Mary Woolley decided to make four revision sheets for her lower-band Year 11 set. Each was to help them view their American West study through a different lens. She was rather uncertain, however (and so were the pupils) about her fourth sheet on places. Her reflections on the revision sheet and subsequent reading led not only to a totally new revision sheet on place for next year, but to a fresh way of developing pupils' thinking about the entire course. Mary Woolley shows how one head of history's encounter with the idea of place as a concept, and with a body of literature emerging from cultural geography, opened up new possibilities for teaching and learning about the American West.