Mr Tony's Geography Stuff

That month in Ecuador did more for my character, education, and sense of identity than any other experience in my early life.

I completely agree with this article. It is based on the same premise that my spanish teacher always told us. "The only way to truly learn the language and the culture is to actually go there and stay for a period of time." I always assumed she was right based on how easy the class seemed to be for those who had been to Spain or Mexico. The only problem with this theory is the increasingly dangerous state of the world. If I had a child I'm not sure I would allow them to travel anywhere after the Paris attacks. After all, Paris was supposed to be one of the safest places American tourists could visit up until about a month ago.

Being able to travel is a great gift. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing new places and learning about cultures. Unfortunately, the last time that I could afford to travel far from home was when I was young and I didn't understand the amazing opportunity that I had at the time. I traveled to Aruba, and to New Brunswick, Canada. Both amazing places. If I could go anywhere, I'd go to Germany, London, and Ireland as soon as possible. My great grandmother was from England, and my great grandfather was from Canada, I'd like to visit their home towns. Traveling places would definitely be a better learning experience than leaning about a place in school. You get to experience the real thing. Interact with the locals and maybe even get involved with the local traditions. Traveling to learn is definitely an experience worth wild.

This looks cool. And just a little bit tricky.

Why care? It's all right here!

Poster sobre la enseñanza de la geografía

can be used for the inquiry process

This site allows you to 'paint' with words. Simply type in the text (a single word or a longer passage) then choose a text size and colour. Click on the main screen, move your mouse and the words will be 'painted'.

You can save your work too.

I presented at CATS Conference on the use of social media in the academic context.  These are questions of our time that we collectively devising an answer to it.

Geography provides a lot of fundamental knowledge and gives you also a sense of place, which I find very relevant in times of globalization where you belong everywhere and nowhere simultaneously.

Understanding key terminology in geography is paramount to demonstrating deep knowledge of geographical concepts.

In this report, a researcher describes the relationship between geography and literacy on educational terms. When combined, these two very similar topics would provide major benefits to a child curriculum in school giving them a better insight on geography through literary concepts. These certain concepts help kids better recognize relationships within graphs and charts that give valuable geographic information. This article helps prove geography as a field of inquiry based on its relations with other subjects that help enhance the knowledge among the children in any school curriculum. 

So many of the educational discussions these days are touting the newest technologies (many of which I embrace).  Too many though, I fear, are willing to abandon tried and true "old school" pedagogical strategies in an attempt to incorporate the latest and greatest.  Just because it's new doesn't inherently make it better.  This video is a comical reminder that some old technologies and old strategies are worth keeping.  Let's keep some paper in the educational system. 

In the United States, we are constantly trying to improve education so that we can help students succeed in the global community. Our education system is often compared to those in other countries to see how American education "measures up." However, there are many differences between schools around the world.

BONUS: After looking at the pictures, compare American education and education in other countries. Write a paragraph explaining the similarities and differences that you INFER from the pictures and captions.

Students in China take their college entrance exam lasting 9hours. To prevent cheating they all take it at the same time with 1,200 in an exam hall. In Guangdong province, on July 9, 2007. 

This picture is amazing to me! It is so difficult to think about how different education looks in other countries.