Expert in Geography

It was day two with the English class at the continuation high school. We were fully into the movie Girl Rising, stopping every 15 minutes to review ethos, logos, and pathos. (Please see yesterday's post for a brief overview of the lesson.)

The teacher had suggested that it might be cool if I could find a world map and point out where each of the girls' stories took place.

A quick Google search turned up an awesome map where you can click on a country and a map of that country pops up. (It's here in case you want to check it out.)

I was not surprised that in most of the classes when I asked where Haiti, Nepal, and Egypt were I only got vague answers that were mostly wrong. This was the continuation high school, and as a culture we are notoriously bad at knowing where anything in the world is.

So, I was surprised when in 2nd period I asked where Haiti was, and one student gave me a very good description. Then he surprised me by correctly locating Nepal. And then Egypt.

They do actually take a geography class as freshmen. I'm glad that at least one of them was paying attention.

Could you locate those countries on a map without a hint? Did you take geography? How did you do in your geography class?

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

Local Geography Lesson

12th grade English. And they were assigned a book to read. The Andromeda Strain.

(My senior English teacher assigned us books like A Separate Peace and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Boo!)

Of course, they were not impressed. So, I started them off as best as I could, noting in the first couple pages that there was mention of the Vandenberg Air Force Base and the Mojave Desert. Both of which the students managed to mangle.

So, I asked the pertinent question. Did they know where this story took place?

A couple of them noted that in the first paragraph on the first page, we were told they were in Arizona. The rest?

I asked where the Mojave Desert was, and I got answers ranging from Asia to the Middle East to Africa. And they'd never heard of Vandenberg. (Although that's not surprising. It's 3 hours north of us.)

So, I asked the next logical question. Had any of them driven to Las Vegas? At least half the class raised their hands.

"You've all driven through the Mojave Desert."

Student: "That's that dry nothing?"

Yep, pretty much.

So, at least they learned something in class.

Oblivious

5th period geography. 9th graders.

First, I collected their warm ups from the week. (Many teachers assign a quick question or two for the students to answer while they take roll and get things started. They collect this once a week just to make sure the students actually do it.)

For some reason, collecting work is always a huge production. I announce it. I wait. Many pull out the paper immediately and pass it forward, but there are a few that take their time, can't find it, and hold up the whole process. I will announce, "Make sure your name is on your paper," but I still get nameless pages.

Somehow, we managed to get this done. I paper-clipped these papers together, put them aside, and then I called for their map packets. Same procedure.

I had about 3/4ths of the papers in my hands. A few papers were still making their way to the front. Discussions ensued, because their instruction was to remove the first page, make sure their name was on the second, and then pass these up. Most did this without incident, but a few hadn't been paying attention.

So, we're in the midst of all this when a voice from the back of the room announces:

"Do we have to turn anything in today?"

[Insert sarcastic comment here.]

Although, I didn't. Make a sarcastic comment, that is. I didn't have to. The rest of the class took care of it for me.

I stood there and listened. They pretty much nailed it. And said it better than I would have.

Where is Michigan?

7th grade English. The entire lesson plan consisted of going over the 20 words on their new spelling list. I was supposed to discuss the words' meanings with them.

For the most part, I asked them to come up with definitions. I figured that 7th graders should know what a penguin is. Language should also be a familiar word. And everyone volunteered to be the one to define guacamole.

(Other words weren't so familiar to them, like chauffeur, whirlpool, and exotic.)

Then we got to Michigan. I assumed they'd know it is a state, so instead I asked them to tell me where it is.

"In the USA."

Um, okay. Could you be a little more specific?

On the one hand, I'm glad that they didn't think it was in Africa. But it would have been nice if they had a better handle on where it is located. I resigned myself to being the one to give a better description for them (alas, no maps in the room).

Then 5th period walked in. I asked the same question, but this time I got a different answer.

"It's next to Ohio."

Nice. The rest of the class pointed out that the boy who provided that answer was born in Ohio. As if that somehow made the answer less right.

Unfortunately, 6th period gave the same answer as the rest of the day. Although, now they all have a much better idea of where Michigan is.

Why Is North Up?

It's the beginning of the school year, so the geography classes had the standard "get to know your atlas" assignment. It's a pretty straightforward packet and the instructions are clear. Easy day, right?

I should mention that freshmen take geography.

After the first group couldn't figure out that "find the direction from Topeka, Kansas" meant that the answers were north, south, etc., and the starting point was Topeka, Kansas, I made sure to include this in my instructions to the following classes.

On the one hand, they are only in 9th grade, and perhaps they had not studied maps before. But they're in 9th grade. They haven't even looked at maps before?

I wondered, as some of the questions I got were troubling.

Two students had a debate about Egypt and whether or not it was in Africa. I ended up explaining that Russia was in Asia (at least on the part of the map the student was looking at). And I needed to explain that North America has three countries in it. Oh, and "what body of water a city is on" means the sea or ocean, not the river that's more than 100 miles away.

I swear, I tried to sound nonjudgmental. I don't know if I pulled it off.

Then I got called over to another student. He asked if I studied geography. Well, no, but ask the question anyway as I might have an answer.

He wanted to know why our maps were oriented with north at the top. (Okay, he didn't phrase it that way, but this is what he was asking.)

And just when I had given up hope on the future of the species, I was reminded that some of them do actually think. Nice.