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Teaching Geography Standards
GCU414 Syllabus
Fall Semester 2009
Instructor: Ron Dorn
Introduction
How to teach geography in the K-12 classroom is the major goal of this course. Assignment options exist for elementary, middle, and high school levels. This
course also includes exercises and information that introduce you to:
· geography standards (both your state and national)
· the lesson format used throughout the entire master’s program, and
· the format used for the review of professional articles that you will weave into your capstone project.
This class will use a combination of written assignments, video presentations by practicing geography teachers, and voiced-over PowerPoint presentations--all of which are online. Your assignments are e-mailed to the instructor, who engages in a one-on-one e-mail dialogue to help you become a better teacher of geography.
The assignments are all hyperlinked linked through this syllabus.
Introduction to Teaching Geography
Geography is the science of space and place on the Earth's surface. Geographers look at the physical and human phenomena that make up the world's regions and places. Geographers study the natural and human patterns on the Earth and quest to understand why these patterns exist.
Educators create geography standards. The intent of a standard is to focus the work of the classroom on those concepts and performance objectives that will best educate a student. National Geography Standards were developed on behalf of the American Geographical Society, the Association of American Geographers, the National Council for Geographic Education, and the National Geographic Society and published in 1994 in GEOGRAPHY FOR LIFE.
Once national standards were proposed, states began to shift to standards-based learning. As an example, Arizona's geography strand was articulated by grade level in 2006 by the Arizona State Department of Education through a statewide committee composed of K-12 educators and experts in social studies. The Arizona strand for geography mirrors GEOGRAPHY FOR LIFE. Arizona’s geography strand is just one-fifth of the standard for social studies. The other four-fifths are world history, American history, economics, and civics.
The overarching goal of this course is to assist K-12 teachers in gaining more knowledge of geography and how to apply geography in the classroom so students will benefit. This course focuses on assignments to help you (a) teach your state’s geography standards and (b) understand the national standards that correspond with these state standards.
In this class, you will find lessons that teach concepts or skills in geography might also teach skills or concepts in the other disciplines. For example, a lesson on population growth will teach geography concepts but it would also apply to civics, economics and history concepts that are to be learned. You will also find that lessons may integrate reading, writing, and mathematics performance objectives. This integration of subjects will actually be one of your last classes for the Master’s degree, but do not shy away from integration. Teachers know that class time is precious. And integration makes good sense. However, the focus of this class will be teaching geography concepts and performance objectives (POs).
Rationale for Teaching Geography in the K-12 Classroom
· To function in the modern world, all persons need to understand the spatial context of themselves, other people, places and environments on Earth. Imagine trying to do business with the more than billion Chinese customers without understanding anything about their culture. Imagine spending your hard-earned vacation dollars on annual vacation in Jamaica, only to learn your travel agent sent you there during the hurricane season! Imagine insulting your international business partner simply by the way you dress or shake hands. Knowing that customs and places vary and how to acquire geographic information is a necessary first step to functionality in our global world.
· All persons start out genuinely curious about our Earth. Geography standards stimulates our inner desire to learn about our co-inhabitants and the places where they life. Geography standards focus attention on exciting and interesting people and places -- things worth knowing.
· To make ethical decisions in a world with 6 billion people, we must make decisions that preserve a high quality of life. Geography is the only subject in the K-12 curriculum whose focus rests on the interdependency of Earth's physical and human systems. A geographic perspective demands that humans cooperate in the best interests of all of Earth's places.
· The specific goal of this class is to help teachers learn of the rich curriculum available to help students master the life goals above.
Instructor: Ronald Dorn
Email: @asu.edu
Work Phone: 480-965-7533
Office Location: School of Geographical Sciences, 5th Floor of Coor Building, Tempe COOR 5580
Office Hours: Please schedule an appointment. I don’t want you to arrive, and I’m not there.
