being methodical and sceptical.  Shechtman was a good scientist in the way that he checked his data but was intrigued by a surprising and perhaps anomalous result.  His colleagues do not come out of the episode as well.  Their immediate rejection of his conclusions because they disagreed with the textbook on crystal structures showed an unwillingness to consider new and different ideas.
The definition of crystals has had to be changed – it is now any structure that produces a distinctive diffraction pattern.

Further investigation

Go to the Nobel Prize website for more details about Shechtman’s prize winning work.
Search terms:  Professor Daniel Shechtman, quasicrystals,  Penrose tiling, electron diffraction,  Alan Mackay crystals.

Peter Ellis

Secondary English - Unseen Poetry approach

Once, Twice, Three Times a Commentary

I don’t know about you but I am finding preparing my GCSE students for the unseen poetry exam question rather problematic. Even the best students seem to be technique spotting, at best, and are having trouble at pulling their ideas together. However, never fear! I have just been given a brilliant tip for tackling unseen commentaries. It was actually aimed at students on the International Baccalaureate course but I see no reason why it shouldn’t work for GCSE students too.

The trick is to get them reading the text not one, not two but three times. The first time they read, students should make notes on their general impression, ignoring any specific techniques. The students should then draw a line under their notes and read the text a second time. This time they should focus on the details, writing notes about the language, structure, layout and the effects created. After they have done this, the students should read the text for a third time. On this reading, they should re-read for a holistic view of the text, thinking about how they can group and organise their points, e.g. by narrative voice, setting, theme etc.

The best ideas are always the simple ones and I think this is going to revolutionary for my students. What I like about it is that it slows them down, forcing them to read the poem in different ways. It allows them to consider the poem in a general way, so that when they unpack the poet’s methods they have an understanding of how they link with the meaning of the poem. The third reading is a great way of re-enforcing to them that they need to consider how the techniques work together to create meaning in the text.

Hopefully now, when my students start writing about unseen poems, they will have a clearer idea of how to structure their response. After all, they may have the opportunity for three readings of the poem, in the exam, but they certainly won’t have time to write three essays!

Naomi Hursthouse
Advance Skills Teacher 
Steyning Grammar School

Secondary RE and PSHE - Enquiry-Based Learning

During an INSET day in September, I was reminded that students learn and remember best when the learning has meaning. Essentially, the learning undertaken within PSHE and RE should have meaning to all students, as both subjects explore contemporary moral issues and personal views and opinions as well as those of others. However, it made me think about how we can make our lessons even more meaningful to the students that we teach.

I decided to try an enquiry-based learning approach which focussed more fully on the students and their own individual learning journeys. Instead of a learning objective that stated ‘Today you will be learning about…’ I gave the students a question and told them their challenge was to be able to formulate a detailed answer to this question using the learning that they made in the lesson, e.g. Is a place of worship important for the local community? Can scientists be religious? Is peace achievable?

In pairs or small groups students start their enquiry by creating a circle map - a number of concentric circles in which certain pieces of information go. Each concentric circle has a different focus:

1. What do I already know that can help me to answer the question?
2. How do I know what I know? Where has my knowledge come from?
3. What questions do I have about the topic/ learning objective question?
4. How can I find out the answers to my question?
5. Answers that I have found out/ learnt during the lesson to help me answer my questions.

Students initially complete circles 1-4 and their ideas, thoughts and questions and can be shared as a class. The main part of the lesson can take shape in any number of ways: research, experiential activities, a visit to the local place of worship, visiting speakers, card sorts, comprehension activities etc., but the key thing is that students keep adding notes/bullet-pointed pieces of information to the fifth circle on their circle maps. Not only will this show students the progression of their learning, but it will also encourage them to find more answers as it creates competition between the groups. At the end of the lesson, each group creates a 1 minute presentation to the rest of the class showing the progress of their learning, their initial questions about the topic, what answers they found, what worked well in helping them to find their answers and to ultimately give an answer to the learning objective question.

The students that I have trialled this with seem to find the learning more meaningful, as the learning objective question gives a sense of direction for the lesson’s learning, but it also enables students to have a sense of ownership over their learning, as they are creating their enquiry questions and trying to answer these too.

