Where in the world are all the textbooks!?!

GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION: AN ALTERNATIVE

It seems as though the newest push towards textbook use is to push them out of the classroom! Growing up I LOVED textbooks. The highlighted vocabulary words, with the endless glossaries, the end of the chapter questions, the nice shiny pages. I was all about them. I was your lecture/textbook learner. Sit, be quiet, read, write, regurgitate. But as I got older this method no longer worked for me. I could not be creative if I was confined to end of chapter questions. The only critical thinking I was allowed was from the information the textbook companies wanted me to know. I was so over it.

A few semesters back I took a world geography class with one of the best geography professors. Usually I think to myself "He's such a good teacher what a shame he is here he would be fantastic in a high school. The kids would really be inspired!" But this professor right here, is doing it RIGHT. Modeling excellent teaching for teacher candidates to then bring his knowledge and spunk out into the world, reaching far more students. I dig it.

Anyway, this site here is PHENOMENAL! In place of a college textbook that costs upwards of $100.00, we used his site geography education. The amount of articles on here is insane! It would be a fantastic tool for current events or an AP Human Geography class (also known as the high school class that changed my life - more to come later). Anyway, check it out! We all made Scoop.It accounts - similar to Pinterest - to reblog and react to the articles. It is perfect for blended learning! Some great ideas would be to have students select their own articles as part of a specific topic or let them run loose! Either way, it's quality information, for free, and uncontrolled by large corporations. It may even inspire your students to keep up with the news!

Enjoy!
- Miss Morgan