Ayers Rock/Uluru in the Australian outback. Photo taken in January 2014.
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.Knowledge LT 10: I can demonstrate an understanding of the connection between the physical and human systems.
AGENDA 9/14/17:
News Brief - Jalen
Photos/Over The Summer
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: Jordan E.
Jordan was selected 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):
Photos/Over The Summer: 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 also went up to the library to check out Modern World History textbooks for later use.
We then went back and I asked about any major events we could think of that happened over the summer. This was another way of just gauging what the class knew about news around the world. Thanks for participating!
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:
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!
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:
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 all were good for the first time! A score of 150 out of 197 in 15:00 minutes is excellent for a first time playing. 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):
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.
After that, I showed this video that is a time lapse of some shots from the International Space Station, orbiting around the Earth at night. Incredible! See if you can identify the countries and places by their lights at night.
Finally, I showed this video of many different time lapses on the ground, in various different countries. This one makes me smile, because I have been to a few of these places! :-)
I showed these in class to hopefully help inspire you to learn about where these places are and maybe one day to travel there! We are going to keep looking at geography throughout the year.
At the end of class, I passed out copies of a blank world map, for use next class. Keep these in your binder - we will work with them every day for the rest of the year!
At the end of class, I passed out copies of a blank world map, for use next class. Keep these in your binder - we will work with them every day for the rest of the year!
Thanks for your focus and participation here! See you next week!
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