Teresa Langler
Head of Beliefs and Values
Clyst Vale Community College

Secondary English - Using Drama in your classroom!

Don’t worry; they don’t all need to be on their feet in your tiny classroom!

The Drama Studio is not always available in my school and I like to keep lessons lively so these are some ideas and resources that have worked really well with my KS3 pupils.

Warm up idea:
When calling the register set a theme, such as 'you must answer with the name of a celebrity whose first name started with the same letter as your last name'. Or, an action for each letter – people who have a vowel as a first name have to jump on one leg when their name is read until the end of the register, people whose names begin with b,c,d,f,g,h must moo like a cow until the register is read. This breaks down barriers and stops them getting worried about looking silly and being self conscious because everyone is doing it.

Save me because…
This can be assessed as a Speaking and Listening exercise and works especially well with lower ability pupils or pupils with ALN. The premise is that a group of professional people are in a hot air balloon making their way to a promised land, the balloon starts to sink and someone needs to be chucked overboard. I have the pupils sat on tables of 4 or 5 and give them each a number that correlates to the person in the balloon – this way it avoids arguments early on! They then have to argue why they need to stay in the balloon, for example, the ‘Teacher’ may argue the importance of education (although in my experience, we usually get kicked overboard!)
(Download the resource as a pdf here)

Doorbell dinner party
This is from ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’ and works really well in the classroom. Using the resource provided, give a few of your more confident pupils a role and send them outside of the door. You will then need a host and someone who can make a doorbell noise. Once the doorbell goes a guest in character enters, the host needs to ask them questions to work out who they are, they should respond in character. This works best if you have about 5 guests who all enter the room within about 2 minutes. The pupils can remain sitting in their seats and get to ‘guess the guest’ after 3 minutes (I use a timer on the board). Once you’ve played this a couple of times and they understand the premise it works really well using characters from your class reader or a Shakespeare play.
(Download the resource as a pdf here)

Improvised Script
This is a very short script that pupils can quickly memorise, they then must deliver the script using different emotions and expressions each time. It helps pupils to understand tone, delivery and clarity of speech. It works well in seats or pupils can stand up to show examples. I found that it helped less confident readers to express themselves.
(Download the resource as a pdf here)

Joanna Fliski
Teacher of English, Media and Drama - Lliswerry High School.

Secondary Sociology - Sociological Settler Activities

The settler is essentially a thought-based prelude to a starter activity.  In my practice, it’s usually something projected on the interactive white board as students enter the class.  Not only does a good settler maximise a patch of dead time whilst students get seated and get out their books etc, but it also serves as something to spark their interest or set the theme of the lesson before they even sit down. Students often have to arrive from different parts of the school or college building so settlers are a good way of ensuring your engaging starter isn’t missed by the minority who might get waylaid en route.  Perhaps most pertinent though, is how a settler can be used as a behaviour for learning tool - a clear and accessible visual task that students can engage with as soon as they enter a classroom.  If you’re not lucky enough to teach successive lessons in the same classroom, print a PowerPoint slide (2 per page saves paper) with the settler on and hand it to students as they enter.  Ask them to annotate the slide if they like.

Now, these suggested activities don’t reinvent the wheel, but they do serve as useful prompts, thought-provokers or recap opportunities for Sociology (or other) students.  Personally, I like my settler and starter to be explicitly linked to the content of the lesson, but I often recap a previous lesson's learning or reintroduce some long forgotten key terms.  The following is a non-exhaustive list of some settlers that have worked well across a variety of AS and A2 Sociology topics.  The formats of which can be used over and over for any subject and for any key stage.

