Geography, Day 1 - Class Recap

Quite possibly my favorite picture I've ever taken: at the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. It's also on the back wall as the representative for Europe.

Hi everyone,

Welcome to your first weekend of the school year! I am definitely looking forward to resting up a bit after a frenetic start to the year. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 

Knowledge LT 6: I can demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics of locations and regions.
Knowledge LT 7: I can demonstrate the ability to use geographic tools.

Soundtrack: "This is How We Do It" by Montell Jordan. Mostly because of the lyrics "it's Friday night, and I feel alright" and our football team winning last Friday.

AGENDA 9/8/14:
News Brief
The Wall
Geography
Map Quiz

Homework: Bring a photo (see details below). Read the blog and post a comment (if you have not already). Kendall has the next news brief. Have a great weekend!

News Brief: Nolan brought in the first news brief of the year and selected an article about this story: CNN.com - Palace: Catherine and William expecting 2nd child. We talked about the Royal Family in the United Kingdom and how Catherine and William's first child, George, is now third in line to become King of England (behind Prince Charles, and his son, Prince William). I also mentioned the conspiracy theory that this news is coming out at a time when Scotland (part of the United Kingdom for centuries) might vote for independence later this month. Would this news encourage Scots to stay in the union with England? Who knows! Interesting story, though! Thanks, Nolan. Kendall is next up.

The Wall: As a get to know you and get to know the room activity, I split the class up into six groups. Everyone in the group was responsible for knowing everyone else's name. I also assigned each group to look at one of the big photo posters in the back - trying to analyze where they were taken and different aspects of them. It was just an attempt to try and get everyone to work together and use some critical thinking skills. I revealed during this exercise that I took all of the photos that are currently on the back wall. I love traveling and photography! :-)

Your homework was to find a photo to contribute to the back wall. Just a regular 4 x 6 print is 29 cents at Walgreens (I know, because that's what I used to print some of the photos for the back wall). It has to be able to be stapled up (so don't use the last copy of a precious family photo). Here's what I am looking for (choose one):

1) A photo of a place you have been to before.

2) A photo of a place that you want to go to.

3) A photo of you or your family.

I am really excited to see what everyone brings in! Again, if you need help with this, please email me or comment on the blog. I am hoping for an amazing back wall, full of all sorts of pictures from our adventures, hopes, and families! :-)

Geography: Next up, I showed this clip of Miss Teen South Carolina 2007, trying to answer a question about why many Americans cannot locate the United States on a world map:

I didn't mean to further embarrass Miss Teen South Carolina. I just wanted to show why it is important that we know our geography! So, I passed out a blank piece of paper that asked everyone to try and draw a world map from memory, labeling as much as possible. Some of these were pretty good! Others, not so much. That's okay! We definitely can improve on our geography skills, and I am excited to teach you about it. 

The back side of the sheet asked you to self assess your work on a scale of 1-4, using a grading rubric that will be similar as to how I will grade the learning targets for the class. I did not see any 4 maps (highly proficient). There were lots of 1-2 scores. Maybe a few 3 scores. Lots of room for improvement, which is great!

Map Quiz: After the fun of trying to draw the world, we didn't have all that much time left in class. So, I changed up the script (we will do some of the activities on the original agenda next time) and we played the Sporcle online map game. You guys did okay for the first time! A score of 101 out of 197 in about 15:00 minutes is fantastic for a first time playing. My thanks to Nolan for helping me call on students. Again, we will get better about learning about the world! Here's the game to play if you are a huge nerd like me (yes, I have named all of them in 15 minutes before):

Sporcle.com - Geography: Name the Countries of the World Game

We ended just as the game ended. I hope you had fun today! Let's get back to work next class. Remember to bring a photo in for the wall! :-)