What Is Geographic Education? Part 2

Last year I wrote a post for you about just what exactly "geographic education" can look like. Since that time, I have travelled more than 24,000km to Antarctica and home again, and have shared with you some∙of∙the∙ways I've used the experience to teach my students about the world and about Antarctica. The purpose of the …

Reaching Out

Part of my responsibilities as a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow, besides engaging in learning with my students in our own classroom, is to participate in outreach activities in the broader community. This is an ongoing process that I'm sure will continue for much of the rest of the year, but it is fun to share this …

Fat or Feathers?

How do polar animals survive and thrive in their harsh environments? There are two main methods that these animals use to stay warm in their icy habitats: blubber and fur (or down). Walruses, whales, and many seals have a thick layer of blubber insulation. This blubber is highly vascularized to insulate them from the intense cold …

How Does Antarctica Measure Up?

This week the National Geographic Education blog featured a post about my Antarctic measurement curriculum. You can also read a bit more about this topic in one of my previous posts. I hope you enjoy it!

Around the World to Antarctica

Hi everyone! I have been working on something special for you. I hope you enjoy it! This weekend I visited Toledo, OH to see the Grosvenor Teacher Fellow's exhibit at the National Center for Nature Photography. Twenty of the 2015 GTFs submitted photos from our expeditions to this exhibit, and they look great all up …

Back to Reality

Coming back from Antarctica is hard. You go to parties to see your friends, and they ask you, "How was it?" but you keep finding yourself at a loss for adjectives. Amazing or spectacular just doesn't seem to cut it. "Tell me all about it!" they say, but you stare at them like a deer in the …

Peggy the Penguin Update

In my last blog post, I let you know about the most recent plushy addition to our classroom. Since that time, each child in the class has had a chance to take Peggy home to introduce it to their families. My hope here was for each child to build a strong attachment to Peggy, so …

If We Build It, Will They Come?

A few summers ago, I signed up for a workshop offered by the Monarch Teacher Network of Canada. The registration fee was being subsidized by my school board, and I figured, why not? It ended up being one of my favourite professional development workshops and has had a profound impact on my teaching. Since then, my …

What Is Geographic Education?

When I first told my friends and family about my selection for the Grosvenor Teacher Fellow Program, they were, of course, overjoyed for me. But, well-intentioned, many have since asked me questions like, “You don’t teach geography, so how did you get selected?” It’s true that many Grosvenor Teacher Fellows are not geography teachers. We are …