Geography, Day 9 - Class Recap

This is me doing the Gangnam Style dance, at Gangnam Station in Seoul, South Korea, in January of 2014. Yes, the Korean girl who took this was laughing at me.

Dear class,

We are finally done with map quizzes and most of the Geography unit! Thank you for your patience and understanding as we finished today and there was a flurry of activity. I will grade your packets in the coming days for your upcoming progress reports. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets:
Behavior LT 2: I can self-direct my learning.
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: "Gangnam Style" by PSY. Selected because we had our last map quiz today, on Asia. South Korea is where PSY is from, which is in Asia. Lyrics (which are mostly Korean, and hilariously translated to the English alphabet) here.

AGENDA 10/7/15:
News Brief – Catherine
Asia Map Quiz
Atlas/Map Work
Turn in Collection of Evidence

Homework: Read the blog. Your geography packet needed to be turned in today, so if you have parts you did not turn in, please get it to me ASAP. Study for the states quiz next week. Next news brief: Marion.

News Brief: Catherine brought in an article about this story for the news brief: CNN.com - Doctors Without Borders: Kunduz strike an 'attack on the Geneva Conventions'. We found Afghanistan on the world map packet (handy, because we were doing the Asia map quiz today) and talked about this story. I mentioned that our family elected to have people give money to Doctors Without Borders instead of flowers and other condolences after my dad was killed last year, because my dad was a doctor and cared a lot about people. So, this is a really awful story, and important to figure out what happened. Marion was randomly selected to do the next 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

I also asked about any plans for the long weekend and talked a little bit about what I have been up to. It was great to meet your parents at Back to School Night yesterday! :-)

Asia Map Quiz: This was the last map quiz opportunity (remember, you had 6 possible opportunities with different map quizzes - 3 of which you choose as your best work to be graded along with the other geography work we have been doing). We graded and passed this back in class, so everyone should have had all the graded quizzes available for selection.

Atlas/Map Work: There was time in class for students to be finishing any geography unit work, after the Asia quiz. I hope you used your time wisely! The assignments for the unit are:

1) The completed world map packet, labelled and colored. Link here.
2) Your choice of the top three out of the six map quizzes that we took in class.
3) The Five Themes of Geography Atlas activity. Link here.
4) Latitude and Longitude in Central Asia worksheet. Link here.

Turn in Collection of Evidence: Finally - the first graded packet of work for the semester! This was the accumulation of all the work we have done with the geography unit - the quizzes, five themes papers, the latitude and longitude assignment from Asia, and your completed world maps by continent (colored and labelled). Here is the rubric students used in class to self assess (I will be using this same paper to write grades and comments on):

Google Drive - Geography LTs 7 and 10 Self Assessment Rubric

I will look at what students wrote on this, along with the work that was stapled and turned in with it, in order to determine your proficiency grades are for these two learning targets, which is what the first progress report will be based on. Thus, if you did not do well with keeping up with your maps, doing well with the quizzes, and making sure to use class time effectively for the Five Themes of Geography packet, you may have some unfortunate news coming soon if you do not make up the work.

Next class, we will start our look at culture in depth. See you then! Enjoy your long weekend!

Geography, Day 8 - Class Recap

The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, taken in July of 2014. Today, we had our Africa map quiz in class, which included Egypt!

Dear class,

Welcome back to a short week together! This week should close out the first big unit of the year, on Geography. Next class is our last map quiz, and then we will start moving on to Culture next week! Here's what happened today:

Learning Targets:
Behavior LT 2: I can self-direct my learning.
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: "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)" by Shakira. Selected for today because a student in Period 5 requested it, and because it was the theme song for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and today was the Africa quiz. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 10/5/15:
News Brief – Aaron
Africa Map Quiz
Latitude/Longitude
Atlas/Map Work

Homework: Read the blog. Finish Asia/Middle East maps (colored and labeled) for the quiz next class. Bring all of your other geography unit work/quizzes to be able to turn in. Keep studying for the upcoming states quiz. Next news brief: Catherine.

News Brief: Aaron had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about: CNN.com - North Korea releases NYU student. We found North Korea on our Asia map and talked a little bit about this story. I also told the story about my brief visit to North Korea for about 3 minutes at the DMZ, and showed some pictures. That was an interesting experience, to be sure! Thanks, Aaron! Catherine was drawn as the next person up.