Required Materials
All required materials for this course are available online. You will be watching video or voiced-over PowerPoint presentations and reading the lesson plans in order to complete critiques and assessment assignments for this course. The lessons are organized by grade level and by geography concepts. Although I encourage you to view all lessons and consider adapting these classics to your classroom, I realize that you will naturally want to focus on relevant grade levels.
Note: Most of the video presentations are lessons that were created by teachers in the Arizona Geographic Alliance (AzGA). Please check out the AzGA website at http://alliance.la.asu.edu/azga/ and become a member. Membership is free. AzGA regularly holds workshops, conferences, and summer institutes. Get involved.
1. On-line lessons and video presentations:
(1) Online lessons you can print out and use in your classrooms at http://alliance.la.asu.edu/internetclass/SelectFrom.html
The videos are in three formats: Google Video, MediaSite, and a few use RealPlayer with software found at: http://www.real.com/player/
2. State Geography Standards and National Geography Standards:
You will need these two documents for the course.
· The national standards can be found at http://www.ncge.org Click on Resources to find the National Standards.
· Your state standards for geography (or social studies but look for the items that teach geography). If you are an Arizona teacher, you can find the AZ standard at http://www.ade.state.az.us/standards/sstudies/articulated/
It is really helpful to read the complete document.
Please download and/or print these standards as soon as possible. The national standards are broad and very inclusive. State standards are usually much more specific and have performance objectives (POs). The lessons you write and the lessons that you critique or write assessments for will focus on particular performance objectives.
Hint: When writing a lesson, start with your state performance objectives for the grade level you are addressing. You will always be able to match this specific objective to a national one.
3. Essays and Thoughts on Geography:
These three essays will be used to write the final exam (Choice #2). Please read them even if you select the other option for a final. There are “gems” in these papers.
· Essential Geography Content for K-12 by Professor Patricia Gober
· Solving the Puzzle of USA Geographic Illiteracy by Michael Ostapuk
· Why Teach Geography by the Geographical Association
4. Online Outline Maps:
You will find a variety of classroom ready maps at the alliance website: http://alliance.la.asu.edu/azga/ and click on Maps. You will find these maps very helpful in creating your lessons. These maps will save you hours of time searching on the Internet. And besides, most Internet maps are not created for Xeroxing. So do yourself a favor, get used to using the AzGA website for maps. Besides, I get grumpy when I see a crummy map being used when the AzGA site has a much better one.
Strongly Recommended But Not Required
GeoMath Online Program (access by going to http://alliance.la.asu.edu/azga/ and click on GeoMath in the right hand green bar): GeoMath is a grades K-8 program of over 85 lessons based on the Arizona state standards for geography and mathematics. New for 2009--Each lesson has been modified to articulate with the new Arizona math standard. Created by Arizona teachers, these lessons provide teacher instructions, student handouts Created by Arizona teachers, these lessons provide teacher instructions, student handouts, answer keys, maps, student samples, graphics and photos, and assessments that mirror state-mandated testing. It is a complete package of lessons to aid you in keeping social studies in the classroom while working on raising the math scores of your students.
GeoLiteracy and GeoLiteracy with ELL (access by going to http://alliance.la.asu.edu/azga/ and click on GeoLiteracy in the right hand green bar): GeoLiteracy is a grades K-8 program of over 80 lessons based on the Arizona state standards for geography, reading and writing. New for 2009--Each lesson has materials and strategies for use with English Language Learners (ELLs). Created by Arizona teachers, these lessons provide teacher instructions, student handouts, answer keys, maps, student samples, graphics and photos, and assessments that mirror state-mandated testing. It is a complete package of lessons to aid you in keeping social studies in the classroom while working on raising the reading and writing scores of your students.
Defining A Highly Qualified K-12 Geography Teacher—A position statement of Geography Education National Implementation Project (GENIP). If you would like to know how the geography community would define a highly qualified teacher, please read this. You can also gain extra credit points by comparing this position statement to how your state is determining highly qualified. See Extra Credit below for how to gain the extra points.
