Sandra K. Friday
Horrified by how little my at-risk high school students at the Wilbur Cross Annex know about the whereabouts of almost
everything
, from local to global, I am challenged to find creative and effective ways to illuminate the world. Relying on
film
,
literature
,
maps
,
field trips
, and
creative arts activities
, it is my intention to hook my students and "wind them in" to the
geography
of learning. For my unit, I have chosen the title "The Geography of Learning: Creating the World through Film and Literature" because, through the various mediums -- film, television, literature, maps, and of course through actual physical contact -- we all create our own geography of the world by the extent of our exposure to it and our ability to imagine it. Some people have created for themselves a world the size of a walnut, while others create a world that is continuously expanding. Unfortunately, most of my students have secured themselves in a walnut, or at best a coconut, where they have learned to navigate or, as they say, "maintain." To venture outside seems risky, unpredictable and unnecessary. Having achieved a level of comfort through familiarity within their limited geography, they stay, more or less, inside "the hood," fearful of the unfamiliar and unknown that lies beyond.
Through field trips, film, literature, and creative arts activities, I hope to present opportunities for my students to create a broader view of the geography of the world. Because I am an English teacher, my students have been conditioned to expect to read stories, plays and poetry; they do not expect to study films and geography and do creative art. But, films are stories, and geography comes out of film. It is through this added element of "visual literacy" that I plan to facilitate their learning in both content and skills, asking them to discuss and formulate opinions about the people who live in the geography of the films and literature, and ultimately to write about them in a formula five-paragraph essay. (See lesson plan #'s 2 and 3.)
At the Annex, because we are a program of approximately 150 students, our English classes are not separated into grades, but rather incorporate grades ten through twelve. Therefore, even though only a percentage of my students in each class will be required to take the Connecticut Academic Performance Test in Language Arts that all tenth graders must take, I plan CAPT-like lessons and activities, based on the premise that the skills incorporated in these lessons and activities are useful for everyone, regardless of their grade level or what tests they may be required to take in the future. Exploring geography as I define it in the following section, students will learn and sharpen among other skills: observation, gathering evidence, comparison, reflection, discussion, and essay writing.
