After reading this article on
Walking and Talking Geography, I realized it is important for students to
become familiarized with the things around them. Not only is it the thing’s
around them, but it is what is around them EVERY single day. A student
understanding their community is crucial and plays a bigger factor in their
life then they may know. Student’s even get to know a little bit about their
friends when they explain the community they live in to one another. Grocery
stores, banks, gas stations, parks, houses, stores, etc. All of these things
play a major factor in everyone’s life.
If I
were to do this in my classroom, I would have my students draw out a map of the
things around their neighborhood. I would love for the students to draw it on
their desk with an expo marker and give everyone a toy hot wheel. The hot wheel
can demonstrate and create a visual map in their head of the things they see
when they are sitting in their own car. The students are to label where the
nearest grocery store, bank, library, clothing store or school/park is. I want them to
then generate ideas on why those things are so important to their everyday
life. Such as “where do we get our food from?” or “where can we go if we want
to play on the swings or slides?”. "How does it sound here?" or "Do adults or children use this place?" This gets the students to think about all
the important places near them and why they play such a huge factor in everyone’s
life.
"Such stories
motivate children to explore their local
environment and raise awareness of the
physical and human characteristics that
make up their world, precisely what is
overlooked by outside-in approaches to
teaching and learning geography."
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