Geography

toc
 * Geography **

=Geography of the Middle East= **
 * [Contributed by Alyssa McClorey]

**Background**
__Essential Questions:__ · How is land geography and human geography of the Middle East similar or different than what we imagine? · How does the geography of the land affect the where and how people live? · How does geography affect the types of buildings in a certain place? __Length:__ 4 weeks __Grade/Class:__ 7/8th Humanities __Student Population:__ Inclusion class of 20-25 students. 1/5 with IEPs __Major Topics:__ Land and human geographical diversity, Formation of states

Resources
1) Simon, R., Goldstein, P. & Wasserstein, S. (1993). //The Middle East and North Africa: Regional studies series.// New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. § High school/college reading level, 276 pages § Sections on land, people, history from c 10,000 B.C. through present, development of Islam; includes case studies in each section. § Uses: teacher can use this resource for background context/information, good for case studies with a class, questions at the end of each chapter use varying levels of thinking skills (multiple choice, vocab, “thinking it through”, critical thinking, analyzing a map, enrichment/exploration), offers research suggestions, good for extracting smaller sections for close-reading with middle school students. § Unit: will use maps in chapter, selected reading from “The Land’ will reinforce map-work done in class on land geography and agriculture, § This resource is best for most sophisticated student readers with stamina, as it is a bit dry, with limited visual aids/breaks. Good for extracting small, select sections for reading, or for a teacher who needs extra background information before developing lesson plans, better for a historical perspective, rather then current events.

2) The Knowers Arc Educational Foundation/The Global Education Project (2003). //The Middle East.// Retrieved November 28, 2008 from http://www.theglobaleducationproject.org/mideast/index.html § Comprehensive website with content and additional links to more resources. Easy to navigate, and appropriate for student research. § Provides maps, text, and quotes on geography, United Nations, oil, water, military, religion, economics, as well as country profiles on the Middle East. § Uses: good for visual aids in the classroom, honing students’ map, chart and graph skills, background information for teachers, student research (country specific), scripture from Judaism, Christianity and Islam, summaries on all of the major topics mentioned about that can provide an introduction for students on all the topics mentioned above; teacher can purchase larger poster-sized maps from the site, and students can use the website to find additional websites fro research. § Unit: we will use a variety of maps and charts from this website to introduce topics; they will be projected on a screen using an LCD projector, and include maps and charts about Bagdad, maps and chart about Middle East petroleum, Israeli/Palestinian Conflict, Map before WWI, chart and quotes about water availability in the Middle East. Students will use section of country profiles for their group research. § While this site may be intended for older students, with assistance, middle schoolers will find it possible to navigate and understand. Give the big picture of many different issues, using many forms of information that has been collected from various Middle Easter and non-Middle Eastern sources. Highly recommended. (Also contains sections on Ancient Egypt and Earth)

3) National Geographic Society (1998-2008). //Xpeditions.// Retrieved on November 28, 2008 from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/ § Section of National Geographic site meant for teachers, complete with lesson plans, activities, an atlas and other maps (including blank maps), as well as connections to geography standards. Website is complex, but comprehensive § Teacher can search for lesson plans by standard, grade, topic, region etc. There are links to National Geographic photographs and articles, as well as links to other websites. Lesson plans are detailed and are all grade-specific. § Use: good for lesson plan ideas complete with materials or links to materials. Lessons are very specific and could be related to land geography, culture, and the uses of geography. Can find lessons on current events, high interest topics that may add depth to an existing unit. Many include activities in map-making. § Unit: Use blank atlas maps for students to create their geographic and political maps, Lesson “Oil and Water in the Middle East Region”: Middle East natural resources map for lesson on oil and water, link to article “Water and Peace in the Middle East” from //Geographic News// used in the lesson on water and oil ( http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2000/07/0714_water.html), Lesson “What does a Picture Tell you about Culture?”: link to National Geography Photography Guide for images of land/people from the Middle East for introduction day and later in unit (http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography ). § This site is a better resource for teachers trying to get some good ideas for lessons, activities, or materials/additional resources. Younger students would be better off use National Geographic Kids. 4) Global Teaching and Learning Project/United Nations (2002). //UN Cyberschoolbus.// Retrieved December 7, 2008 from http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/index.shtml. § Student and teacher-friendly website introducing the UN, and many current international issues (especially related to children and Millennium Development Goals). § This website give options for students to looks into one particular issue, the UN’s response to this issues, or more general information about specific countries, regions, or international networks. There is also information/materials that allow students to take action on a specific issue. § Use: good for student exploration/research about a topic/issue/country, includes quizzes and games for students that could reinforce lessons or unit goals, links to student-level texts about current international issues, entire “curriculum” section on issues like peace education, poverty, hunger, ethnic and racial discrimination, information about all UN member countries. Can be used to start a service-learning project, internationally or in the community. § Unit: Students will use “country profile” section to research their specific countries; profiles include information on environment, health, economy, geography, and links to current events/news sources. § Good site for students to explore, but it is a bit overwhelming with lots going on, so students should be direct towards information important to the lesson or project.

