What are some of the things you'll study in 7th grade Cultural Geography?

You will be taught how to view history and current events from multiple perspectives, and you will practice arriving at new conclusions (argumentative literacy) after carefully analyzing and weighing the familiar (what you already know) with your new found knowledge. We will learn how to characterize actors (people in history) into one (or more) of the following categories: Victim, Persecutor, Bystander and Hero. You'll begin to understand this categorization system by making connections to actual and hypothetical events in our school.

• Geography (5 themes of geography)--1) Location (relative and absolute); 2) Place; 3) Human environment interaction; 4) Movement, and 5) Regions. The 5 themes of geography will be embedded into most geography-based units.

• Hometown Interview--Students will go straight to the source and ask the person. They will select adults to interview, formulate questions, and conduct interviews. The purpose is to learn about the Morrisville's history; what has changed and what has stayed the same. Students will share their findings with the class.

• American geography and culture--students will gain basic mapping & geography skills to apply to units throughout our "loop." Also, students will gain an understanding of the abstract concept of culture through the 7 components of culture.

• Current Events--students will engage in argumentative literacy exercises while recognizing connections between themselves, today's events and history.

• Persuasive Essay Unit--Recognizing a diversity of viewpoints benefits all--students will pick an issue and argue their point in a persuasive essay. They will be assessed by way of the LSSU persuasive writing rubric (benchmarks and a similar rubric can be found here)
  

• Child Labor--Decisions concerning the allocation and use of economic resources impact individuals and groups--students will study the issue of child labor and consumerism. Students will debate issues and pose solutions to the global issue.
  

• Personal scrapbook assignment--this provides students with the opportunity to identify and reflect about who they are as 7th graders, and where they want to be in the future (hopes, dreams, etc.)
  

• Study of China-- cultural similarities and differences because of physical and social environments. Recognizing these similarities and differences promotes understanding--similarities between American and Chinese culture; democracy v. communism, life in a densely populated area, women's rights, The Tiananmen Square etc..

• US Culture as an Export--The United States has been the hegemonic superpower in the world. Many know that our nation is well-off and powerful, but do we know how our culture affects cultures in other parts of the world?
  

• Holocaust--Knowledge of the past helps one understand the present and make decisions about the future--Students will learn and apply the concepts of Persecutor, Victim, Bystander & Hero (PVBH) that are commonly seen from a much more benign social middle school perspective. Students will then connect their understanding of PVBH to the information gained from an in-depth study of the Holocaust. Click here to see a similar academic unit taught by Nizkor Project in New Jersey.
  

• African Geography and Culture--Why does Africa have so many things in common with Europe (Colonialism [cities, languages, religion, etc.]); apartheid(students will read Athol Fugard's "Master Harold and The Boys").
  

• Living Biography--Students will select a (very researchable) person from any point in world history, and write a two-page biography. Later, after getting to know their historical figure, they'll present their person as their person. Students will practice writing succinctly, structuring MLA bibliographies, and public speaking.
  

• Personal Learning Plan--Students will independently explore an area of cultural geography that we've either studied or an area students wish they'd studied.

• From 9/11 to the Iraq War--Where is Iraq? What triggered the war? What now?

*This list is not necessarily how all the units will be sequenced.

Student work will be assessed in several different ways-- formative (ongoing) and summative (final):

“Formative Assessment: Any assessment used by educators to evaluate students’ knowledge and understanding of particular content and then to adjust and plan further instructional practices accordingly to improve student achievement in that area” (Ravitch 98).

--Examples are sought through personal conversation, games, rating one's own understanding, exit cards, some journal entries, etc.

“Summative Assessment: An assessment used to document students’ achievement at the end of a unit or course or an evaluation of the end product of a student’s learning activity” (Ravitch 207).

--Examples of summative assessment are projects, essays, reports, presentations, quizzes, some journal entries, etc.

Ravitch, Diane. Ed Speak: a Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2007.