I’m quite fond of fall in New York, and as luck would have it, today is a lovely election day here in Manhattan. To be honest though, I’m finding it rather difficult to think about any map that isn’t a patchwork of red, blue, and maybe a splash of purple. So instead, I thought I’d write something about a visit I made to a sixth grade classroom last week.
At the end of the summer I was approached by a teacher in Brooklyn who was looking for someone to give a presentation about maps to her students. Curious to find out what these kids knew already and excited by the challenge of trying to teach them a little more about geography, I agreed to visit her school during my lunch hour. I discovered a few things while I was there: first (and I suppose this wasn’t really a surprise), our teachers have their work cut out for them. I did not have the full attention of her class much beyond the first 10-15 minutes, and the wide range of ability that I saw in just one period was daunting. I was both over-prepared (in terms of the amount of information I was ready to cover), and under-prepared (with respect to the difficulty some student had in grasping basic concepts). I talked about my job a bit, showed them six different types of maps, and encouraged them to ask lots of questions. Then, with about 30 minutes remaining, we attempted to walk them through the basic steps of creating a map of their own neighborhood.
I’m glad that I had an opportunity to visit New Horizons Middle School, and now that my feet are wet, I would actually like to talk to more kids about maps and geography. Because what I learned that afternoon is that our educational system has some room for improvement in this realm, and our children can’t afford to enter the adult world without some basic knowledge on the subject. As a colleague of mine likes to say: Without geography, you’re nowhere!
Ben Keene is the editor of
Oxford Atlas of the World. Check out some of his
previous places of the week.
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“Acey gots a game that’s about a TV show where you can sing just like they do and it’s for the Nintendo Wii and I want to play!”
“The who got what for the which now?”
“I just want to know when we get the game with competitive drumming. Because that would pretty much guarantee I’d have to get a game console.”
“I heard there’s a game called Guitar Hero that I have got to check out. If we could hook that thing up to our setup in my studio? That would straight up rock. What have you got for us, Space girl?”
“It’s one of our latest reviews. It’s called High School Musical Sing It! and it includes a microphone. It’s a game for the Nintendo Wii, and it’s due to be released very soon. We’re stocking this one as a potential 5-star buy, and it’s available for pre-order in the Gamepowa store right now.”
“Ooh looky! Acey-san has a music video with it too! That’s one of the most popular shows on TV huh?”
“Everybody watches High School Musical. Super popular show.”
“They need to make one called ‘high school band’ starring the Shores.”
“I’m there. If people want to hear some high school music, wait until the green and gold shows up.”
“heh”
“Z-bot is out collecting data on another new game right now.”
“Yay! Which one?”
“Guitar Hero 3″
“Oh sweet! That’s the game we’ve been waiting for! You’ve got to hook us up, Space girl!”
“Want to visit the Powa and do a guest review with us? Z-bot will be back soon.”
“I am so there. Drummer girl, you have to join us! This game needs a rythym section.”
“Sure.”
“I’m gonna go get Talitha-chan so she can link to it. Be sure to tell us when you got the review done okay?”
“That’s affirmative, Jessica.”
“Yay! I can’t wait. Be sure to check back soon, minna! Ja ne!”
“Acey gots a game that’s about a TV show where you can sing just like they do and it’s for the Nintendo Wii and I want to play!”
“The who got what for the which now?”
“I just want to know when we get the game with competitive drumming. Because that would pretty much guarantee I’d have to get a game console.”
“I heard there’s a game called Guitar Hero that I have got to check out. If we could hook that thing up to our setup in my studio? That would straight up rock. What have you got for us, Space girl?”
“It’s one of our latest reviews. It’s called High School Musical Sing It! and it includes a microphone. It’s a game for the Nintendo Wii, and it’s due to be released very soon. We’re stocking this one as a potential 5-star buy, and it’s available for pre-order in the Gamepowa store right now.”
“Ooh looky! Acey-san has a music video with it too! That’s one of the most popular shows on TV huh?”
“Everybody watches High School Musical. Super popular show.”
“They need to make one called ‘high school band’ starring the Shores.”
“I’m there. If people want to hear some high school music, wait until the green and gold shows up.”
“heh”
“Z-bot is out collecting data on another new game right now.”
“Yay! Which one?”
“Guitar Hero 3″
“Oh sweet! That’s the game we’ve been waiting for! You’ve got to hook us up, Space girl!”
“Want to visit the Powa and do a guest review with us? Z-bot will be back soon.”
“I am so there. Drummer girl, you have to join us! This game needs a rythym section.”
“Sure.”
“I’m gonna go get Talitha-chan so she can link to it. Be sure to tell us when you got the review done okay?”
“That’s affirmative, Jessica.”
“Yay! I can’t wait. Be sure to check back soon, minna! Ja ne!”
