At its December 13, 2014 meeting, The VGA Steering Committee approved support for the following programs:

Using ArcGIS Online to Explore and Analyze Our World. Directed by Georgeanne Hribar. Program will be offered in February for Rockingham County Schools an at the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center for Hampton,  Isle of Wight, Norfolk and Virginia Beach public schools.

Geographic Genealogy Studies for Use with Students. One-day workshop offered in the Spring by Judith Painter and Martha Smith at Andrew Lewis Middle School, Salem. Partnering with Ancestry.com and Journey Through Hallowed Ground. (Could be replicated at other schools).

iSTEM Teacher Institute, TBD. In partnership with the Battelle Memorial Institute, LEARN NC (UNC_CH), University of Virginia Scholars’ Lab, Charlottesville City Schools, Albemarle County Public Schools, Madison County Public Schools, Orange County Public Schools, and Greene County Public Schools.

The Revolution in Virginia: 2015 Geography and History of Colonial Virginia, a four-day institute at Stratford Hall. Designed to meet new standards in United States 1, United States 2, and Virginia Studies.

Among other items approved were funds to support revisions (updates) to Geography Connects, an online interactive course for secondary history and geography teachers offered by Don Zeigler, Old Dominion University.

Also coming in 2015 will be pdf sets of world regional maps available on the VGA website. Each set will include both color and black and white shaded relief versions, with and without labels.

Global Exploration for Educators Organization (GEEO) is a 501c3 non-profit organization that runs professional development travel programs designed for teachers.

GEEO is offering the following travel programs for 2015: India/Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bali/Lombok, Italy, Eastern Europe, Portugal/Spain, Greece, Uzbekistan, Vietnam/Cambodia, Thailand/Laos, Belize/Guatemala, Morocco (Winter and Summer), The Baltics, China, Eastern Turkey, Western Turkey, Zambia/Botswana/Namibia/South Africa, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Peruvian Andes (Summer and Spring), Peruvian Amazon, and The Galapagos Islands. The registration deadline is June 1st, but space is limited and many programs will be full well before the deadline.

Educators have the option to earn graduate school credit and professional development credit while seeing the world.  The trips are 8 to 19 days in length and are designed and discounted to be interesting and affordable for teachers. GEEO provides teachers educational materials and the structure to help them bring their experiences into the classroom. The trips are open to all nationalities of K-12 and university educators and administrators, as well as retired educators. Educators are also permitted to bring along a non-educator guest.

Detailed information about each trip, including itineraries, costs, travel dates, and more can be found at www.geeo.org. GEEO can be reached 7 days a week, toll free at 1-877-600-0105 between 9 AM-9 PM EST.

A collaborative education project, Mapping the American Slave Trade, will bring students from the Richmond and New Orleans areas together to learn about the interstate slave trade in America from many different perspectives. Students will receive a set of primary sources from the Library of Virginia (LVA) and The Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC) and work together using a digital platform. Three to four high school teachers and their classes from high schools in both areas will collaborate on the project during the spring 2015 semester. Classes from Richmond will be paired with partner classes from New Orleans, and the students will research and write context for primary source documents that highlight the interstate slave trade. The classes will showcase their work on an interactive online map.

The program coincides with LVA’s ongoing exhibit, To Be Sold: Virginia and the American Slave Trade.

See flyer for details on participation and information on application requirements and procedures. (Note: although the flyer targets “Richmond-area” teachers, that geographic area is broadly interpreted. So if you are interested and not teaching in Richmond and surrounding jurisdictions, give it a try.)

Applications are due by December 31, 2014.

Participants will be selected/announced by January 15, 2015.

Teachers and representatives from LVA and THNOC will participate by video chat in a planning conference on January 23, 2015.

Classroom work will begin in mid-February 2015.

If you have questions, please contact Adrienne Robertson, Education and Programs Coordinator, Library of Virginia, (804) 692-3001.

“Be published for 2014 Geography Awareness Week”

What: Submit a lesson plan that showcases this year’s Geography Awareness Week theme of “The Future of Food”

When: Submit via email by December 15, 2014

Where:  Email virginiageographic@yahoo.com

Focus: The Virginia Geographic Alliance is looking lesson plans ranging from K-16 that focuses on the geography of food, food resources, food sustainability, and/or impacts of food around the world. The top lesson plan from the elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels will be published on the Virginia Geographic Alliance Geography Awareness Week site as well as receiving The Geography Collective’s book “Mission Explore: Food”

Rules: All lesson plans must include

1. Student goal(s) and objective(s)
2. Grade level and strand number related to the Standards of Learning
3. List of teacher materials and student materials
4. Time(s) and transitions for a full class period/block
5. Explanation of lesson procedures
6. Original work or full citations
7. Your full name and address, your school’s name, and your email address

• Lesson plans become the property of the Virginia Geographic Alliance and may be reprinted, posted on related websites, and/or shared on social media.

November 19, 2014 is GIS Day–the annual salute to geospatial technology and its power to transform and better our lives! The Esri Story Maps group has launched a “Share Your View!” crowd-sourcing initiative to celebrate. You’re invited to participate! The theme, “Share Your View!”, focuses on a seemingly local experience – the view from your window (or door). However, by placing these locations on the map, the application puts things in a broader perspective — presenting a tapestry of views from all over the world. Here you can submit your view and see entries that others have submitted. Then, in your classroom, compare vegetation, building types, land use, language, weather, climate, presence/absence of water, population density, and other aspects of physical and cultural geography that you notice in these maps and photographs. Learn more about GIS Day here.

NCGE is seeking applications for the position of Editor of The Geography Teacher. This position would begin July 1, 2015 and overlap with the current Editor position until December 31, 2015. This overlap is intended to provide continuity of leadership and to facilitate the ongoing and future success of the journal. The term for editors of NCGE journals is three years with the possibility of two renewals (for a total of nine years). Deadline for applications is December 14, 2014. Learn more here.

Why does every map projection have some distortion? Find out more at http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/media/cartographers-dilemma/?ar_a=1

Online U.S. History Course: Hidden in Plain Sight
Spring 2015
45 Recertification Points

http://edchnm.gmu.edu/hidden

The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (CHNM) at George Mason University is pleased to announce Hidden in Plain Sight, an asynchronous, online U.S. history course for teachers. The course was developed with funding from the Virginia Department of Education.

Participants in this course work through eight modules. Requirements in each module include writing a hypothesis, exploring historical context, and reflecting on classroom applications. The cost is $40.

Register by January 16, 2015: http://edchnm.gmu.edu/hidden/recertification-course-registration

Visit the course website < http://edchnm.gmu.edu/hidden or email Nathan Sleeter <nsleete1@gmu.edu> for more information.