Freshman World History begins with a review unit on Geography and Culture. Topics of discussion include the 5 Themes of Geography, 7 Elements of Culture, and Rise of Civilization. Students have previously been exposed to most of these topics in some fashion during their sixth or seventh grades, however, I find it extremely beneficial to touch on them again this year. It is my belief that a strong understanding of Geography and Culture are perhaps the best tools a student can possess while developing an appreciation and comprehension of World History.This past week, students participated in an activity that used Peter Menzel's, Material World: A Global Family Portrait. In 1994, Menzel traveled the World and took portraits of the "average family" in terms of income, size, religious affiliation, etc. from 30 different countries. Before shooting the photo, he had the family move all of their personal possessions outside of their home and then took the family portrait in front of the home with all of the possessions surrounding them.
We had a discussion about how much of our culture or story could be told through viewing just our possessions and family in a picture? After having the chance in small groups to closely analyze some of the portraits, I asked the students to describe how the 5 Themes of Geography and Elements of Culture were on display in these photos. Through this experience, the students should gain perspective about what their own possessions, home, and family say about their personal identities. The thought is that this will be helpful as they complete their end of unit presentations on their culture.
Currently, in Mrs. Teal's English class, our students are learning about both the telling and listening of stories and the variety of ways that stories can be told. To connect our studies in World History with the learning that is occurring in English, I asked the students to pick one of the family portraits that they viewed and to attempt to write that family's story. They then shared these stories in Mrs. Teal's class. An interesting discussion that occurred out of this activity was a student question concerning the fact that they were writing the family's story with incomplete information. Which led to a discussion about what other information would they like to have and how would they obtain it?
