Ending my GA Presidential journey

Today is the final day of my GA Presidential journey. It's been emotional...

I've previously blogged about myself when I started as President.

I started my involvement with the GA Secondary Phase Committee around 2004-5, thanks to Rob Lodge who got me involved, and this was when I first encountered Alan Kinder, who was co-chair for a while. I later worked for the GA for three years - starting there 15 years ago tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone involved in the last four years of my Presidential journey, who has supported me in the process - there's a lot of people I could mention here from fellow Trustees, volunteers and those who serve on the committees and SIGs, staff at Solly Street and all those who are GA members. It's been a privilege. It's also my last day of four years as a Trustee and serving on the Governing Body, having also been Chair of Education Group for a year as well, and with previously working on the Secondary Phase Committee for about ten years on and off... and also writing the GA Webwatch column for about twelve years.

I hope I've pushed the idea of Quotidian geographies a little more into the spotlight. I think the GA has certainly changed during my time in the Presidential cycle.

Special mention to Jeremy Krause for his encouragement before and kind words after. Also thanks to Paula Owens and Steve Rawlinson for the original 'push': a few years earlier than I was originally planning.

I shall continue to develop the blog and add more stories from the archives and updates on Presidents as I find them, or they are communicated to me. I hope the project might one day find its way into a different (perhaps even printed or extended digital) form when I have time to do it a little more justice and carry out the necesary research. I need to renew my British Library Reading Room membership which lapsed just after the pandemic.

It's over to Denise Freeman and Hina Robinson tomorrow for the next couple of years of female teacher Presidents - there have been very few of those, so feel free to throw your hat into the ring.

Keep an eye out for your chance to put yourself forward to be GA President in 2025-2026.

Nominations will be asked for before too long.

Image: Selfie taken as I left the University of Guildford campus following my GA Presidential conference in 2022... a job well done.... 

Word cloud of Presidents updated too...

Quick trivia quiz question: Which three surnames have been shared by more than one President?

Thanks to Bob Digby for the mention too...

Today several colleagues finish their terms in trustee roles @The_GA...

A very big thank you to Olwen Lintern-Smyth our outgoing chair, @bobdigby Honorary Treasurer, Sue Holden, @GeoBlogs Immediate Past President, and Dan Cowling, for their vision, commitment and hard work! pic.twitter.com/ah232Ye7Je

— Alastair Owens (@AlastairHackney) August 31, 2023

Wayside Geography

John Nowell Linton Myres was the GA President in 1925. His entry on the blog is here. He was an archaeologist, closely linked with the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.

In 1925, at a GA Annual Meeting he spoke on 'Wayside Geography' which was apparently broadcast on BBC Radio. He expanded that into a longer piece, published in 1926 which is worth reading, as it has connections with the idea of everyday geographies.

Source:

Myres, J. L. “WAYSIDE GEOGRAPHY.” The Geographical Teacher, vol. 13, no. 4, 1926, pp. 285–95. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40556130

GTE Conference 2022 Presentation

I was pleased to be the first speaker at this year's Geography Teacher Educators' Conference.

My presentation, with a few redactions can be seen here.

It is linked to my work on the GA Presidents blog.

Out of the mouths of Presidents from GeoBlogs

GA Birmingham Branch

One of the aspects of the Presidential year that I always planned to do was to speak to as many GA Branches as wanted me to be there...

I won't be making thelong journey across country to Birmingham next Wednesday but will be joining the GA Branch there by Zoom to do a session at the end of the day.

Details of the session are here:

Wednesday 1^st December 2021 4-5pm

"A day in the Life: Enquiring into Everyday Geographies in the curriculum" 

Teacher talk

Mr Alan Parkinson, CGeog, FRGS, FRSGS

Head of Geography at King's Ely (Junior), author & freelance geography consultant 

President, Geographical Association 21-22

RSGS Tivy Medal winner 2013

@GeoBlogs

Alan Parkinson is an inspirational geographer and teacher who is the current President of the Geographical Association. This talk will be of great interest to all Geography teachers whatever their experience of teaching from trainee teachers to teachers of many years. This is a highlight of this year’s talks.

I hope it's a highlight :) Looking forward to finding out what I'm going to say. I may just talk about Peppa Pig World...

Quotidian Geography

I gave much thought of course to the theme for my own Presidential conference in 2022 for some time. This is important as it leads to a particular range of lectures and workshops and invitations to particular speakers that are the choice of the President, and the overall aims of the event. 

The theme I chose is Everyday Geographies.

The public lecture and the other main events are tied to the theme. For more on the theme, check out other posts over on LivingGeography.

There will also be a chance for you to win one of 100 specially-made enamel badges for participation in a curriculum project I will launch in the first week of September.

Also watch out for the hashtags #potga21 and #everydaygeographies in use through the year here and over on Living Geography.

GA Conference 2022

The details of the 2022 GA Conference are now up on the GA website.

The theme is EVERDAY GEOGRAPHIES. Geographies of the every day, and encouraging thinking about geography every day.

Everyday geographies

‘Little minds are interested in the extraordinary; great minds in the commonplace’ – Elbert Hubbard

My theme for 2022 encourages exploration of everyday geographies. We are all living geography. Our diurnal routines connect us with places, people, environments and cultures. Repeated exposure means we sometimes forget how significant these are in shaping our identity and impacting the planetary emergency we all face.

Our quotidian experiences are both individual and shared. Speakers and delegates will be encouraged to revisit the stories of the commodities, cultures and landscapes that shape all our lives, unpicking the geographical connections behind them. In recent challenging times, some of those connections were temporarily severed or amended, and others deserve reassessment.

The 2022 Conference will be an occasion where we can once again come together and take the time to celebrate what makes us who we are: now and in the future, and explore how revealing the powerful hidden magic in these everyday stories can enrich our personal curriculum journeys.

Alan Parkinson, GA Vice President 2020-21

I hope to see you there, but more importantly for the time being, I hope to see you next week for the GA Conference 2021.

A few days left to book.