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

I also checked in about the weekend with everyone to see how Homecoming and any other events of interest went, before moving on.

Africa Map Quiz: The second to last map quiz out of the six! Remember that your top three scores will be turned in for your grade for the geography targets. We corrected the quiz in class and then I entered the scores in the gradebook. You will get them back to keep in your binder next class.

Latitude/Longitude: I wanted to make sure that we went over the concepts of latitude and longitude again, in identifying where places are in the world. With that, I passed out this worksheet having to do with Asia (which, not so coincidentally, students were labeling in class today):

Google Drive - Asia Latitude and Longitude Worksheet

I will collect these as part of the collection of evidence for the geography learning targets later in the week, along with your top three map quizzes, finished map packet, and Five Themes of Geography packet.

Atlas/Map Work: The last part of class was dedicated to labeling and coloring the Asia and Middle East sections of the map packet, in order to be able to use it on the last map quiz next class. For checking the blog, here's a question from the quiz: This island country—an archipelago made up of many atolls—is located south and west of India. If you are missing your map packet and know you need to have it done, please print out another and have it ready to go for next class:

Google Drive - World Maps Packet

Here's the Five Themes of Geography Atlas activity to continue working on (which mostly has to be in class with the atlases here):

Google Drive - Five Themes of Geography Atlas Packet

I am looking forward to meeting your parents tomorrow night at Back To School Night! You can bet that the blog will feature heavily. Make sure to have your map packet completed, and as much of the Five Themes packet done as possible for next class!

Geography, Day 7 - Class Recap

Today's map quiz was on Europe. In 2013, I took a two month trip to Europe and traveled by plane, train, and bus all around. Here's a collage of photos from each stop of the trip.

Hi everyone,

We are getting close to the end of the Geography unit! Thank you for your patience and understanding that geography is really important! Here's what happened today:

Learning Targets:
Behavior LT 2: I can self-direct my learning.
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: "Trans Europe Express" by Kraftwerk. Selected for today because it was the Europe quiz in class, naturally. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 10/1/15:
News Brief – Jagrit
Europe Map Quiz
Geographic Literacy
Atlas/Map Work

Homework: Read the blog. Finish Africa map (colored and labeled) for the quiz next class. Keep studying for the upcoming states quiz. Next news brief: Aaron.

News Brief: Jagrit had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about: CNN.com - 2 dead, hundreds injured after Typhoon Dujuan slams Taiwan. We found Taiwan on the world map and I talked a little bit about the history there, especially with China. A very interesting situation in the world and a challenge to navigate, politically! We also talked about how typhoons are like hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean, and I mentioned that Hurricane Joaquin is currently hitting the Bahamas and might hit the East Coast soon. Thanks, Jagrit! Aaron was drawn as the next person up.

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

I asked about the weekend and if anyone had any plans, before moving on.

Europe Map Quiz: The fourth map quiz out of the six! Remember that your top three scores will be turned in for your grade for the geography targets. We corrected the quiz in class and then I entered the scores in the gradebook. You will get them back to keep in your binder next class.

Geographic Literacy: I know that class has been a little repetitive lately, with quizzes and work time, I wanted to show again why it is important that we are learning about geography. So, I played this clip:

Yikes, to say the least! "Name a country in South America." "Uh... Africa?"

The problem is that this is not uncommon. To back up my point that we really need to know our geography as a society, I showed this article about the results of a 2006 National Geographic study:

NationalGeographic.com - Young Americans Geographically Illiterate, Survey Suggests

Some of the statistics on there (granted, almost a decade old, but I would be willing to bet the numbers have not changed that much) are really frightening, about how little Americans the age of the students in our class know about geography. Less than 20% of young Americans even OWN a world map, which is a reason why I really care that you do! With that in mind, we moved on to continuing to label and prepare for the next map quiz.

Atlas/Map Work: The last part of class was dedicated to labeling and coloring the Africa section of the map packet, in order to be able to use it on the upcoming quiz next class. For checking the blog, here's a question from the quiz: This mountainous central African country is located between Uganda and Burundi. If you are missing your map packet and know you need to have it done, please print out another and have it ready to go for next class:

Google Drive - World Maps Packet

Also, here's the Five Themes of Geography Atlas activity to continue working on (which mostly has to be in class with the atlases here):

Google Drive - Five Themes of Geography Atlas Packet

Have a great weekend, everyone! See you next week. :-)