Geography Awareness Week

1. Geography Awareness Week Volunteer Activity Guide

2. Contents • GAWeek Background • Activity Background • How to Get Into and Behave In A Classroom

3. GAWeek Background A note from National Geographic About Geography Awareness Week About Geography Awareness Week Coordinators

4. Dear Volunteer: We thank you for participating in Geography Awareness Week, helping to highlight the importance of geography education wherever you are. We hope that by introducing students to real-life professionals and problem solvers, they are inspired to make a difference in the world themselves. We hope this presentation will help you prepare for Geography Awareness Week. In it, you will find background information about the Week, tips and strategies for reaching out to schools and teachers, and activity suggestions. We hope you enjoy your time in the classroom! Sincerely, National Geographic Education And the Geo-Literacy Coalition

5. About Geography Awareness Week Geography Awareness Week, happening Nov. 13 – 19 this year, is an annual opportunity for families and schools to engage in fun, educational experiences that draw attention to geography. • Goals • Raise public awareness about geography • Encourage fun and meaningful geographic activities, fostering long-lasting public engagement at local, state or even global levels • Put the spotlight on global geographic issues • This year’s addresses Geo-literacy and Community Geography • Geo-literacy is the ability to apply geographic knowledge and skills to make important decisions. • Community Geography includes the inspiration to exploration and adventure in your own backyard.

6. About Geography Awareness Coordinators NG Geography Awareness Coordinators, members of the Network of Alliances for Geographic Education, are responsible for planning activities in their states during Geography Awareness Week, and will be able to help connect you with potential schools for presentations. They may already be planning community or school-based events that you might be able to participate in. Just ask! • Work with the Geography Awareness Coordinators to: • Get recommendations on schools to work with • Hear about local Geography Awareness Week events to participate in • Get tips on talking to classrooms of kids

7. Activity Background Resources and Where to Find Them The Poster A Little More About Mission:Explore Badges Overview (missions list)

8. Resources and Where to Find Them • Mission:Explore (the activity) • For Offline Use • Printable booklet with Mission descriptions • Printable Badges • Backgrounder – key information for classroom teachers on how to fit the activity into their lesson plans • Other activities and ideas • Additional NatGeoEd and content partner resources can be found on the main page • Tools for Event Planning and Promotion • Reporting Survey • How to Plan an Event • Downloadable Poster (front only) • GAWeek Logos • PressKit (including online, social media and newsletter assets)

9. The Poster • On the back… • About the GAWeek, NGEducation, and the Geo-literacy Coalition • What is Geo-literacy • 10 Ways to Increase Your “GQ” (geo-literacy quotient) • Descriptions of the 4 badges

10. A Little More About Mission:Explore • Mission: Explore is an interactive website for children of all ages. Designed by The Geography Collective, a group of Geography explorers, activists, teachers, and artists based in the UK, with help from the National Geographic Society, Mission:Explore promotes adventure and exploration by children within their own communities. • Explorers are challenged to complete as many hands-on adventures (“missions”) as possible, learning important geographic concepts in the process. • If participants complete enough of these missions, they will earn “explorer badges” which are derived from his year’s sub-themes of community geography: (1) photography, (2) mapping, (3) story-telling, and (4) taking action. • The Geography Awareness Week missions directly relate to these themes, encouraging children to get outside and explore their own community while applying important geographic skills. • Read the “GAWeek 2011 Backgrounder” to learn more.

11. Badge: Mapping • Ghost wood • They say that the suburbs are areas where “they chop down trees and then name streets after them.” Can you find the hidden trees in your own suburban or inner city area?  •  Invisible maze • Create a maze that can’t be seen, and can only be completed using a map that you have drawn. If someone manages to complete it, give them a sweet prize. • Don’t walk • Explore a place and discover something new… without walking. •  Walk your footprint • Estimate the size of your ecological footprint. How long does it take you to walk from its center to its edge?  • Welcome Map • Make a map that can be given to kids who are new to your area. Try to include some local secrets, interesting stories, and great places to discover. • Smelly Vision • Make a map of smells instead of sights in your neighborhood and think of a key to describe them: nice smells, sweet smells, smelly smells, etc. Where are there the most smells?

