How can the Peak District be re-presented as a place?

1. How can the Peak District be re-presented as a place? Cross-curricular fieldwork in Geography and English Debbie Moss

2. ‘How we see and represent the world lies at the heart of Geography’ (Taylor, 2005) ‘English must provide a purposeful context for writing eg. drawing on experiences of a landscape encountered on a geographical field trip to inspire poetry.’ (QCA, 2007) ‘A somatic approach to education integrates, as an existential whole, the experiential history of individuals to learn from their ability to attend and to listen to the information they are receiving from the interaction of self and the environment.’ (Sellers-Young, 1998)

3. How did we go about it? • Joint planning session between English Course Leader and Geography • Exchange of information about ATs eg name of student (law background), interest in theology, Lord of the Rings. Appears to enjoy own company-possibly more distant from other members of group. Interested in books about God. …..(fieldwork, natural landscapes, human thought-psychological impact) Likes autobiographies, books with images, filming, photography, writing , performing music. • Joint session between English and Geography ATs before fieldwork object of significance about place, place exercises, sound maps • Joint session when roles allocated to students • Planning session for ATs • Fieldwork (3 days) • Follow up session to present displays from fieldwork

4. Group identities • Group identity Gawain and The Green Knight –revisiting landscape from time of poem • Jake , teenager, 15 years old from Stoke-on-Trent • Edith, Climatologist-interested in changing landscapes • Shazia, Water Authority representative, works with local schools on water projects • Sukhjit, parent to three children, 15, 12 and 7 , lives and works in Manchester, visitor to Peak District • Josh, local musician and poet • Naomi, naturalist and travel writer • Louis, film maker, keen to reflect Lives, conflicts of local people and their give them a voice. • Clive, landscape architect-

5. Fieldwork-Friday • Arrive at Gradbach at 4-4.30pm • Briefing and evening activity • Health and safety, camp protocols • Experiential learning: conducting sensory fieldwork • Visit to Lud’s Church • Field Sketching • Debrief/Risk assessment • Evening meal • Quiz

6. Fieldwork-Saturday • Morning-Map and compass exercises, using photographs, designing cryptic clues to engage with place around scout camp • Afternoon-Group activity ‘Whose place is the area around Gradbach? How can this area be represented in different ways?’ Groups work in roles allocated • Evening- poetry writing

7. Fieldwork-Sunday • Plenary activity ‘Show and tell’ Relating experience to Statutory requirements and potential role as ‘educators’

8. Return to Keele • 1 follow up session with presentations and peer assessment • Geos to complete reflective tasks for Supplementary Studies Portfolio

9. Gradbach Display Assessment Sheet

10. Assessment Criteria Representation of place Is there a clear representation of place according to a particular perspective? through whose eyes are you seeing this place? Does the perspective itself represent other perspectives within their field/ is it appropriate? Which media have been used to represent the information? Skills and Concepts Does the display develop a range or could be used in the delivery of a range of Concepts within the two subjects? Did the display require certain skills to be developed? Does the display provide examples of certain skills? Sensory / Tactile Elements/experiential learning What sensory/tactile elements are present in the display? Are they durable? A+T, SEN and Inclusion Does the display cater for A+T students? Does the display cater for students with a range of SEN? Is the display inclusive? Have a range of learners been considered in the display’s composition? Overall Presentation Would the display engage you? How accessible is the information? How well does it develop your thinking?

14. Evaluating work • Evaluations completed • Video commentaries reflecting on the work

15. Home and Alone in Gradbach (using OS maps and place names to write poetry which engages with develops concept of place) My goodness Windygates, I’m very much Bennetsnitch about being left Midgleygate all by my Flash Bottom. I’m all very Winkled and Allgreave in Gradbach. Anyway I hope to TurnEdgeand Flash at Doxey’s Pool but might be Danebridged because it’s all too Swythamley now the ATs have gone Hillylees. Thanks Cliff Holling Goodness that we can all Rockhall and Hazel Barrow tonight at the Three Horseshoes-provided we are very Spring head and not Roached or Sniddled. Debbie Moss, Gradbach,Oct 2009 What happened to Debbie at Gradbach? What things did she see? How did she feel about this place?

16. ‘Fieldwork provides many teachers and students with some of their most significant and enjoyable educational experiences.’ David Caton, 2006 Should be, but not always the case! Pupils’ and teachers’ experiences of fieldwork don’t always support the above statement!

17. References Abbs, P. (2003) ‘Against the Flow’ from Education, the Arts and Postmodern Culture Routledge Caton, D. (2006) New approaches to Fieldwork Geographical Association QCA (2007) National Curriculum English: Programme of study for KS3 Sellers-Young, B. (1998) ‘Somatic Processes: Convergence of Theory and practice.’ Theatre Topics8, No.2 (September) Taylor, L. (2005) Re-presenting Geography Chris Kington Publishing