If you're not from the prairie

On Sunday, I went out with my family to enjoy Open Farm Day at various locations around the province. On our way home, we stopped for a few moments to enjoy these views near La Barrière Park. It reminded me of the book "If you're not from the prairie" by David Bouchard. Out of curiosity, I googled the book and came across this video. I think I will share it today with my Geography classes. It is a great example of geographic identity.

Happy Autumnal Equinox  everyone!

Our Geographic Identity

This semester I have two Geography classes in the afternoon. It is the most diverse group of students I have ever taught. We always talk briefly about Canadian identity in the opening unit of the course, and I wanted everyone in the class to be able to share their personal identities. They're not a talkative bunch, and most are reluctant to share in the class (hopefully this will change...maybe it's just too early in the school year), but by having them write down their "identities" anonymously and share in this way, everyone participated. We just finished discussing human and physical Geography so there were lots of ideas surrounding the idea of Geography (it's not just maps) that we used to share our "geographic identities."  

Just a regular day in "la salle de classe"...

Stay tuned...we've been up to something and hopefully we will be able to share the final product with you soon.

Daylight Savings Time

Just last week I discussed time zones with my Geography classes. Many questions were asked about the extra half hour in Newfoundland, the lack of daylight savings time in Saskatchewan and the reasons why we move the clocks in an effort to "save daylight". This article from National Geographic is worth a read to better understand these reasons.

Anyone watching 24 Reasons for Hope today?

Hope

I came across the The Climate Reality Project today and was intrigued by a live global multi-media event that is taking place next week on September 16 and 17. It's called 24 Hours of Reality: 24 Reasons for Hope. The project is devoting 24 hours of live streaming of 24 different topics related to climate change from every region in the world. We are always bombarded with tales of doom and gloom about the state of our planet so it will be great to see some insight of what's being done and what is possible. This initiative is about hope and entertaining solutions for the climate change crisis. I'm hoping to see some of it live and then will probably use some of the archived videos in Geography class. Maybe you too will watch an episode or two.

Welcome back!

Welcome to the 2014-2015 school year! It's been a good start and I have been enjoying getting to know all my new students. Once again, St. James Collegiate is welcoming many new students from all over the world. On a personal note, my son started kindergarten today. It's a very exciting day for a parent. I cannot wait to hear about his day. I'm hoping to post more frequently this year and share all the happenings of the school year. Have a good weekend!