S+Randall,+Alexander

**Office:** Room 208 **Office Phone:** 207.555.5555 **Office Hours:** Monday-Friday 7:00am - 4:00pm (or by appointment) ** E-mail: ** alexander.randall@maine.edu
 * Teacher:** Mr. Alexander M. Randall

=Summary of Unit= Hello and welcome to Human Geography. In this course, you will be learning how geography affects interactions between civilizations (whether ancient or modern), how humans and environments affect each other, and why cultures and civilizations started where/when they did. Some essential questions that we will answer are: why do people live where they do? How do natural environments around the world affect cultures? And how do environmental factors affect human interactions? Students will learn important vocabulary concerning Human Geography and will understand that issues involving people, places, and environments are directly influenced by geography. = = =Establish Goals= **Content Area:** Social Studies. **Standard:** D2 Geography. Individual, cultural, international, and Global Connections in Geography. **Grade Level:** Grade 9-Diploma. Students understand geographic aspects of unity and diversity in Maine, the United States, and the world, including maine Native American communities. ** Performance Indicators: ** D2 a,b. Students will understand that • issues involving people, places, and environments are directly influenced by geography. • issues of cultural diversity are directly affected by geography. • world geography affects human interactions. = = =Essential Questions= • Why do people live where they live? • How do natural environments around the world affect cultures? • How do environmental factors affect human interactions? = = =Students will know= • **Vocabulary:** maps, landmasses, longitude, latitude, scale, diffusion, etc... • **Key Factual Information:** People use their environments to live. What they have at their disposal affects how they live and interact. • **Sequence and Timelines:** People's impacts on their environments have changed over time. Natural disasters and wars are affected by the natural environment and directly affect society. = = =Students will be able to= • describe why issues involving people, places, and environments are directly influenced by geography. • evaluate the environment's impact on society and vice versa. • propose why some cultures started where they did. • analyze the impact of geography on human interaction. • consider how the environment affects cultural diversity. • recognize that geography greatly affects society.

**Performance Task Overview** Students and their colleagues will create a digital presentation on Human Geography in a region/society of the world. A list of regions/societies will be provided. Presentations can be anything from a powerpoint, video, audio recording, or almost anything you (the student) can think of. As long as you and your team can portray the changes in a region/society over time based on geographic changes (river shifts, droughts, desertification, etc) in the region that directly affects the societies nearby. Your task is to figure out how the geographical changes of the region over time have affected the civilizations that settle there. If there's a flood, what consequences does that present? Do the geographic changes affect relations between one civilization and another, and if so, how? Be sure to talk about the affects that the changes had on the civilizations there. Be sure to talk about how a geographic change could have affected/did affect events in history. There will be situations where you can explore your topic with "if" questions, as long as they are plausible and if you have time/space. = = =Expectations= = = =Benchmarks=
 * Absences/Tardies:** Absent and tardy students will obey the school's absent/tardy student policy in the Student Handbook. A class wikispace will be available online to the students and their families/guardians to not only see this syllabus but to see assignments and postings that I make.
 * Classroom Expectations:** The students and I will obey all school rules. Classroom rules will be established at the beginning of the course with student input.
 * Plagiarism:** Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Students and staff members will adhere to State and Federal plagiarism laws described in the Student Handbook.
 * Classwork/Participation:** Participation in my class is key to success. I strongly encourage participating in class and group discussions. Participation often helps people absorb more information and asking a question (or answering one, for that matter) may help someone else, too. I will try my hardest to call on everyone as often as possible, so don't be afraid to raise those hands (I'll end up calling on you anyway). Participation is not a large part of your grade. It will be, however, taken into consideration.
 * Late Policy:** Any late work will automatically have 10% taken off of the total grade. If you receive a 100 on an assignment and it is two school days, it will be an 80. If, for whatever reason, a deadline needs to be adjusted, //please// discuss it with me and I will try my best to accommodate for you. If you do not talk to me, I will expect your assignment to be on time and your grades will suffer. If a deadline must be adjusted, we will discuss what is best for you and I and what is fair for your classmates.
 * ** Blog (100): ** Students will create a Human Geography Blog where they will reflect on their readings, assignments, and discussions from class. This blog must be grammatically correct and appropriate for your peers and I to read. Students will be assigned Blog buddies to help each other set up their blogs. Afterward, students will choose two //separate// peers' blogs to read and critique and will be expected to comment with positive and constructive feedback. After peer feedback, students will edit their blogs in time for my final comments.
 * ** Inspiration (75): ** Students will independently use Inspiration (or Inspiration-like software) to create an in-depth mind-map showing their understanding of Human Geography and connections between key terms. Human Geography will be centered on the page and will have branches such as "Key Terms," "Concepts," "Regions," etc. and students will elaborate. Classmates will peer edit and I will collect the finished products the following class.
 * ** Glogster (100): ** Students will independently choose a topic from a list of terms and/or topics that has to do with Human Geography and will create a Glogster to present to their classmates in a 5-10 minute presentation. The Glogster should have images and appealing graphics or even video clips pertaining to the subject area, but make sure that there is enough time to pay attention and talk about these. Classmates will peer edit and I will collect the finished products the following class.
 * ** Wiki (75): ** I will create a class wiki for students to post artifacts and summaries of Human Geography topics that are discussed in class and use discussion tabs for commenting/critiquing on each others summaries.
 * ** Comic Life (75): ** Students will be separated into groups where they will create a comic using Storyboard so that they may apply their knowledge of a Human Geography topic that they have yet to cover.
 * ** Google Earth (100): ** Students will pick a region of the Earth from a list that I will provide and create a 5-10 minute interactive presentation using Google Earth to show to their classmates.
 * **Final Performance Task (150):** Students will be placed in small groups and will create a presentation on a Human Geography in a region/society of the world. A list of regions/societies will be provided by the teacher. Presentations can be anything from a skit, powerpoint, video, or almost anything they can think of. So long as the students can portray the changes in a region over time based on geographic changes, any technology (or lack thereof) is sufficient. Students will pick a region/society and choose three time periods that are at least 200 years apart from one another showing the geographic changes in the region that directly affected the societies present. This project is all about application. Apply away!

__//**Total: 700 points. The total number grade will be divided by the total number of benchmarks (seven).**//__

=Grading Scale=
 * A ** (93 -100), ** A- ** (90 - 92), ** B+ ** (87 - 89), ** B ** (83 - 86), ** B- ** (80 - 82), ** C+ ** (77 - 79), ** C ** (73-76), ** C- ** (70 - 72), ** D+ ** (67 - 69), ** D ** (63 - 66), ** D- ** (60 - 62), ** F ** (0 - 59)