1. What do these people have in common? Show images of two or more celebrities or historical figures that all have something in common: Henry the Eighth and Jennifer Lopez are both serial monogamists; Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Julia Roberts were all raised by single-parents
2. What does this graph represent? Project a graph, chart or table and hide/withhold the title. You could give students a hint about the theme (e.g., a criminal act) but I like to be more abstract.  Projection of world happiness maps always intrigue students, and lead to good discussions about the link between wealth, health and happiness.
3. Blank the stat: In large text present a key statistic but delete important information, be it the figure itself or perhaps what the statistic portrays. For example: ‘ ___% of school exclusions are males’, or ‘1,800 calls per day in the UK are made to the Police regarding _________’.
4. Cryptic keywords: Find an image that represents a key term.  You can be literal or more metaphorical. A picture of a guitar and a bread roll can depict Parson’s theory of the instrumental role.  Yes, I know that’s stupid but it’s way of asking students to recall key terms and you can ask them to define in the follow up. A series of these also makes a quick plenary.
5. Keyword stakes: Ask students to bet how many keywords they can define from an extensive list of familiar, or even unfamiliar, key words. This serves as a great way to introduce new terms, or as a way of recapping at the end of a unit.
6. Something to think about: It could be an image, headline or abstract question that you briefly discuss when all students are seated/ready. My favourite is showing male/female perfume adverts from magazines next to one another and asking ‘What do these fragrances smell like?’ I used this to look at semiotics and advertising, but it can be used when examining gender representation, mass media, gender norms and values and even research methods.

Christopher Stump

Sociology Teacher, Harrow, London

Primary Literacy - Collins Big Cat Writing Competition 2012

Berlie Doherty

Whenever I work with young children I am delighted, but not surprised, at the level of creative excellence many of them are capable of. Teachers know this, sometimes their peers know this, but often the young writer doesn’t. The poem or story they’ve produced gets lost among all the other work they have to do.  So the Big Cat writing Competition provides a real opportunity for the talented young writer to be acknowledged publically. But it’s not just for the gifted child. Working on a particular project of this kind, knowing that thousands of other children are working on it too, will give every child a sense of the significance of writing to the best of their ability. Writing for a competition implies that you are writing for an audience beyond the classroom – it makes it special. It focuses your mind on what creative writing is all about. Writing a book that is going to be read by a younger child sets an interesting (difficult) challenge. And it helps children to understand the process of creative writing, of expressing a dream idea in words.

When I was a child I used to write stories and poems that were regularly published on the children’s page of the Liverpool Echo. I was extremely lucky to have had such an outlet, an incentive to write, and a sense of audience. This is what the Big Cat writing competition is all about, and here the goal is even greater – to be published as a real writer with a real book. When I was ten years old I could never have dreamed that such a thing could be possible. Only a few children will win, but every child who enters should be given the opportunity to see the published books and to know that someone of their own age wrote them. Fantastic.

So how do we help children to write their own book? As it is to be targeted at children younger than themselves, they could first talk about the books they remember from when they were that age. They probably still own them. What did they love most about them? Maybe you could bring some of your own favourite childhood books. We love the illustrations, but what is it that makes the pictures work? The story! Read lots of stories, talk about who the main characters are, and how they behave. (Even an animal character is often a child really; an animal family is actually just like theirs). Talk about the humour, the uncertainty, the sense of loss, the triumph, that many of these story characters experience in the course of the narrative. Talk about how each fresh page brings a new development, (the artist needs to be able to change the background, move the characters, add things to the scene, so this is an important factor in the story.). Think of the page as a stage, where the characters are actors, where things happen to them or around them or because of their actions. Talk about how the whole story or poem leads up to the last line, which is just right, leaving you surprised or pleased and satisfied, never puzzled, annoyed or disappointed.

There are two storylines to choose from (or combine) and they’re both really open and offer lots of possibilities. For a young reader, the story would need to be interesting but not complicated. The language should be clear and lively, but there’s no harm in introducing unusual and imaginative words – story is the way we extend our vocabulary as well as our emotional understanding of our world. Every story has two lives – one when it is read aloud and shared, the other when it is read silently as a personal activity. And when it’s read aloud the reader can think of themselves as an actor, bringing the words and the characters and actions to life as vividly as the illustrator has done. It’s a great team – author, illustrator, reader, and listener. And the story, the powerful, lively, memorable story, is at the centre of it all.

I’m so excited at being one of the judges – and I can’t wait to read the entries. Good luck everyone!

Berlie Doherty - Carnegie award-winning writer and one of the 2012 Writing Competition judges