Maps are a form of information that can be presented and manipulated in both conscious and subconscious ways by the creators of the documents. Exploring and looking closely at a variety of maps will help users of maps become more critical readers of these documents which can be looked at and deciphered in so many ways. Those who control or produce maps wield much power and it behooves students and teachers to better prepare ourselves to interpret, understand and analyze maps much like we should so much of the data we are being bombarded with during this age of information. There are multiple objectives that I envision in this unit and in your units stemming from what I present here. Maps in this unit become a creative tool, a work of art, a way to interpret information when reading and my hopes are that students learn to appreciate and understand the depth and importance of maps through experimenting and utilizing them as a tool. I hope that teachers will realize that while the use of maps is similar to using other graphic organizers or note taking strategies that we regularly turn to in the classroom, the very nature of maps—their artistic qualities, their history and their diversity—will bring a new depth to the sometimes simplistic tools that we turn to in our classes. A chronological bulleted list of life events becomes an illustrated story line with visual and spatial representations that show a life story; a bubble like spider organizer listing the roots of a problem or conflict can become a colorful character brain map in which the causes and depth of the problems can be more readily seen through illustration, color, size and placement. Teachers are constantly reminded to differentiate instruction, to meet students at their individual levels and abilities; maps provide the perfect means to do just that.
For ten years of my teaching career in New Haven, I taught in an Arts Magnet School. I believe that all middle schools should be arts magnet schools. I feel this way because in an arts magnet school, everyone find their niche, their tools and their way to comfortably work through presented material that might otherwise be more difficult to decipher. Maps belong in this realm.
On a more practical classroom level, I would like this unit to achieve the following content objectives:
- Students will explore and discuss a variety of maps and map sources in groups as part of an initial introduction to the unit
- Students will draw or create a variety of maps including, but not limited to maps of their community, maps of New England/the Americas, timelines depicting the life and times of Phineas Gage, self-portrait phrenological maps and others. Students will integrate the maps into their exploration of the life and times of Phineas Gage.
- Students will study travel writing as a genre, exploring both past and present writers as well as the purpose and types of travel writing.
- Students will utilize journals to write creative narratives around the journey depicted in Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Tale of Brain Science by John Fleishman.
- Students will explore and experiment with point of view in their journal writing and their map creations, identifying how point of view and scale in maps can change meanings.
- Students will utilize insights and questions raised through journal writing to pinpoint and explore topics for a research paper to be created after going through the unit.
- Students will use technology, including the internet, in order to research and explore maps and topics around the life and times of Phineas Gage.
- Students will work collaboratively on the creation of maps and journal entries and will present finished work in classroom discussions and presentations.
- Students will explore maps not only as tools for directions, but as works of art, graphic organizers, and objects of discussion.
