Teaching with Maps

I opened my email to find messages from three different sources about teaching with maps—making a ready-made post.

The first was a request for an online map of Montana’s original nine counties. The Newberry Library has created a great interactive showing how Montana’s counties have changed: “Atlas of Historical Montana Counties.”

The other emails were links to ideas for using maps in the classroom.

Billings elementary school librarian Ruth Ferris sent me a link to a presentation on ideas for teaching using google maps. (You’ll need a google account to access this. Accounts are free.)

And Ann Savage, an educational resource specialist at the Library of Congress, wrote an informative post for the Teaching with the Library Congress Blog: "Getting Started with Maps in the Classroom."

In her post, Savage suggests choosing a map for students to analyze from
• Maps From The World Digital Library; or
• Primary Sources by State (click on a state).

The Montana Memory Project’s Mapping Montana and the West collection is also a good source for historic maps to analyze.

Savage also recommends teacher take the self-paced, online professional development module “Analyzing Primary Sources: Maps Online.” Remember, the Montana Historical Society offers OPI Renewal Units for completing this, and other, LOC trainings.

Awhile back, I also stumbled upon this article, about a University of Kentucky college professor who had his students geocode historic photographs. Could high school students do this? And would it be a worthwhile learning experience?