Every been in the right place at the right time?
Earlier this year, we were scrambling because our Social Studies curriculum was going through some major changes in Upper elementary. Gone were the year’s previous principal and Grade 4 and 5 leaders, onto new opportunities.
In there place, fresh faces with many questions. One was, “What textbooks are we using?” We soon found out, we didn’t have our online subscriptions anymore.
So, with that, I jumped at the chance to revamp our Science and SS curriculum.
As I was walking out of the textbook storage room, I ran into the head of our social studies department, and shared with her our dilemma in Elementary school. She led me right to a new textbook she had ordered for a 6th grade Geography elective, National Geographic’s World Cultures and Geography. (To learn more about this series, and this interactive mapping tool, see www.myngconnect.com – It has a resource section just for infographics for each unit)
It aligned perfectly with our standards… I had hit the jackpot. (What if I hadn’t walked into her at the exact moment when I was off to see our Principal with a different recommendation?)
I am not a big textbook guy, but it was the layout (2 pages a lesson… no more, no less; AMAZING visuals, recent/relevant topics (how many textbooks talk about Bollywood) just a fantastic resource… and I’ve spent over half my career teaching humanities) … and then I got to see the online edition.
You talk about being able to get a lesson’s point across through infographics? Try using their interactive map making tool.
Below are just a few examples of screenshots that I can use… ready to use and go. (The worldmap.harvard.edu website made me realize I had data visualization at the tip of my, and my student’s, fingertips) – (Update: I found the link to National Geographic’s Interactive Mapping Tool for free)
Want an easy way to show the divide between Islam and Hinduism in South Asia? (Our current unit)
A Screen Shot of the National Geographic Interactive Map Making Tool – World Religions
How about, if you were a Science teacher, and wanted to show where Earthquakes occurred in Asia?
Or, what if you want to show the correlation between plates and earthquakes?
Sometimes you get lucky, and a resource like this just falls into your hands. Sometimes, you are in the right place at the right time.
Lucky for our upper elementary students, I was.
