COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
P.O. BOX 2120
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
23218-2120
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 220
September 12, 2008
INFORMATIONAL
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TO:
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Division
Superintendents
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FROM:
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Billy K.
Cannaday, Jr.
Superintendent
of Public Instruction
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SUBJECT:
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World
Geography Connects: Contemporary
Regions An
Interactive Online Geography Course Beginning October 20, 2008
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World
Geography Connects: Contemporary Regions, an interactive online course for Virginia teachers, will
be offered this fall. This class supports the
Virginia Standards of Learning for teaching World Geography and is designed to
help teachers incorporate more geography into the curriculum. Participants who complete the course will be
eligible for license renewal points, or it may be
taken for three graduate credits through Old Dominion
University.
The class
will be offered on the Internet at http://geoconnectscontemporaryregions.pwnet.org.
Registration may be completed online at that website. Teachers may register from September 8
through October 3, 2008, and the class starts October 20, 2008. The course ends December 1, 2008.
The
goals of the course are as follows:
- to understand
relationships between human beings and their environment in different
regions of the world;
- to understand the cultural forces, including
language and religion, which unite and divide the world's people;
- to understand the role of cities in shaping the
modern world and the role of urbanization in the development process; and
- to understand the human and physical geography
of contemporary Africa and its
connections to African history.
To
register for this course visit: http://geoconnectscontemporaryregions.pwnet.org.
In
order to take this course for graduate credit, participants must register at http://geoconnectscontemporaryregions.pwnet.org
and with Old Dominion University. It is listed in the Old Dominion
University catalog as
Geog 650 - Course Reference Number: 18662. Participants are responsible for graduate
course costs.
Dr. Don
Zeigler, a professor of geography at Old
Dominion University
since 1980, will teach the course. He
works regularly with Virginia
teachers to improve their instruction to meet the Standards of Learning.
Please contact him at dzeigler@odu.edu
or at (757) 683-3841 for more information.
Although the course content is the same for everyone, teachers enrolled
in World
Geography Connects: Contemporary Regions for graduate credit will be required
to complete a lesson or unit plan.
For more
information, please contact Beverly Thurston, coordinator, history and social
science, Office of Middle and High School Instruction, by e-mail at Beverly.Thurston@doe.virginia.gov
or by telephone at (804) 225-2893.
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