There's A Map On My Lap!

...or in this case, There's a Map on the Wall!

Every day before we officially begin my reading class, the students pull out their DOL book. This is a spiral bound book that has daily activities/questions to help students with various reading and language arts skills (spelling, punctuation, proofreading, sentence types, main idea, sequencing, etc.) I know the students eagerly anticipate completing these activities every day...or maybe not. (Not that it matters, because I like them and I think they are beneficial!)

Anyway, something that is neat about this particular DOL activity book, is that every week there is an overall theme. Past themes have included tree houses, pollution, major league baseball parks, and the Pony Express. About a week ago, the theme was canals - specifically the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal.

Important Side Note: I have a problem. I admit it. When there is ANY possible connection to social studies in my reading classes, I go into a lot more detail than I probably should with the kids. I can't help it. I love social studies.

So, as we were talking about the Panama Canal, I was trying to explain the "why" and the "where" facts of the canal. It was really difficult explaining to kids about the beneficial location of the canal without a map...However, since DOL is only supposed to take the first couple minutes of class, I couldn't really justify searching for a world map on the Internet, finding one that was detailed enough for the canal location, and then turning on the projector to show it on the ActivBoard (which is a really cool interactive white board!).

I was about to give up and just tell the kids to look it up sometime on their own (which, let's be honest, would never happen), when I noticed the "old school" maps hanging from the ceiling over on one of my classroom walls. I had never used them before, and in fact, had been told by other teachers I needed to get those pulled off the wall, because people never use them anymore. However, in my procrastinator ways, I had never requested them to be removed.

For once being a procrastinator paid off.

I know I shrieked with joy when I saw those maps - which probably freaked out the kids a little. I rushed over to the maps (there are three!), found the World Map, and excitedly pulled the little chain to unroll the map. I was finally able to show the students exactly where the Panama Canal was, why it was needed (to expedite travel and trade - and to be safer than going all the way around Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America...), and describe some of the political strife that occurred as a result of the canal being dug. Sigh, it was great!

If you knew me when I was a child, I dreamed of being a teacher since the first day of kindergarten. It's true. Now, I haven't always wanted to be a teacher so I could make a difference...I used to want to be a teacher so I could use red pens, correct homework, use overhead projectors and pens (they would discontinue those now that I am finally a teacher!), and have a reason to buy new school supplies every year!

Another thing I have always wanted to do is use a wall map. Yep. I always wanted to use the chain (or string, or piece of yarn) to pull down a colorful plastic map - either world or United States, I wasn't picky. I LOVED it when teachers would use the maps. They would point to them with their finger or some pointer device, in usually a dramatic way, and I loved it. I wanted to be them. I wanted to pull the string and have the map roll back up - well, at least that is what was supposed to happen when the string was pulled again!

However, I digress. The point is, I was able to fulfill a lifelong "teacher" dream of mine. It was amazing and I loved every second of it. I dramatically pointed to the map and made dramatic flourishes with my hand as I pointed to various routes ships would have taken. I got into the stories and facts, which got the kids excited, too. Sigh, it was a very fulfilling experience!

(I also was very excited to think that I could use the map in my other 3 classes later that day!) Woohoo!

Yes, technology is great. Yes, Google Maps could have pulled up a satellite picture of the canal that would have been amazing and breath-taking I am sure. Yes, I could have probably taken the students on a "virtual field trip" of the canal with just a few clicks of the mouse.

But sometimes the "old school" stuff is fine and that is fine with me.

Never Say Newspaper...

Extra, Extra! Read All About It...

A few weeks ago my reading class was focusing on "Real World" Reading - which was basically learning how to read menus, recipes, mall directories, TV guides, movies, and finally, the classified ads. Doesn't sound too bad, does it? We read these things all the time...and for the most part, the kids did great...For the most part.

Every week my classroom has newspapers that are donated from various businesses around the community. It is a great program that is not always utilized. So, for the classified ads lesson, I decided to save newspapers for all of the students to use. The day of the lesson came around and I passed a complete newspaper to every student, told them to open it up, pull out the classified section, and put the rest of it to the side. The mass chaos that ensued after turning the students over to their newspapers cannot even be described. You would have thought that I had just asked every student to cut off a body part!

Overheard Comments: "The what section?" "What are we supposed to pull out?" "I can't find it." "Where do I find where the sections are?"

After we FINALLY got the classified ads away from the rest of paper, I had the students open their papers to B6.

Overheard Comments: "What is B6?" "Where do I find the page number?" "What is she talking about?" "Is that the name of an article?" OH MY.

Once all the students were on the PAGE NUMBER B6, I asked them to fold back the paper on itself, so we didn't have huge spread out newspapers on our desks. Not too hard to handle, right? I demonstrated how a simple twist of the wrist will do the trick...

Overheard Comments: "Ms. Maaaaay, I can't do it!" "My paper isn't wanting to go that direction" "Ms. May, can you come fold my paper back for me?" "How did you do that so easily?" "Do we have to do this? I can't figure it out" "My paper is wrinkling"

I don't even remember how many newspapers I had to fold back for students. They were literally freaking out that they had to fold back a paper! Now, granted, it is a skill that does take some practice, but it isn't rocket science.

I am all for technology and the e-book sensations (such as Kindle and the Nook), but it is a bit disconcerting when kids don't even know how to open a newspaper, find a newspaper page number, and fold a newspaper back on itself!

Sigh...I guess I'm honored that I can introduce students to these archaic artifacts that some of us still open, read, and fold back daily!

"All I know is what I read in the papers" - Will Rogers