North America Unit Objective
When I arrived at my first internship the teacher was finishing up with the first unit,
which focuses on learning continents, axis lines, land features, oceans, bodies of water, and
basic geographic concepts. With the completion of the first unit, I began teaching students
about North America.
North America is composed of Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Mexico,
however, is taught with the third unit Latin America, because the country shares similar cultural
and historic features. While planning lessons for the North America unit I accessed many
resources. These resources include three textbooks provided by the mentor teacher, each with
a vast collection of activities, various Internet sources, such as National Geographic, Sheppard
Software, the United Nations website, Safari Montage videos, college textbooks, and so on. I
believe it is important for any unit objective to include presenting students with a variety of
quality sources.
The topics covered in the North America Unit are as follows: landforms, bodies of water,
climate, vegetation, economic activities/regions, culture, social issues, government styles,
natural disasters, and history. Geography includes a vast range of topics and focuses, thus it is
crucial to establish a clear and concise unit objective. The North America unit objectives are as
follows:
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Students will learn important landforms and there location. Examples would
include large mountain ranges, plateaus, deserts, large grasslands, megalopolis
areas, etc. Students will use a variety of geographic tools to locate these areas,
including various maps, Google Earth, and map location software.
Students will learn the location of important bodies of water and their
function/importance to society. An example would include learning the process
and purpose of hydroelectric power and the areas that benefit from harnessing
this power, like the Great Lakes.
Students will learn the varying climate zones of the North American continent
and develop an understanding of how these different areas of climate affect/
influence vegetation, location of people, and economic activities.
Students will learn the basic concepts of economics through a variety of handson activities. Students will learn and be able to distinguish between the different
economic regions of the U.S. and Canada.
Students will learn the definition of culture and understand that culture includes
many aspects of life. They will have an opportunity to apply their own lives’
beliefs and customs to understand different aspects of culture.
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Students will explore current social issues, such as crime, drugs, terrorism,
economic bailouts, refugees, Presidential elections, environmental issues, etc.
The lessons on current social issues will involve heavy discussion, as students will
share ideas to develop a stronger understanding of the issues.
Students will compare and contrast the similar government styles of Canada and
the U.S. Students will apply these styles to understand social issues, government
structures, etc.
Students will have the opportunity to explore and learn of different natural
disasters common to an area, such as tornadoes, and will learn the cause and
effect of such disasters.
Students will compare and contrast the history of Canada to the history of the
U.S. Understanding a country’s history is a strong objective in any unit, as many
other aspects of the unit will be better understood if the student has a strong
knowledge of a country’s history. Connections include: understanding culture,
settlement, language, customs, beliefs, and government structures.
After teaching my first unit, I strongly recommend for any teacher to have a set of unit
objectives before starting the unit or planning lessons. The North America unit
objectives assisted me in teaching the unit. Not only did the objectives help me plan
lessons, assessments, and activities, but the objectives provided a clear daily focus and
helped me to assess my own teaching. Especially, with a subject that includes so many
subtopics, the value of a unit objective cannot be underestimated.