5) UCLA International Resource Center. //Outreach World: A resource for teaching kids about the world.// Retrieved on December 7, 2008 from http://www.outreachworld.org/index.asp. § Collaboration of many college resource centers and individual teachers throughout the United States, meant to aid teaching of international/area studies, as well as foreign languages. § Suggestions from university professors on how to teach the material that they are experts on; some of the information is more content-based than pedagogically based. § Use: Teachers can find curriculum and text ideas (fiction and nonfiction) by searching country, region, subject, type of resource, etc. Many searches will connect to a university outreach website that contains the lesson plan. § Unit: I will use information from various “lessons” for this unit. o “Who are the Arabs?” by Steve Tamari http://ccas.georgetown.edu/files/who_are_arabs.pdf o “Understanding the Middle East through Geography and Demography” http://www.outreachworld.org/resource.asp?curriculumid=285 contains many maps of the Middle East, including blank maps, for geography and demography. § Some of the “lessons” in the database are no longer available, or actually just short, informational pieces of text (that can still be useful). Many of the links are to university outreach websites. A lot of the material is from the 90s.

6) WGBH Educational Foundation (2002). //Global Connections: The Middle East.// Retrieved November 2, 2008 from PBS http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/index.html. § Extremely comprehensive website dealing with background information, major issues in the Middle East and dispelling stereotypes. Students could use with significant scaffolding. § Website is organized by: timelines, themes, connecting questions. Themes include geography, culture, politics, economics, religion, and politics, and correspond to maps, timelines, photos, and primary sources. Includes complex lessons more appropriate for high school level, including standards. § Use: provides multiple ways to access similar content, good summaries of important information, organized by subheading, that can be modified as needed; teacher can extract useful information to present and engage students. § Unit: Geography selection on agriculture, human geography, natural resources, historic political maps for lesson on creating Middle Eastern states, “Got Water?” lesson with readings on water shortage in the Middle East, background reading on water and oil, background reading on culture for lesson on human geography. § Website can be a bit hard to navigate; if students are using website, they will need assistance. Better for a teacher to select content/curriculum and pedagogical tools that seem useful.

7) Sheppard Software. //Geography Games.// Retrieved on December 7, 2008 from http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Geography.htm. § Student-friendly website include games/quizzes on many educational topics in nearly every subject. § Lots of colorful, attention-grabbing pictures and icons (a very busyt website). Students can explore many different subjects, including geography, and work on games or quizzes related to each.  § Uses: Geography section asks students to place country names, capitals, bodies of water, geographic features, on regional maps. Also gives students information about specific countries. Great game for a review.  § Unit: Students will use this website to study for their Middle East map quiz, also for researching specific countries.  § Website is a bit complex, and distracting, but the text and concepts are good for students at lower reading levels. Teacher should make sure students stay focused on important sections.

8) Wilcox, J.D. (2004) //A Middle East Primer for Students.// in partnership with American Forum for Global Education (Lanham, MD: ScarecrowEducation). Retrieved from Harvard’s Outreach Center for Middle Eastern Studies. § 70 pages w/ glossary – Middle or High School level w/ sections: Middle East today, Geography, History, Economics, Issues of Identity. Contains references and glossary. § This small primer is from 2004, so it is rather up-to-date in contrast with many of the other textbooks out there. It is fairly straightforward, but sophisticated, so many students should be able to access it with or without teacher assistance. § Uses: Good as a text for students’ reference, or teacher assignments – very up-to-date, and many students should be able to reading for understanding without too much assistance from teacher. (reading is still very sophisticated), teacher can also use study questions at the end of the of each chapter. § Unit: Photocopied readings on diversity in the Middle East (introduction) and Geography as homework to reinforce lessons from class. § The book is great. Deals with important details and concepts, but written clearly and concisely with a clear focus on dispelling myths or stereotypes of the Middle East. Again, can be scaffolded to students at a lower reading level, without feeling too “modified”.

9) Coletti, S. and Ross, S. (2000) //Everything you Need to Teach the Middle East.// Curriculum Guide. (Atlanta, GA: InspirEd Educators, Inc.) Retrieved from Harvard’s Outreach Center for Middle Eastern Studies. § 359 page curriculum guide at middle school level. Includes sections/materials/readings on geography, culture, government, economics, connections, tests, and resources. § This curriculum guide provides many ideas about how to integrate reading material with maps and § Uses: Great materials/maps/ideas for organizing worksheets and even objectives/procedures. § Unit: Ideas from worksheets for my own unit development. Possible use of maps. Use narrated story about a young Beduoin to introduce lthe chance of life/urbanization in the Middle East, and how geography contexts to . § Good sections on Middle East as being hard to define (contains several maps of the Middle East containing different countries.

