Week 8
Teaching Geography
Engage:
HUG THE EARTH
Walking along feeling free
Feeling the Earth here with me
And I love her. She loves me
I hug the Earth, the Earth hugs me.
She's our friend,
We'd like to be together forever.
The Earth is our garden
It's a beautiful place
For all living creatures
For all the human race,
Helping Mother Earth
We can peacefully roam,
We all deserve a place
We can call our home.
Food is a treasure from soil and the sea.
Clean fresh air from the plants and the trees
The warmth of the sun giving life each day
Turns water into rain, it’s nature's way.
And I would like to thank you, Mother Earth,
I like to see you dressed in green and blue
I want to be by you.
Lorraine Bayes
My Thoughts:
This poem is very moving and makes you realize what a beautiful world we live in! Despite the negative aspects, there are so many things to be grateful for on this Earth. "And I would like to thank you, Mother Earth, I like to see you dressed in green and blue," To me, this line represents: appreciate the good and beautiful days with the blue skies and greenery all around. In my future classroom, I can use this poem as a motivator to students to be happy and appreciate the good days and how amazing our Earth is. I'd love to hear elementary school students thoughts on this poem to view their understanding. In regards to teaching social studies, I could potentially use this poem for a geography lesson to reinforce how important it is to take care and respect our Earth.
Explore:
Innovative Ways of Teaching Geography:
"Idea 2 - Mystery Boxes"
- I really like the idea of mystery boxes in the classroom when introducing a new topic! This idea can incorporate a sense of fun for the students as well when reaching into the box and taking an educated guess at what the lesson will be about.
"Idea 3 - Google Earth Trip"
- From experience, I have explored a social studies lesson including a Google Earth Trip and thought it was a very engaging way for students to interact with each other during a social studies lesson. Since, technology is a big part of today's day and age, students will be more attracted to this activity. At the same time, you can learn about geography while "flying," around in Google Earth.
"Idea 17 - Draw It"
- This idea is great! Drawing is a hobby of many students, so this will definitely spark interest and creativity. A picture really does speak a thousand words, and when evaluating students artwork, as teachers we can view what each students interpretations were of the news article.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1aOKF9yHy2UGBPCg38PR8FXwQLNRBZUHAOFDvMYRXcCk/edit#slide=id.i0
Geography Internet Resource:
- This article is a short resource to better one's understanding about geography. Not only does this article provide some information on today's geography but it talks about the history and development.
Treasure Hunt:
During this treasure hunt, I was able to get a feel for an activity I would consider doing in my own classroom one day. It was an easy enough assignment but I still feel like students will still be able to learn a lot throughout research and collect information about different areas in the world!
I found all of the statistics very interesting, and comparing them to my group members we all found the same information while doing this treasure hunt. It was cool to compare our answers for the "In My World," section.
Explain:
I believe that being able to study a map while in elementary school is very important for young children! This activity allows students to explore the different parts of a map and I think it is great for them to possibly discover things they might not have known prior. Personally, I loved learning about geography when I was younger!
Evaluate:
In addition to the Geography Treasure Hunt activity on Google Classroom, Dr. Smirnova also had us explore an activity called, "Create Your Own Country." With the mapping skills that the students have gained, they would be told to apply and follow the directions for this project. This comes with a lot of freedom and I believe that this focuses on independent learning to reflect on what they have learned. Also, I like how this activity can be altered to many different grade levels and it is definitely one I would most likely use with my students in the future!
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