Making Geography Counts: Challenging Our Students

Most of us are only provided eight months to cover the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. It seems impossible and, to be truthful, it is! What do we focus on when teaching each continent? How do we make each geography lesson count? What does “learning geography” mean? This can leave your head spinning. The geography classroom is very different than other core subjects: math, science, and language arts. Unlike these other core subjects, geography constantly changes. Before we can discuss how to make our lessons count, we first need to agree on the purpose of the study. The purpose of the lesson should be to teach geographical concepts that students can apply.

As you look over your curriculum at the beginning of the year. Highlight those topics and concepts that you can prioritize and place at the top of your list. Make sure to teach those concepts first. At the beginning of the year, there are “big idea” concepts students will need to know: maps, graphs, charts, government, industries, themes of geography, landforms, etc. During the first 6 weeks, you will spend much time covering these basic concepts.

Here is what my first six weeks term typically looks like: (Not necessarily in this order)

🌐 What is geography: Geographical Themes, Reading Absolute Location

🌐 Reading Maps & Map projections Accuracies and Distortions

🌐 Reading Charts and Graphs, Understanding the difference between Charts and Graphs

🌐 Landforms, Pangea and Plate Tectonics, Plate Boundaries, Volcanic Activity

🌐 World Governments

🌐 Economic Industries

🌐 Culture vs. Subculture, Enculturation

🌐 World Religions

Look into your curriculum further, how can you incorporate these skills or concepts into teaching Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. Ask yourself, “What is the big idea or big picture you wish for students to walk away with?” Teaching geography isn’t simply having them memorize facts, but understanding the concepts and being able to think deeply and apply their knowledge of the concepts being taught. According to Daniel T. Willingham, “Memory is the residue of thought.” We want to convert short-term memories into long-term memories, and basic skills into high-level thinking skills, but in order to do this, the basic must be taught and then reinforced throughout the year.

In teaching geography, good teaching requires (1) challenge, (2) explanation, (3) modeling, (4) practice, (5) questioning, and (6) feedback. Today, let’s look at what it means to challenge students. We will address the others in upcoming posts.

CHALLENGE: Students have high expectations of what they can achieve

This requires that we set the bar high, “raise the bar” if you will. Expect more out of your students beyond than filling in answer to worksheets. Explore the big picture; and determine what do you want your students to be able to do with the information studied? Do you want them to be able to solve world problems? If yes, then teach them a problem-solving methods. Do you wish for them to be able to analyze? Give them two government systems asking them to look at the pros and cons of each and determine which government system is better and have them support their answer.
Challenge also requires the teacher to have an in-depth knowledge of the subject. Have a thorough understanding of what you are teaching and why you are teaching it. This may require that you study and read up prior to teaching the topic, so most question students pose may be answered.

Look at your student(s) and ask yourself what do I want them as a geographer to learn and expect them to be able to do? (Application). i.e. We want an excellent geographer to be able to use maps to locate places, identify climates and landforms, etc.

Next time we will take a look at the explanation.

Resource: Making Geography Count by Mark Enser.

As teachers, we are often overworked and pulled in too many directions. We often put others before ourselves and it is hard to learn to take care of ourselves. Addressing mental health is part of self-care for our minds, bodies, and souls. Remember, if your cup is empty, you can’t fill someone else’s cup. Here are 27 FREE COUNSELING OPTIONS FOR

TEACHERS https://www.weareteachers.com/free-counseling-for-teachers/