10) Newman, C., ed. (1990). //A Curriculum Resource Guide on the Middle East.// (Fordham University: Middle Eastern Studies Program). Retrieved from Harvard’s Outreach Center for Middle Eastern Studies. § 162 page curriculum guide for teaching the Middle East – appropriate for teachers of high school, middle school. § Contains a diversity of lessons developed for a comprehensive unit on the Middle East. Units are organized by themes and topics, not chronologically, adding depth to the curriculum. § Uses: Lesson/Unit ideas, ways to organize the unit and what topics/themes to focus on § Unit: Used as reference. § Older text, may not be useful for some current events, but uniquely selected units such as “the bazaar” or “using the neighborhood as a teaching resource”

11) Oddens, R. (2004). Odden’s Bookmarks: The Fascinating World of Maps and Mapping. (Universiteit Utrecht) Retrieved on December 7, 2008 from http://oddens.geog.uu.nl/about.php. § Cartographic/Maps site with search engine based in region or category, and MANY links. More likely a teacher’s resource but could be used by students if teacher has previewed and gives explicit instructions. § Map links take the searcher to websites from all of the world, allowing use to see different perspectives in the maps. § Uses: Student research or teachers can use find specific maps for use in the classroom. The website is run by a professor and contains links to departments in the university. § Unit: use of certain maps in during class sessions § Website is fairly easy to navigate, but not too kid-friendly. Links are international, so websites may be in different languages. Also, some of the more interesting searches (Middle East + Online Map Creating) have misleading or dead links. Good for a searcher with patience.

12) Held, C (2006) //Middle East patterns: Places, peoples and politics, 4th ed.// (Colorado: Westview Press). Retrieved from Harvard’s Outreach Center for Middle Eastern Studies. § 646 pg reference book, adult reading level § I found this book to be very clear, current, comprehensive. Maybe a bit too overwhelming for a teacher preparing to teach at the middle school level. However, it is important to have this background information, or reference for questions in class. § Uses: Sections can be selected to read with students, comprehensive, current resource/content book for teachers. Index could be used be students to access specific information, or answer questions. § Unit: Will be used for reference by teacher, informational and definition of “Arab” to be used as part of introduction lesson on Middle East § Very thorough, with large bibliography and index; good for teachers who would like background information on the Middle East

13) University of Texas at Austin (2008) //Perry Castaneda Library Map Collection.// Retrieved on November 29, 2008 from http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/. § Large database of maps, including maps of current interest, topical maps. Could be used by teacher and students with scaffolding. § Site design is not very attractive, and list of maps can be overwhelming, but there are some very useful maps in here. Best for teacher to give student suggestions before the research on their own. § Uses: Maps on nearly any class topics, including current events. Links to other map sites. Could be used for student research § Unit: Maps of oil reserves for lesson on natural resources, maps of ethnic distribution in the Middle East for use during lesson on human geography. § Many of the maps are actually from other websites…this sites has collected great maps from other trustworthy sites, so that the teacher can find them in one place.

14) Thirteen/WNET/Educational Broadcasting Corporation. //Access Islam: Resources for the global classroom.// Retrieved 1December 13, 2008 from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/accessislam/index.html § Website geared toward teachers who want to teach Islam with a more “global” focus. Pedagogical site, but students could also use the site to look at the videos and timelines. § This website includes short videos from PBS’s series “Religion and Ethics Weekly”. Also includes lesson plans, detailed timelines, and additional resources. Nice design and layout. § Uses: Teacher can use this website for lesson plan ideas, or to show short videos on many different topics connected to Islam, such as Islamic Art, or women in Islam. Also includes links to other related websites. § Unit: Web-video on Timbuktu to connect geography, buildings, and society. § This website will be even more useful for subsequent unit on belief systems in the Middle East.

15) Dr.Donn.org. //Free Lesson Plans and Activities for K-12 Teachers.// Retrieved on November 30th from http://www.mrdonn.org/index.html. § Large websites with TONS of complete lessons and learning modules for teachers, including power point presentations. Lessons are meant for teachers, but there are links for kids as well. § Teachers can search for lessons by subject, or special topic. The geography section offers lessons on skill-oriented materials, such as map skills and geography themes, as well as content in geography. There are also lessons on regions of the world. Student-friendly information (text, links, games) is also organized under the same headings (teacher and student material appear together under one topic). § Use: Lesson planning and ideas, materials (worksheet etc.) Students can find information on a topic. Teacher can even download a powerpoint presentation a certain topic. § Unit: Have used links to find other useful websites. Ideas from lessons on website. § Take time using this website, there is a LOT of material, as well as links. Teachers need to do a lot of searching, weeding out the mediocre lessons from the really good ones. Links may give a lead to other good student sites (as it did for me). Sometime the leveling of lessons/materials is not clear.

