Notes from the Virtual Ms B

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Geo Obs #2 - Kansas City, MO

List and describe the top five (5) places to eat at or visit in Kansas City, MO. {You can include the metro}

Geo Obs #1 - Your "Hood"

Describe your neighborhood using objective and subjective terms - be as appropriately descriptive as possible in detailing the sights, sounds, people, history, and life in your neighborhood.

TPQ 6 - Summertime

Describe your favorite (childhood) summertime memory. Detail geographical features. See Nikki Giovanni's "Knoxville, Tennessee" for details.

TPQ 5 - Thought Provoking Question

Create 3 TPQs of your own:
1.
2.
3.

TPQ 4 - Perception

Define perception and detail a situation or example in which perception and reality conflicted.

TPQ 3 - Technology, Part Deux

Describe the "school of the future". How will technology be used in the classroom 10, 20, or 50 years from now?

Research: Are there any countries that currently use, have, or do some of the items you have listed?

TPQ 2 - What is Geography?

Please answer the following questions in an articulate, in-depth, and thoughtful response.

1. What is your definition of Geography?
2. How does Geography relate to other Social Studies classes?
3. Why should we care? What can we learn and how does this information affect you?

TPQ 1: Technology

How has technology affected how we communicate? Discuss "then" and "now" as well as "pros" and "cons" of digital communications.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Did You Know?

Watch this Youtube video and respond to the following question in an articulate, thoughtful, and in-depth response:

So what does it all mean???

Adnan Nevic

According to the UN, Adnan Nevic became the 6 billionth person on earth on October 12, 1999. 1999 - that was 11 years ago.

1. What tools can you use to find out how many people are here now?

2. What factors have to be considered in calculating how many people are in the world right now?

3. Why should we care about how many people are on earth?

4. How does the number on earth affect you?

Welcome to B'Easyville!!!

Ah-bee (hello in B'Easyville)! Welcome to B'Easyville, our city at MyMiniCity.com.

We are creating our own city; a community of Global Studies students involved in a social experiment. Can we populate, build, and govern a city with the knowledge learned from class? Here is the link to B'Easyville...

http://beasyville.myminicity.com

Before we build, we have to start with inhabitants. World Geography/Global Studies students (only, no friends or friends of friends - this is not a Facebook page) must first click (or cut and paste the link into your internet browser)the link to get started. Remember to use a school appropriate username for any communications.

More directions and instructions as our city grows...

Introductions

Welcome to class! We will blog for extra credit, to participate in discussions after class is over, to get a deeper understanding of class topics, or to research topics outside of class.

Let's begin with introductions -

You can write an introductory paragraph - likes, dislikes, information about where you are from, your family, etc OR...

You can create an interactive poster at www.glogster.com, upload a 3-5 minute introduction to Youtube.com, or create a zooming personal presentation on Prezi.com to tell us about you... Post the link to your creation here.

See me if you have any issues.
B.

Skills You Need...

I am a big fan of using technology in and outside of the classroom so there will be a technological component to the class. Lecture notes, articles or other readings, and activities will be posted online so that you will have access to them in class, at school, at home, or on your phones. There will be no excuses as to why you did not know something...

We will use several Web 2.0 tools and applications in this class. As always, I will offer tutorials but you have to tinker with things on your own time to become proficient in using these tech tools. You are ultimately responsible for what and how you learn...

You must (or by the time class is over, you will) know how to:
1. Search effectively. You must be able to use keywords and identify reliable, relevant, and appropriate sources of information. The internet is vast - you do not have time to search for things for hours...

2. Bookmark - save websites or other information so you can access it whenever/ wherever. IE, Safari, Google Chrome, and Firefox all have bookmarking functions as do websites like SimplyBox and delicious.

3. Take notes
- You must be able to find the key ideas and concepts from anything you access

4. Document/ cite - to avoid plagiarism, you cannot simply cut & paste information. You must cite direct quotes and summarize other information.

If you need additional assistance, let me know well before an assignment or project is due.

Monday, August 2, 2010