China's Economic Growth and the Environment

Today, the students analyzed and discussed this graph. When I asked them to tell me what accounts for China's increase in GDP, many of the students said, "education"!
We have been discussing GDP per capita and the sectors that are contributing to China's economic growth. Next,  we will discuss environmental and social issues in China and how they are connected to the economy.

There will be a major assessment on Thursday covering key physical features, vocabulary and the issues mentioned above.

Buddhism, the British in India and Gandhi

This week we have been discussing the origins of Buddhism and the teachings of Siddartha Gatama. We watched part of a documentary on Buddhism that I highly recommend, if you are interested in the topic. PBS Documentary on Buddhism

The students will also be learning about British Imperialism and colonial India. We will watch a scene from the movie Gandhi (1982) and touch (briefly) on Gandhi's influence in India and throughout the world. While it is lengthy, it does a wonderful job of depicting the circumstances in India and the origins of non-violent protest. If you (or your child) have not seen it, it would be a great way to spend an evening as a family.

India

We will spend the rest of this week on key physical features of India. The students will work with a partner to "investigate" an assigned feature. In addition to finding the location, students will research industries/jobs associated with the feature, main population centers, natural resources, and problems associated with the features. Each pair of students will create a poster to present the information.  Then students will use the posters to record information about all of the features on a graphic organizer.

India Resources

The movie Gandhi (1982) is excellent and available on Netflix.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/gandhi/

This PBS website includes information about culture, history and religion of India and includes a timeline and photographs.

http://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/resources/websites/

BBC website profile of India.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12557384

This website provides the history of the partition of India including an annotated timeline.

http://english.emory.edu/Bahri/Part.html

This is the website of an Indian scholar that includes information about the culture and history of India as well as his blog.

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/

This website has a map of a virtual Indian village that you can roam.

http://virtualvillage.wesleyan.edu

 

 

 

 

Colonialism and Africa

The students have finished working on their projects and are going to learn about colonialism and Africa. Today, we discussed the concept of colonialism and the reasons that European countries established colonies in Africa. The students will also learn how the colonial boundaries that were established in the "Scramble for Africa" led to conflicts.

I am attaching a link to an article on "Conflict Minerals" that demonstrates how the history of colonialism impacts the DRC today.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/conflict-minerals/gettleman-text

News on Kenya

Many of the students have commented on news of the attack on the mall in Kenya.

http://theweek.com/article/index/250012/kenya-mall-siege-did-al-shabab-just-shoot-itself-in-the-foot#

This Week in World Geography

This week the students are expected to work on (and complete) the Sub-Saharan Africa Issues Project. Today, I checked in with the groups to determine how they are progressing. Some are further along than others. In fairness to my third period class, they have not had computer access until today. Each student is responsible for answering research questions on their topic and their groups have assigned each person some tasks to complete. Due to the limited availability of computers at school, the students may have to spend time on their research at home.

Project and Current Events

The students received the instructions for the Sub-Saharan Africa Issues project. Each student will be assigned specific tasks within their group for the next 2 weeks. The first task is to answer their assigned research questions (Due Friday). We will be spending time in the computer lab so that they can find the information that they need. Here is a link to current events in Africa. I will also add a page of websites that are good resources on Africa to Schoology.http://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/africa/

Physical Features of Africa

The students began the unit today with small group discussions on what they know about Africa. Each group was asked to come up with a list of 5 descriptive words for Africa. By far, the most frequently used word was "hot"! Other descriptive terms were culturally diverse, humid , conflict, beauty, and poverty. We also discovered that we have an opportunity to learn about Africa from some of the students that have been there. If you have resources or artifacts to share, please let me know. The students would benefit from your contributions.

The rest of the period was spent creating maps that identify the key physical features of Africa. These will be used as a starting point to discuss human/environment interaction and the issues that are related to it.

Tomorrow, the students will receive the "unit organizer".  My goal is for the students to organize the concepts, ideas and information throughout the unit. They will be collecting all of their completed assignments along the way and I will do a "notebook check" at the end of the unit. A copy will be available on Schoology (if someone needs a backup copy).

Finally, I want to share this link to the National Geographic website, they have an incredible interactive map that includes satellite views. Enjoy!

National Geographic interactive map

Open House and Close Up

Empowering young people by teaching them to think critically about government and current events is one of the most important objectives of social studies education.

There is an opportunity for your children that I did not have time to discuss with you last night,  so I would like to share it with you now. Close Up (http://www.closeup.org/why-close-up/mission) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate young people about their rights and responsibilities as citizens.  Close Up provides a learning experience in Washington D.C. and is an incredible opportunity to see the political process "up close". I am one of the chaperones for the trip, with Mr. Leyden, and we will be happy to talk with you more about it. If you are interested, let me know and I can send additional information that is specific to the trip.

Thanks to all of you that attended Open House last night. I enjoyed meeting and talking with you, briefly, with you about the class. As a teacher/parent I fully appreciate the value of communication between home and school, so please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Open House is Tonight!

Open House begins at 6:30 tonight. I would love to meet all of you and hope that you will come. I am in P-1, which is a portable classroom behind the building. If you continue walking down the hallway, past the Cafe, and walk out of the double doors P-1 is on the left.

Making Real World Connections - Jihad, 09.11 and The West Wing

The anniversary of 09.11.01 was an opportunity to discuss the meaning of Jihad and extremism. Some of the students were familiar with the common definition of Jihad, "holy war". We discussed the various types of Jihad that are part of the Islamic religion; personal Jihad, verbal Jihad and physical Jihad. We also talked about what the Qu'ran says about Jihad. Then we viewed and discussed two clips from The West Wing on extremism and terrorism. The clips were effective in communicating the concepts to the students and they were very engaged in the conversation and questions after the viewing.

5 Themes of Geography - Movement

At the beginning of the semester, we began learning about the study of geography through the "5 Themes"- Movement, Region, Location, Human-Environment Interaction and Place. When we look at the world using this framework, it helps us to see how interconnectedness and interdependence impact us as global citizens. It also helps the students to see the varying perspectives of different cultures. Today and tomorrow we will use "movement" to discuss the influence of Arab culture. 

The theme movement addresses this question: How and why are places connected with one another? Relationships between people in different places are shaped by the constant movement of people, ideas and materials. 


In class today, we analyzed a map showing the spread of Islam from the Arabian Peninsula, through SW Asia, North Africa and Spain. Using what they know about the beliefs and practices of Islamic cultures, the students were asked to make connections between the origins of the Islamic religion and events in the world today, specifically The Arab Spring. 

Today we began learning about Islam. The students watched a video about the history, beliefs and practices. We discussed why Muslims are sometimes seen in a negative light and talked about extremism. Here is the link to a website that provides a variety of background information on Islam. It will help the students retain the information if they have the opportunity to have discussions outside of class. As questions arise, the students can explore the topic further through resources such as this one.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/

Did You Know; Shift Happens - Globalization; Information Age

Welcome to my World Geography blog. I will use this space to provide updates on what we are covering in class, describe class activities, and make suggestions for opportunities to extend the learning of the content outside of school.