Geography, Day 2 - Class Recap

The ball of yarn that we used in class today for the Class Unity Activity! Thanks for participating in this!

Dear class,

I loved getting to really talk more about geography in depth today, and explore a little bit about countries around the world! I am a huge fan of geography and knowing about different countries, so hopefully that excitement translated well.

Learning Targets Addressed: 

Knowledge LT 7: I can demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics of locations and regions.
Knowledge LT 10: I can demonstrate an understanding of the connection between the physical and human systems.

Soundtrack: "Such Great Heights" by the Postal Service. Selected for today because we started looking at the world from above, in terms of maps (and also the space station video that I played in class). Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/15/16:
News Brief - Justus
Photos/Class Unity Activity
Geography
Maps

Homework: Read the blog and post a comment (if you have not already). Bring a photo if you have not already! The next news brief is assigned to: Sara.

News Brief: Today's news brief was brought in by Justus who selected an article about this story: BBC.com - Russia Arctic: Polar bears besiege scientists. We looked up Russia on Google Maps and talked for a bit about this interesting story. Thanks, Justus! We also checked in about the upcoming weekend and what people were up to.

Sara volunteered to do the next news brief.

As part of the news brief, we also watched the one minute BBC World News update. Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):

BBCNews.com - One-minute World News

Photos/Class Unity After the news, I gave the class another chance to showcase a photo from around the world or their family, if they had not done their homework last class. We then went outside to participate in a class unity activity! I always love this, for many reasons. One, because I love hearing about how everyone came to be in our classroom. Two, because of how the yarn connects us all. Three, because it helps the class (and me) learn names and a little about each other! Thank you for participating in this. It can get lengthy, I know, but I value it so much more than just lecturing for that time.

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 the class about it.

I also talked about how important it is to be able to assess your own work as a student. Do you know what a "4" looks like? How about 3, 2, and 1 on the proficiency scale? I had the class assess their work on the "Draw Your Own Map" activity we did last class, now that we could look at the atlas in class. Here's the activity again if you missed it either day:

Google Drive - Draw a Map of the World: Self-Assessment Practice

As I said in class, I expect that most students would be in the 1 or 2 grade range for the proficiency scores. That's totally fine! I haven't taught you anything about it, yet! You should be at that level, unless you have lots of prior knowledge!

Maps: After the fun of trying to draw the world we played the Sporcle online map game. You guys were good for the first time! A score of 120 out of 197 in 15:00 minutes is decent for a first time playing. My thanks to Tyler 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

Thanks for your focus and participation here!

Next, I showed a few links that have to do with creatively thinking about geography. It's so much more than just blank maps and countries! These are real places with real people and amazing scenery! The first link was: TwistedSifter.com - 40 Maps That Will Help You Make Sense of the World. I didn't show all of the maps in class, but I did particularly enjoy a few, like the map of every country in the world that the United Kingdom has invaded at one point or another.

 We ended class with this because we ran out of time. See you next week!