If It Were My Home...

I'm not sure if I have mentioned this, but we recently rewrote the social studies curriculum.  I was teaching the Middle Ages around the world.  Even I had trouble seeing the relevence and worth of this content in the 21st century classroom.  My new course is Global Awareness.  We look at world issues, follow current events, and use technology to make global connections.  People worried that 7th grade might be too young for this type of curriculum, but I think it's a perfect age.  They are open-minded, interested, and inquisitive!  Plus, our department wanted to test a sort of backwards approach theory.  In 7th grade, students will learn where we are currently and generate an interest in social issues, culture, and geography.  Then, studnets might be interested in learning the history of how we got here and what came before us. 

This is my first year teaching this course and so far I think it's going very well!  Students are going home and talking about real issues.  They are asking questions that matter and debating topics that impact them directly. 

I am excited about all of the great resources out there that help to support my textbook-less classroom.  Thank goodness I hopped on the Twitter bandwagon when I did.  You can check out our Links page for all of our great finds.  Well, mine anyway.  Ian has yet to link up. 

Here is one that I found via Twitter yesterday.  I can talk to the kids all day about the state of affairs in different countries, but numbers don't mean much unless that have something to compare them to.  IfItWereMyHome.com is a great website that does just that. 

If you choose one of the countries from the tag cloud on the bottom of the page, it creates a map that overlays an image of that country on top of the U.S. to give an idea of the realtive size.  Then, there is a list of comparisons that relates infant mortality rates and income per capita, but it kid-friendly language.  For example, If you lived in Burma instead of the United States, you would make 93.76% less money.  By the way, I never realized how big Burma was! 

We'll be using this in class to make comparisons to different countries as they come up in discussion.  I have also been working closely with the math teacher on my team (new to Twitter, @JohnMVenner) who has been creating infographics with students to represent country data.  This will bea  great resource for us to share as we work to make our 7thgraders more aware and empathetic of the way people live around the world.