Being a National Geographic Certified Educator
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So, I'm a NatGeo Certified Educator...What does it mean?
Being a National Geographic Certified Educator means that you have an array of skills and resources at your disposal to effectively unlock your students' innate curiosity as well as nurture their explorer's mindset.
By incorporating the National Geographic Learning Framework with your school's curriculum you open your classroom to true 21st Century learning and teaching.
Teaching to Scales & Perspectives assists students with visualising their place in their community and the world, as well as how cause and effect can be interpreted. Connecting the Human World and the Natural World through learning.
By incorporating the Geo-Inquiry Process in teaching, students become experienced at crafting questions and guiding their own learning, while finding ways to make a difference in their community.
Service Learning allows for deep-dives into the curriculum by connecting it with the service provided in real-world communities in a meaningful way - not community service.
Mapping as a Visualisation and Communication Tool in your classroom becomes a way of creating multi-layered connections with other subjects as well as reinforcing the learning connection with the world beyond the school and classroom boundaries.
In other words, it diversifies your teaching and your students' learning and connects what you do in class every day to the 'Real World' in a meaningful and tangible way.
21st Century Education at its best.
The Capstone Project that got me certified
(...no pun intended...really!)
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Current Course...
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Special moment for me...
Seeing my thoughts and name incorporated into the National Geographic design today on Twitter was a deeply special moment. It solidified the idea that I am part of something bigger and that what I do is part of a global effort to make the world a better place.
Being a NatGeo Certified Educator means you have an added responsibility to drive the vision.
Learning the NatGeo Way
Becoming a National Geographic Certified Educator:
I wanted to expand the projects we were doing into the real world but had no idea how to do this or where to get started. I just knew that we had to find some direction that was directly linked to the curriculum as well as to the real world and it had to be rigorous.
National geographic's online courses ticked all the boxes I had on my list and I dove in with both feet! Here is how it is (still) rolling out:
Weathering A Tempest - The Capstone Project
Using the National Geographic Learning Framework, Scales & Perspectives.
Teaching about the Human and Natural World in ELA!
I like to introduce students to Shakespeare's world by using his last play - The Tempest. It is accessible and loads of fun!