Additional Materials
These additional readings and resources will help you in the classroom and help you complete the course. These materials are not required. We have an office copy of each of these, so it is possible to visit the alliance office on the 5th floor of the Coor Building (Tempe Campus) and view the materials.
· ARGUS CD—Activities and Readings on Geography of the U.S.
· ARGWorld CD-- Activities and Readings on Geography of the World
· NASA Mission Geography—mostly physical geography (also online)
· Geography for Life—book of the national standards
Grading
This course will have a total of 104 points.
In order to receive a grade for this course, all course assignments must be completed. Course grades will be assigned based upon the following criteria:
A= 90-100%
B= 80-89%
C= 70-79%
D= 60-69%
Assignments
The Assignment Calendar will give you a chart of when the assignments are due and how many points each assignment will have. Due to the relatively short amount of time for completing assignments, it will be easy to fall behind. Think of this class as having 1 assignment per day. That will keep you in line for completing all assignments on time, but also give me the time to provide valuable feedback on your work. If you submit all of your assignments late, then I may be forced to give you an incomplete. I will then change the incomplete to your grade when I have had a chance to assess your work. Be sure to check the scoring guides and rubrics for each assignment. These assessment tools give you the specific information on what is needed for each assignment.
Becoming Familiar with Geography
A sign-in screen will appear. The code is:
Logon: gcu600
Password: gaia (note: lower case)
NOTE: Please write down this logon and password. 95% of the materials used in the MASGE program are accessed with gcu600 and gaia.
This initial assignment is worth 4 points and will give the instructor background information on you. You will compare your in-coming definition of geography to the ones of the instructor. You will also look at the national and state K-12 standards for geography. Click here to understand how this assignment will be graded. This assignment is due on or before Orientation Day (May 30th).
Two (2) Critiques of Online Lesson Presentations
The online lesson presentations can be found at http://alliance.la.asu.edu/internetclass/SelectFrom.html
To understand how these critiques will be graded please refer to the Scoring Guide for Critiques and Sample of a Good Critique. Each critique will be worth 9 points. The critiques are due when indicated on the Assignment Calendar. It is our plan that those attending the Orientation Day be completing first critique completed during that day.
One (1) Applying National Standards to a Book or Movie
You will link the movie or book setting and action to the national geography standards. Please refer to the Scoring Guide for a Book or Movie Review, Movie Review Example, as well as the Note Taking Sheet for a Book or a Movie that are provided for this assignment. The Book or Movie Review is worth 10 points. The Book or Movie Review is due when indicated on the Assignment Calendar.
Three (3) Lesson Plans Based on State and National Geography Standards
You will base these lessons on state geography performance objectives as well as the corresponding national standards. The lessons should be written in a standardized format (Binko) that will be explained. Include ALL student worksheets, maps, answer keys, assessment instruments, and answer keys to assessments, and rubrics for grading. There are 2 templates to help you in the lesson construction. These templates follow all of the video examples you will watch
· for teacher instructions
· for student handouts and answer keys
I encourage you to use these templates, so our products look similar. Please refer to Rubric for Grading Lesson Plans and the Checklist for Lesson Plans. A sample lesson (teacher file, student file) serves as a model. Each lesson plan is worth 10 points. The Lesson Plans are due when indicated on the Assignment Calendar.
Two (2) Assessments for Online Presentations
After viewing a new online presentation (different from the ones used for critiques) found at, http://alliance.la.asu.edu/internetclass/SelectFrom.html you will write a formal assessment for that lesson which differs from the one given during the presentation. Please see the Rubric for Assessment Tools and Sample of a Good Assessment to understand the assignment. The new assessment will include the assessment tool, criteria for grading, as well as the answer keys. Each assessment is worth 5 points each. The assessments are due when indicated on the Assignment Calendar.