When you subscribe, free you receive a new photo of some fascinating part of the earth each day. Good for discussion of “environment” “pattern” “processes” “interaction” and “change”  Anything geographic for that matter. There is also a juxtapose facility which allows you to slide a bar over the photo to see a ‘before / after” of the same area.

http://www.dailyoverview.com/fiftyeight/

Thanks Kevin.

At our recent AGM the issue of students being colour blind was discussed and the impacts that this has on students in exam situations.

Sally Brodie from Botany Downs Secondary College had this to say.

Regarding colour blind students and the resource booklets, in particular:

• We ask students early in the year to let us know they are colour blind – discretely
• They need a doctors certificate to prove this: NZQA said this was needed, not us.
• I talk to the NZQA liaison person at school  and they contact NZQA to check that they will let us do
• I and the liaison person at school talk to our wonderful Art/photography teacher who can turn the coloured booklet into a grey scale booklet.  We do a test run with the student to see which part of the grey spectrum is best for them
• On the day of the exam the NZQA liaison person at school rings a specified person at NZQA at a given time who emails a copy of the resource booklet to us an hour earlier than the exam and under tight security it is opened in photo shop or some such programme and then printed off in colour on the best printer at the highest quality and also in the greyscale previously sorted out. Student gets both plus one in their exam pack.
• NZQA won’t do any of this for us. We have asked.

Thanks so much for this information Sally!

See the information regarding this and other Special Assessment Conditions from NZQA

http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/providers-partners/assessment-and-moderation/managing-national-assessment-in-schools/special-assessment-conditions/documentation-requirements/

Hope you have had an excellent start to the year.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Please find attached the information for your subscription to the Auckland Geography Teachers Association (AGTA)  for your accounts department in your school. Please note that the subscription levels have remained the same for this year – making it a real bargain!

Register your departments contact details here asap. 

This year we are asking for all your departmental members email addresses to ensure that we have everyone on our data base and to improve our communications with everyone.

What are the benefits of joining the AGTA for you and your department: 

1. Access to our through our ever expanding website –  agta.org.nz

2. Access to resources for scholarship and being able to attend workshops with your students.

3. Access to examinations written by teachers using the assessment specifications for all years including scholarship 

4. Ability to register and attend a range of workshops over the year to improve the teaching and learning in your classrooms.

5. A supportive committee who can help with questions you may have on anything geographical.

6. A group who have the ear of NZQA and can communicate your concerns.

2017 MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION AGTA

Welcome back to another wonderful year of teaching the best subject in the world – we are so lucky to be able to work with students on things that are so relevant to NOW and in the future.

And, to be able to go out and explore our world with our students – some places close to school (not as exciting), and some further away (fun) and some event overseas (very exciting!) 

Have a wonderful year and enjoy it all.

The AGTA committee are looking forward to hearing from you, receiving contributions for our website and meeting you at various events.

The first event of the year is the AGM. Wednesday 15 February.

American but pretty cool.

The AGTA committee wish you all a wonderful summer break and a fantastic holiday with your family and friends.

Looking forward to working with you all in 2017!

Can anyone tell me how the one question with multiple parts will be marked? Does the student have to get all ‘parts of the question” at a certain achievement level or will they be marked holistically? Does the previous N1- E 8 apply for “parts ” of a question ?