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Globetracker's Mission Teacher information
What is Globetracker’s Mission?
How can I involve my class?
Reading the blog is great, but how can we SEE where Geo and Meri are?
Can we join in more actively?
Where is the Mission going?
What if we miss a week or start late?
Can parents and families be involved?
Who created Globetracker’s Mission?
What is Globetracker’s Mission?
Globetracker’s Mission is a unique, engaging way for students in grades 2-6 to learn geography, map skills, and land forms through an episodic story. Each week, a new episode, in the format of a blog post, appears on the Globetracker’s Mission site. The “blog” is written by fictional teenagers Geo and Meri as they travel on a "secret “mission” for an unnamed government agency. They seek clues and travel under the supervision of their Uncle Globetracker, writing the “blog” as part of their requirements for missing high school work. Classes who follow the mission learn standards-based terms and concepts of geography as they respond to Geo and Meri’s think-aloud questions using maps, images, and links that Geo and Meri provide. Concepts include landforms, map skills, cultures, major landmarks, oceans, rivers, and more. For a full list of the standards addressed, click here.
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How can I involve my class?
Students are encouraged to participate through class discussions using this projector- or whiteboard-ready site. Younger students will need reading assistance and will probably work best in a teacher-centered discussion of the site. Older elementary and middle school students can navigate the episodes with the teacher, on their own, or as part of a geography center in their classroom. At the conclusion of each episode, readers “vote” among options for what Geo and Meri do next. The actual vote from site visitors determines the next episode that will appear on Sunday (just in time for teachers to preview for the coming week or for curious students to read from home). See our technical information page for more about using Google Earth. See Lesson Ideas for more ways to use the Mission.
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Reading the blog is great, but how can we SEE where Geo and Meri are?
At the top of each weekly episode, there is a link to a Google Earth file you can open to trace Geo and Meri’s mission so far. You will need to install the free Google Earth software on your computer to view these files. Then “fly” the route that Geo and Meri take as a recap of all that you have learned so far. A projector or interactive whiteboard will really let you “see the world” with Geo and Meri. Our technical information page shows you how.
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Can we join in more actively?
We encourage classes to use their new geography skills (and a little creativity) to submit a question to Pandora using the link from any episode. One submission is permitted per class per week, please. Ask about geographic features near your school or for further information about something Geo and Meri have seen. Teachers may want to have students vote to select the best class question to submit. Then watch upcoming blog posts for a response from Geo and Meri. Teachers may wish to have students compose their own episodes about what Geo and Meri might find if they visited your town or state.
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Where is the Mission going?
Geo and Meri’s travels will have them cross-crossing the United States from October, 2009, through the end of April, 2010. Classes who follow the entire journey will master geography skills as an ongoing endeavor, reinforcing the skills through an engaging adventure of two teens who use the newest technologies. Teachers will love the carefully scaffolded learning that takes place as Geo and Meri introduce and revisit concepts throughout the mission. If you join the mission along the way, the “blog” allows you to backtrack so students can read and learn from the Introduction and previous episodes. Here are some hints of what Geo and Meri may see during the 2009-2010 mission (SHHHHH! Keep this a secret from your students!):
our nation's capital, a mesa, New York City, a major national park, a coal mining town, Old Man River, a rust belt city, a tropical archipelago, a city rebuilding from a hurricane, a major port, a notable peak, several means of transportation, a town that once belonged to another nation, a volcano, a man-made wonder, a nation within a nation, some remarkable resources, and much more.
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What if we miss a week or start late?
Both current and previous weeks' episodes from this mission will be on line from the start in October through the end of June, 2010. Of course, the voting for past episodes will be over, so you will want to try to catch up! This mission will go into a hidden archive at the end of June, 2010.
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Can parents and families be involved?
Teachers and families can reinforce and enrich the experience while building better readers using this special sampler of TogetheRead books and activities from our partner site, TeachersAndFamilies. As Geo and Meri discover a new continent, share reading and fun with books and family activities related to the same continent. Before you know it, a child who is following Geo and Meri at school will say, “I read about that,” connecting new knowledge with personal experience.
Send this link home to parents and include it on your teacher web page for easy access to the special TogetheRead Continents sampler:
http://www.teachersfirst.com/globetracker/continents-sel.cfm
Make it easy on yourself! Download a customizable parent note (Word doc -- right-click and Save target as to save to your computer).
These continent-related lists of books and activities are just a small sample of the full TogetheRead themes offered monthly by TeachersAndFamilies. The free monthly themes offer even more, including books and activities from preschool to adults for shared reading and fun. You will want to recommend TogetheRead to all your teacher and parent friends.
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Who created Globetracker’s Mission?
Globetracker’s Mission is a project from TeachersFirst, a free, ad-free service of The Source for Learning, a non-profit. TeachersFirst’s creative team of experienced teachers and technical staff has worked diligently to produce this one-of-a-kind way to engage your students as learners of the world. We hope you enjoy the trip!
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