Human & Physical Geography of Europe & Latin America
In this semester long class, high school students (ages 14-18) will learn about World Geography including the Themes of Geography, map skills, and geographic information about Latin America and Europe.
Meghan LeRoux, Ed.S.
Average rating:
5.0
Number of reviews:(37)
What's included
16 live meetings
14 hrs 40 mins in-class hoursClass Experience
In this class, high school students will learn about World Geography. We will focus on the following Essential Questions: 1. What are the circumstances surrounding human rights in each region? 2. How have specific beliefs, ideas, and diversity impacted the geography of the region? 3. What critical decision about land use has had the most significant impact on the geography of the region? 4. How has the geography of the region changed over time? 5. How has geography shaped the culture and relationships in the region? We will start every week with a bell ringer that either reviews content, practices map skills/country locations, or guides students in inquiry of physical and human geography throughout the world. Unit 1- Themes of Geography, Map Basics, & How the World Works Week 1: Themes of Geography- notes and Mental Map activity of students' own neighborhood. Week 2: Map Basics/Latitude & Longitude Practice- notes and online latitude and longitude activity to help students master latitude & longitude. Week 3: Landforms- notes and Buddy Map activity Week 4: Climate/Vegetation/Seasons- notes and article reading and writing exercise Week 5: Continents/Oceans/Tectonic Plates- interactive slide and notes Week 6 & 7: Land of Imagination Project- students will create their own island using all of the skills learned from the previous 5 weeks and present their islands to the class and myself on Week 7. Unit 2: Latin America Week 8: Geography of Mexico, Central, & South America- we will discuss major landforms, natural resources, natural disasters, and locate the various countries, cities, and landforms. (Separate website used for map practice) Week 9: Culture of Mexico, Central, & South America- we will discuss snapshots in history, traditions, customs, human rights, government, & economy through hands-on activities, notes/lecture, and primary source material. Week 10: Current Issues in Latin America- This week will be inquiry based learning and topics might be as follows: illegal immigration, human rights issues, relations with the US and other countries, deforestation of the Amazon rain forest. Students will be given a list of current issues happening in Latin America and be able to choose one that they want to research more. The students will be given options as to how they can present their information to the class. Options could be a slideshow, a newscast, song, poem, or one that the student chooses as long as it is approved by me. Throughout the week, if the student needs help, I can be available to guide them through their inquiry process. I can also provide the student with resources to help guide their research if needed. Week 11: Students will present their inquiry project findings to the class. Unit 3: Europe Week 12: Geography of Europe- We will discuss major landforms, countries, cities, natural resources, natural disasters, use of land. Details will be given about the final project. Week 13 &14: Culture of Europe- We will take notes/lecture over moments in European history, and include snapshots of traditions, customs, food, government, economy etc. Week 15 & 16: Current Issues in Europe- We will read news articles about anti-semitism in Europe that has been going on for the last 3-5 years. Articles will come from the website Facing History & Ourselves, the Associated Press, and Euronews. We will have discussions about how the students would choose to fix/help the situations going on and what side they would take. I will have a reminder at the beginning of class about the etiquette when dealing with people's opinions.
Learning Goals
Students will learn about World Geography through the lens of the Five Themes of Geography: location, place, movement, region, and human-environment interaction. Students will be able to explain how the geography of a place effects the people living there as well as how people affect, or change, the environment. Students will be learning about not only the physical geography of the regions we study, but the human geography as well, and how places and people have changed over time.
Other Details
Parental Guidance
During the Latin America Unit, we will be discussing things like illegal immigration and the U.S. response to illegal immigration. This might strike a nerve with some students. Before discussing potentially emotionally charged subjects such as illegal immigration, I will discuss with the students the etiquette I expect them to adhere to: one person speaks at a time, there is no right or wrong answer, just because someone does not agree with you does not mean they are wrong, starting sentences with the words "I feel..." followed by opinion backed up by information from the sources given to the student.
I have taught this class for 5+ years. I make it very clear that I will not tolerate people acting superior to one another and telling other people they are wrong for what they believe. I will never share with students my own personal feelings about any subject, I don't feel that is an ethical thing to do. All content will be presented through the lens of science (with deforestation) and history. It is my goal to have the students see how the history of these countries still plays a part in the regions/countries today.
Multiple perspectives of the immigration debate, or any current event that might be emotionally charged, will be brought to the students attention in order to have them make an educated decision about their feelings on the subject. Any student that belittles or is disrespectful to another student for their opinion will be put in the waiting room until I can talk to them. Parents will be notified if any such incident occurs and will be asked to discuss the issues with their student. If the same student comes back and the behavior occurs, the student will be asked to leave the class permanently.
Supply List
I will supply all readings for the students. They will be available to access online and through the slideshow that I will also be providing for the students.
External Resources
In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:
Sources
We will be using www.seterra.com for regional map practice; the website provides games where the students receive a score for how well they know their countries. The levels get harder and can be repeated until the students is satisfied with their score.
We will also be using https://www.geographyrealm.com/ for various physical and human geography related articles throughout the course of the semester. Students will have writing assignments to complete from the reading.
Any other source material needed will be linked on the Bitmoji Classroom slideshow.
Joined July, 2020
5.0
37reviews
Teacher expertise and credentials
I have taught high school Human & Physical Geography for 5 years and am well-versed at managing diverse opinions. Students will be prepped before discussing potentially sensitive topics on how to communicate respectfully and academically using source material and not relying solely on emotions. Reviews
Live Group Class
$240
for 16 classes1x per week, 16 weeks
55 min
Completed by 4 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 14-18
1-12 learners per class