16) Oracle Education Foundation. //ThinkQuest.// Retrieved on December 13, 2008 from http://www.thinkquest.org/en/. § Website allows classrooms to create webpage on a specific topic; aimed toward promoting 21st century skills and collaboration.  § Teacher must register for this site! Teacher and students can set up project sites (webpages), class can enter their projects into a Thinkquest competition, and use the Thinkquest library of information created by other teachers and students.  § Uses: Choose a topic to research in depth anc student can practice researching and adding information to a webpage monitored by the teacher.  § Unit: Not registered, so won’t be using this website/activity in my unit.  § It's a bit hard to get information about the Thinkquest without registering. This is the kind of activity that would require ample scaffolding, and time.

17) Central Intelligence Agency. //The World Factbook.// Retrieved on December 7, 2008 from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/. § Maps, flags, information from countries around the world. Could be used by middle or high school students. § Straightforward website with more text than pictures; students can search a country name and find a lot of information on that country; students may need help sifting through all of the information, as well as the meaning of some of the statistics, etc. § Uses: Student research, teacher reference. § Unit: Will be available for student research. § Make sure students are not overwhelmed by the information for each country, by having them locate certain key words. Class should also discuss what numbers/units mean in different circumstances.

18) New York Times. Retrieved on December 7, 2008 from http://www.nytimes.com/. § Website of one of the largest, most respected newspapers in the United States, Good for high school students with moderate scaffolding, middle school students with more scaffolding.  § Large website that includes daily and archived news stories, nationally and internationally, Op-Eds, videos, regional and country information, photographs. The website is a bit busy with a lot of text, so it would be good to scaffold for younger students, or supply them with possible key words to articles.  § Uses: Current event articles, supplementary material to a lesson, photographs, video, student research, learning how to read a newspaper.  § Unit: this will be a primary website where students can go to find new articles on the countries that they are researching; possible place to find model article on the Middle East that we will work in together as a class, the following interactive page may be used in lesson looking at the geography of Baghdad: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/09/06/world/. Student can explore the different neighborhoods of Baghdad. § Must be a member to retrieve some of the article, but is it free to register; language in the articles is very sophisticated; some students may need assistance accessing the text.

19) An Open Door to the Arab World. Retrieved on December 9, 2008 from http://www.al-bab.com/. § HUGE search search engine and informational site. Lots of information, but can be used by high school or middle schoolers § Website geared toward teaching non-Arabs about the Arab world. Few pictures on site, but tons of information and links. Would take days to go through it all. Good fro students to practice navigating a website or search engine. § Uses: Research! Students can find more information on topics of interest. § Unit: Research project, and lesson on how to do research/search on the internet § Good source for finding Arab news, primary document, media, art etc. Links to basically anything; they are grouped very effectively by topic in the website.

20) Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies. //The Outreach Center.// Retrieved October 2008 from http://cmes.hmdc.harvard.edu/outreach. § Site and program with resources and information for teachers. § Site offer resources developed by the program for teachers, information on workshops, non-fiction and fiction book suggestions, curriculum ideas, and connection to state frameworks. § Use: Curriculum and lesson kits on specific topics of interest, library to borrow fiction or non-fiction books for class, audio lecture for class or own information, links with detailed information § Unit: used as a resource through with to find additional materials, borrowed books from the library § Website is well organized, but still developing its repertoire of teacher resources.

21) Shed, C.J. and The Outreach Center/Center for Middle Eastern Studies. (1998). //Are you Listening? Voices from the Middle East.// Retrieved October 2008 from http://cmes.hmdc.harvard.edu/outreach/curriculumplans/lessons.  § Collection of short stories and memoirs from Middle Eastern authors. High school level, middle school, advanced readers or through shared reading/scaffolding. 195 pages with glossary.  § Stories are selected from a variety of countries in the Middle East, meant to appeal to young adults, and organized by theme including family, women, outsiders, growing pains, varieties of love.  § Uses: Students could read and student one short story in class, compare selection from short stories or complete short stories. Student could write a thesis paper from several of the stories from the same theme of different them, make connections to history, geography, politics, religion in the Middle East. § Unit: Noted for topic of diversity. May be considered in a later unit. § Strong readers may also want to read these stories outside of class.