12. Badge: Photographer • See your neighborhood as if you just moved in • Can you ‘notice’ three things that you’ve never observed before within a 5 minute walk of your home?  • Snap your community’s image • Photograph the things that you think hold your community together and create its identity.  • Macro-photograph a micro world • Explore from a bug’s-eye view. Take photos of a place close-up to make a tiny place look like a whole new world or ecosystem. Can you find the hidden jungle in your backyard or playground? •  Become a remote sensor • Turn a digital camera into a satellite. Hover it above the ground and take a picture of the view below.  • Alien invasion • Photograph evidence of where a non-native plant or animal has invaded a local ecosystem. Produce a ‘spotter’s guide’ to these invasive species. 

13. Badge: Storytelling • Tell an object’s story • ‘Interview’ something that you’ve bought that comes from another country. What story does it tell you? Share the story in an interesting way by setting up your own museum. •  Cross the border • Walk (or drive or cycle) between one neighborhood and the next. When do you know that you’ve definitely moved from one to the other?  •  Map stories • Ask some people who have moved to your local area the story of why they moved there.  • Site a play • Write a play that can only be performed in a specific place. Choose your words carefully so that your audience thinks about this place in a new way. Send in your script or share your play as a video. • Sign story • Using only words you can find on signs in your community, tell a story about it. Include yourself in the story.

14. Badge: Take Action! • Trash art • Go out with a rubbish sack and collect trash. Turn the items into a piece of art and try to get it featured in your local newspaper as a way of demonstrating any problems of over-consumption and waste disposal in your area. •  Protect your heritage • Try to identify the oldest thing in your neighborhood. How can you tell that it is old? Can you work out how old it is? How is it different from other features in the local area? Start a campaign to protect it forever. •  Flower power • Plant some beautiful flowers to make a neglected place more beautiful. • Award sustainable shops • Explore your local shops. Which ones have the most sustainable products? Reward those that are good with a certificate and ask your local paper to list them. •  ID a problem • Identify a problem that faces young people in your area: homelessness, kids without school supplies, or a lack of play spaces, perhaps. Organize a campaign to change things and raise awareness of the problem. • Speak up for Geography! • Go to www.speakupforgeography.org to send a letter to your representatives asking them to support geography education.

15. How to Get Into and Behave In A Classroom How to Reach Out to Schools Sample Pitch Talking to Kids in the Classroom Pre-Class Preparation Starting the Activity

16. How to Reach Out to Schools • If you already have a school or class in mind, contact them directly! • For suggestions, ask: • Your local institution of higher education • National Geographic Geography Awareness Week Coordinators • Use the sample pitch included in this PowerPoint: • As an email or letter to send to teachers/administrators • As speaking points for calling To get in touch with the National Geographic GAWeek Coordinators in your state view the Geography Awareness Coordinator Contacts sheet.

17. Reaching Out to Schools: sample pitch Dear _____: My name is ___________ and I am an ______________ for _____________. My company is celebrating Geography Awareness Week this year to bring fun, educational resources to schools across the United States that help students learn more about geography, and how to use it in their classrooms and communities. I would like to join you and your class for one or part of a class period to co-teach a hands-on, active activity using materials developed by National Geographic. Please call or email me at _________ anytime and check out the materials at www.geographyawarenessweek.org. I hope to hear from you soon. Sincerely, __________________

18. Talking to Kids in the Classroom • Good classroom talks are: • Entertaining • Organized • Present information in a meaningful and relevant way • Tips: • Kids remember themes rather than facts • 3-times rule: Tell kids something 3 times • Don’t use excessive science or educational “speak” • Remember to: • Smile • Use facial expressions • Make eye contact • Have a good attitude!

19. Preparation • Review materials with your “co-teacher” beforehand so that he or she can present the activity with you to the students. • Share the “GAWeek 2011 Backgrounder” which explains to teachers how these missions fit within national standards. • Discuss which badges or missions would fit in most appropriately with the teachers’ lesson plans. • Determine how much time you will have. • Determine what kind of space you will be able to use. • Before the class you will need • Review the missions and badges, bring any materials you think the class will need to complete the missions and/ or badges you have chosen.

20. Starting the Activity • Begin with something like: • “Hello. I’m your nameand I work for your company. I am a your position/ title, I brief description of what you do, in simple terms. I’m here today because I’m celebrating Geography Awareness Week with the National Geographic Society, by visiting classes like yours and talking to you about how become an explorer and go on adventures in your own community!” • Divide the class into groups of 3-4 students. • Read or hand out the mission or missions, and describe how there are a lot of different ways to complete the mission and that the idea is to be creative and to use their geographic skills.

21. Good Luck, and Have Fun!