Across the top of my chalkboard, I have several different maps. They show various portions of the world and are laminated to keep them indestructible, at least for a few years, amongst a group of fourth graders. During my first few years of teaching, I would only occasionally pull down any of these maps. Typically, I would use them just at the beginning of a new unit to orient the students to where we would be living for the next few weeks in history class as we bounced around from medieval Europe to ancient China to the colonial Americas. However, as I grew more confident in my content, and chatted with my co-teacher who was an extraordinary instructor of history, this sporadic use has grown into an almost daily incorporation into my lessons.
Most history lessons have some geographical location incorporated with them. From battle sites to hometowns of historical figures to locations of monuments, history and geography are very closely intertwined. Thus, it is very useful to students’ envisioning of the lessons to know where these people, places, and events are located. As I recognized this fact more and more, I found myself pulling down these maps more frequently. The students could now envision my lessons in the context of place. Then, my co-teacher enlightened me to an exciting revelation that formed the last piece of my map using journey.
These laminated maps could be drawn on with whiteboard markers! My co-teacher showed me that as she progressed through each lesson, she would draw on these maps the important locations that had arisen. As the unit progressed, the maps became a mosaic of all the events and people we had discussed throughout the unit. Each day when I would pull down the map, my class could revisit each significant location and see how the new places that arose fit into the larger picture of the unit. Now, I use my maps almost every day, and this better understanding of location has brought greater depth of learning to my lessons.
The Classical Classroom 