Taping My Lessons

My first experience taping my lessons at Taylor County Middle School this semester occurred recently when I taught a lesson on maps that allowed students to create a map of our classroom. After taping my lessons several times last semester, I have gotten used to the habit of setting up my camera in the back of the room and carrying on my lesson as usual. It definitely isn't convenient to have to prop up a point and shoot digital camera for an extending period of time, but as teachers I suppose we are expected to work with what we have. I decided to tape this particular lesson because this has been one of the first lessons I have liked so much I decided to keep the lesson plan for future use. In our World Geography class, we have been studying different map features, map types, and projections. To give students an idea of how a map can be used in many different, non-traditional ways, we planned a lesson in which students created a map of our classroom. Students received a printout of the class seating chart and were instructed to add a title (Favorite Pizza Topics in ___ Period) and a legend/key with different types of pizza toppings associated with different colors. We then went around the room and had each student announce what type of pizza they most enjoyed, then as a class we all filled in that person's desk on the seating chart with the color associated with that topping. The students really enjoyed both the coloring and discussion aspects of this activity; I find that this is a great way to teach map skills that I am glad to have ready for my portfolio.