New Education Grants Available from NGS – Initial Deadline is January 30

The National Geographic Society will begin offering new education-focused grants to individual educators in 2017!

Grants will be awarded quarterly. However, we particularly encourage educators to submit a proposal during the first quarter, with an expedited deadline of Monday, January 30, 2017. VGA hopes to have some new or continuing efforts apply– please let Ed and Annie know if you are interested. (kinmanel@longwood.edu; Anne.Evans@charlottesvilleschools.org)

Funded projects must align with one of the Society’s three focus lenses: Our Human Story, Critical Species & Places, and Our Changing Planet.

Education grants will support projects that aim to teach people about the world and how it works, empowering them to make it a better place. We want to identify effective strategies in teaching and learning – what works in education? – in our three focus lenses. Projects can be new or existing initiatives that have potential for replication or adaptation to other areas and audiences.

We will also support projects that demonstrate how to teach better – new ideas for instructional strategies at any level, with any audience, and in any location. We aim to support educators in traditional and nontraditional settings, in community education and outreach, and in other venues.

Finally, we will support projects that measure what works in teaching and learning – educators who want to research, evaluate, and measure how learning takes place. This dovetails with National Geographic’s Learning Framework: the set of attitudes, skills, and knowledge that embody the explorer mindset.

To receive more information and application instructions, please contact educationgrants@ngs.org.

Fulbright Program for U.S. K-12 Educators

Announcing the launch of the 2017 Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Short-Term Program Online Application for K-12 educators! Teachers may travel to Botswana, Colombia, India, Mexico, the Palestinian Territories, South Korea, or Vietnam. View individual project summaries for details on program opportunities here.

Review the eligibility requirements and application details. Application deadline is Wednesday, February 15, 2017.

Exploring Manifest Destiny workshop

Free teacher workshop: Exploring Manifest Destiny from Multiple Viewpoints for District of
                      Columbia, Maryland and Virginia teachers from grades 9-12

When:            Wednesday, January 11, 2017 from  4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Where:           National Museum of the American Indian— Washington, D.C.
(4th and Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20024)

To Register:    Please email GokeyR@si.edu by Friday, January 6, 2017

Explore the concept of Manifest Destiny, the promises made on both sides during treaty-making, and differing ideas around land ownership from multiple viewpoints. Teachers will tour the Nation to Nation gallery and examine primary sources (including Lone Dog’s Winter Count, maps, personal accounts, and treaties). This foundations workshop will support your teaching with informational text by and about American Indians!

Great for Social Studies, English Language Arts, History, and Art Teachers! This workshop includes free take-home materials and classroom resources.

Online teacher’s institute, Primarily Virginia, starts the end of January

Primarily Virginia is an online course designed for teachers to explore Virginia’s past by examining objects and primary sources. These pieces of the past will be used as a lens to examine different historical eras in Virginia history. All course work is to be completed through the course website, and there are no required in-person class meetings.

The course consists of a series of six modules. In each module, a series of activities will allow the participants to engage in the historical inquiry process, and provide opportunities to examine how the course content can be applied in the classroom. Each module will require teachers to write reflections about the objects and the historical content and to respond to the postings from the other class participants.

Primarily Virginia’s online format has been designed for asynchronous work, allowing  K-12 teachers from around Virginia to access the resources of the VHS and the Library of Congress from their homes and schools. Upon completion of the course, participating teachers will receive 45 re-certification points, along with a membership to the Virginia Historical Society. The course is offered free of charge, thanks to the generous support of the MeadWestvaco Corporation and the MeadWestvaco Foundation.

Primarily Virginia is limited to 30 students and will launch on January 30, 2017. Please register by January 23, 2017.

 

For additional information, please contact Bill Obrochta, 804-342-9651, wobrochta@vahistorical.org.

