I'd like to take a moment to introduce myself and explain why this is quite possibly the most important course you will take during your high school career. I graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science. I had this vision of going to law school and pursuing a career as a lobbyist for the EPA. I had an amazing Biology and Environmental Science teacher and I just knew that I needed to pursue this route to change the world. Then I came across this quote by Nelson Mandela while researching South Africa for a comparative governments class: Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. So now, I teach. College Board defines Human Geography as "the study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth's surface...Students examine human socioeconomic organization and its environmental consequences." But I like one of my student's definitions much better - "Human Geography is EVERYTHING!" -Kye Patsue. In Human Geography, we study culture, religion, ethnicity, environmental resource issues, industry, agriculture, urban patterns, and mapping. My goal is to teach each of you how to place your life and your community in a broader context. I hope that this course will also encourage you to become active and compassionate learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right. I promise that you will leave my classroom with a greater understanding of our world and, hopefully, an intense desire to be a lifelong learner. Best wishes, Mrs. Byrd
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For our Farmers Market, students worked together to create exhibits for the major agricultural production types and their associated climate conditions. Students learned that major agricultural regions reflect physical geography and economic forces (subsistence versus commercial farming). I am extremely proud of the thought and effort students displayed during this fun learning activity! In our development unit, students learned the social and economic measures geographers use to describe the patterns of economic differences on a global scale.
The Road to the Rostow Cup was just like any other fantasy sports league, but instead of drafting players that scored points based on athletic performance, students drafted countries that scored points based on their level of development. We used several social and economic indicators of development: GDP, GDP per capita, life expectancy, literarcy rate, IMR, TFR, and NIR. My wonderful students enjoyed researching statistics, hosting a live draft, and playing the intense 8 team/single elimination tournament. They even got creative with their geographically "punny" team names! Winners - How Many's a Brazilian? (2nd period) We're China Win (6th period) HimaPLAYAS (5th period) Score reports will be provided to students starting on July 5. For the location-based student access schedule, please visit the student AP scores website.
https://apscore.collegeboard.org/scores?ep_mid=11376163&ep_rid=296233938 You will need a College Board student account to access your scores. Please sign up for an account before school lets out to avoid delays in score access in July. The vocabulary tested in APHUG is PIVOTAL to getting a great score. Do not think of learning vocabulary as a memorization drill - learning vocabulary has more to do with understanding the meaning of a word and improving your word power.
When making your vocabulary flashcards, write the word on the front side and its definition on the back. For the definition, get creative and also draw an image, create a mnemonic device, or a mental picture. I've added an example below: |
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