The cost of 15 copies of Africa on a Shoestring from Barnes & Noble is $731, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
Teaching 7th graders about countries no less than 3000 miles away means bringing the world to them. My Social Studies classes at Githens Middle School are comprised of a diverse mix of students with single parents who work four jobs and rarely see their children, local and foreign nationals teaching at Duke and UNC, and first-generation Hispanic immigrants who largely translate life in the US for their parents. They are curious and largely unexposed to the world outside Durham, North Carolina.
I have inexhaustable excitement and curiosity about the world that I teach, and I want to bring as much as I can to the students. As a practical application of our studies, I hope to have them design their own trip around Africa using a budget and hitting important cultural and historical sites. They can create a budget, arrange different forms of transportation and decide where to stay as they plan meals and pick up some useful local phrases. In doing so, they will gain insight into the living reality of Africa. They will gain experience in budgeting and making itineraries. They will also complete a performance assessment to demonstrate they have learned historical and cultural trends throughout the continent.
The necessary classroom materials for such a project are travel books, specifically Lonely Planet travel guides for Africa and for the seperate regions of Africa (for greater depth). Approximately 120 students will benefit for these books each year (I'll give them at least 5 years of usage).
This can be an excellent learning and assessment opportunity for my students. I believe that they learn more when they are doing work that is guided by their interests. By giving students this experience, we will help them broaden their minds to include travel to the most unlikely places.
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