NCSS III: People, Places, and Environments 

 

     It is critical for Social Studies teachers to be able to help students study People, Places, and Environments. The type of environment and place that a person grows up or lives in, has a major effect on who they are. Personally, the place and environment I grew up in had a major impact on who I am. If I grew up in a different place, I would be a different person than I am today. People, Places, and Environments had a major impact on events in history; as it is important for students to understand why a person, place, or environment can cause those impacts.

     During the past year, I have begun to integrate the study of People, Places, and Environments into my teaching. I have taken numerous undergraduate and graduate courses related to People, Places, and Environments. Some of the courses that prepared me for having students study People, Places, and Environments include Physical Geography and American Environmental History at the undergraduate level. In my American Environmental History class I wrote a term paper on the effects on coal mining in Southwest Virginia on the environment and people living in the region (see Evidence 7). At the graduate level I took courses on Politics of Developing Areas, Regionalism & Political Development, and the Executive Branch. In my Executive Branch course I completed an annotated bibliography assignment looking at the impacts of the EPA on coal mining in Appalachia.

     Out of the ten NCSS themes, I felt this was one of the themes I addressed the best throughout the year. There were numerous lessons where I was able to incorporate People, Places, and Environments. In the Fall I did a short ten minute activity on the Columbian Exchange in which students had to guess where the product, crop, animal or disease originated from (see Evidence 2 and 3). This activity did a good job showing the impact of people moving across the Atlantic had on environments across the world because certain regions now grow crops or have animals that they did not have access to before the Columbian Exchange. In the Spring my lessons on the Reasons for and Ways of Moving West, as well as the lesson on the Prelude to the Civil War did a particularly good job addressing People, Places, and Environments (see Evidence 4-6). My lesson on the Reasons for and Ways of Moving West looked at the geographic reasons for people moving West. My lesson on the Prelude to the Civil War took a look at the geographic differences between the North and South in terms of climate that affected what crops each region could grow. These geographic differences resulted in the North and South developing different economies, as well as different views on slavery.

     Throughout my Spring student teaching, I also tried to emphasize the importance of Geography to my classes. Geography has had a major impact on history, and it is also important for students to know where places are. Throughout the semester I would have students come up to the Smart board to review major geographic features in the US like rivers, regions, and mountain ranges US Geography Review Map for Smart board (see Evidence 1) . The students enjoyed this activity, was a good review for the SOL, and most importantly helped students know where these major geographic features are. People, Places, and Environments is a vital aspect of social studies that I will continue to address in my future teaching career. Today, the environment continues to have an impact on places and people. People also continue to have an impact on places and the environment. It is important for students to know that they can impact the place and environment in which they live in positive or negative ways. Students will also need to know that the place and environment they live in will affect them as well.

Evidence

 

Evidence 1. US Geography Review Map for Smartboard