Judith Painter to participate in Earth Hackathon 2016

VGA member and Nat Geo certified teacher Judith Painter has been selected to participate in Earth Hackathon 2016, an event sponsored by National Geographic and Google Earth Outreach in Chicago, December 9-11. Judith teaches world geography at Andrew Lewis Middle School in Salem, VA, and is known by many in Southwest Teacher as a co-director of the annual Geofest. Our congratulations to her on her acceptance for this great experience in geospatial thinking. For more information on the event, go to https://sites.google.com/site/ngsghack2016/faq-1

VGA awarded $20,000 Library of Congress “Teaching with Primary Sources” Grant

The Virginia Geographic Alliance is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a $20,000 Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources grant to help fund the  professional development program –  Placing Primary Sources.  Placing Primary Sources will be a tiered professional development program focused on capacity building, curriculum development, professional development, and sustainability.  The project’s goals include:

  • Recruit and train 6 TPS Teacher Scholars to serve as TPS ArcGIS Online Story Map curriculum authors.
  • Inform and train 75+ classroom teachers in TPS Phase I resources, skills, and techniques.
  • Research, design, and publish 10-12 best practice Teaching with Primary Sources Story Maps
  • Design and deliver multiple professional development trainings based on TPS Story Maps and TSP Phase I resources, skills, and techniques.
  • Publish an online gallery of story maps and lesson plans via VGA’s website.
  • Share and disseminate the story maps and curriculum in the form of conference presentations, webinars, and articles.

The project will run from January 1, 2017 – December 31, 2018.

NCGE announces GeoCamp Iceland 2017

NCGE’s GeoCamp Iceland Institute is a graduate level equivalent short course in geographic inquiry and field methods for in-service teachers. Iceland’s extraordinary and unique landscapes serve as the classroom and laboratory from July 8-17, 2017. Guided by Icelandic field leaders, participants will learn directly from Iceland’s renewable energy experts, sail on a fishing vessel, visit active volcanoes, and walk upon receding glaciers and in rift valleys. Working alongside local teachers, participants have the opportunity to explore historic sites and enjoy Icelandic foods, and much more!

GeoCamp Iceland 2017 Applications should be returned by January 15, 2017. Please get your application in early–space is limited.

Learn more about this unique opportunity here!

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ME ON THE MAP: A Song and Lesson Plan for Geography Educators

Brady Rymer, a twice Grammy nominated children’s musician, recently released a music video for his song “Me on the Map.” The song from Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could’s 2016 album, Press Play, encourages kids to explore the geography of their hometown and develop a relationship with the world around them.

“I hope the song helps students and teachers consider what makes their place on the map unique and special,” said Rymer. “I hope it encourages greater understanding and appreciation of students’ environment, and fosters a sense of adventure and curiosity to explore and learn how the world is different, how geography affects community, cultures, cuisine and all the things we do. I hope the song encourages a desire to preserve and take care of the natural world and communities around us.”

Access NCGE’s lesson plan & read more here!

Southwest Virginia 2016 APHG Academy materials now available

Resources developed for the annual professional development workshop, held October 7-9 2016, may now be accessed here. These include a field guide that provides teachers with materials and examples of teaching activities they can incorporate into their classroom instruction.

See also Stephen Chamberlin’s story map of the academy’s activities.

 

 

CHILDREN’S MAP COMPETITION 2017

Encourage your students to create an entry for the Barbara Petchenik Children’s Map Competition, for a chance to represent the United States as a national finalist at the International Cartographic Conference in Washington, DC, from July 2-7, 2017. The aims of the competition are to promote children’s creative representation of the world, to enhance their cartographic awareness, and to make them more conscious of their environment.

This map competition celebrates the creativity, imagination, artistry, and wisdom of child mapmakers. Students from your school may become representatives of the U.S. in a map exhibit featuring student entries from around the world, and the illustrations will be considered for greeting card, calendar, and poster designs for organizations such as UNICEF. All entries must be postmarked and mailed by February 1, 2017.

Learn more.