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Gifted World Geography Summer Reading Assignment For Incoming 9th Grade Students Level of Difficulty: 9th Grade Pre-AP World Geography Five readings: (links on p. 5 ) 1. To Build a Fire by Jack London 2. Hidden Assets by Ginny Swart 3. An Indian Odyssey by David Iglehart 4. Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell 5. A Handful of Dates by Tayeb Saleh These short stories are diverse in both their setting and their subject matter. Each was chosen for what it can help World Geography students understand about the themes of geography as well as the various cultures of the world. Each Gifted World Geography student will need to complete the following: I. Read and familiarize yourself with each of the five stories, as well as the background material concerning the Themes of Geography.(p. 3-4) II. To promote vocabulary development, choose ten words from each of the stories that you either did not know or did not know in the context used. Type those 50 words along with their definitions. Use 12-point Times New Roman font. You may use a dictionary or an online source such as dictionary.com to look up the definitions. Do not simply cut and paste...actually work to develop knowledge of these new words as you work to develop your own personal and academic vocabulary. III. Choose two of the prompts below to write about. Answers are to be typed in 12point Times New Roman font. Each answer should be no less than 750 words and no more than 1200 words. Please include the word count at the end of each essay. A. To Build A Fire by Jack London 1. Write an essay in which you explain the positive and negative humanenvironment interactions found in the story. Give specific examples of ways the environment helps and hurts humans, as well as specific examples of ways humans help and hurt the environment. Explain whether you feel the story best demonstrates positive human- environment interaction or negative humanenvironment interaction and explain your answer. B. Hidden Assets by Ginny Swart 1. Examine the reading for the concept of movement. Look at the variousitems that move in the story as well as how and why they are moved. In an essay explain the various types of movement you found. Give examples of different ways people and goods moved as well as the different motives for the movement. Then, choose one particular example of movement found within the story and explain whether you feel it was positive for the society or negative for the society. Fully explain your answer. C. An Indian Odyssey by David Iglehart 1. In an essay compare and contrast the physical and human features of place found in the story to the physical and human features of place in Midland, Texas. (If you were not in Midland for school last year you may use the place from which you have moved.) Give specific examples of ways the lives of the characters in the story are different than yours based upon the differences in the physical and human features of place. Also, give examples of ways the lives of the characters are similar to yours. D. Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell 1. Part of the concept of place is the idea of perception...how a person views a place or other people. In an essay explain the perceptions found in the story. Give specific examples of positive and negative perceptions the police officer has toward the Burmans and that the Burmans have toward the police officer. Then, explain whether you feel the concept of perception played a role in the actions of the police officer concerning the elephant. Give specific examples to support your answer. E. A Handful of Dates by Tayeb Saleh 1. In an essay explain two ways you feel the setting of the story qualifies as a functional region. Give specific examples as support. Also, look at the setting of the story as a perceptual region. Using the reading and your knowledge of world events in your lifetime, explain how the perceptions of the characters of the story about their home would likely differ than the perceptions of the average American about the place described in the story. Use specific examples in support of your answer. THE FIVE THEMES OF GEOGRAPHY The following explanations are meant to help you understand the five themes of geography. LOCATION "Where are we?" is the question that the theme location answers. Location may be absolute or it may be relative. These locations, whether relative or absolute, may be of people or places. An absolute location is a latitude and longitude (a global location) or a street address (local location). Examples: Paris, France is 48o51' North latitude and 2.20' East longitude Marshall Islands are 10o00' North latitude and 165o00' East longitude Relative locations are described by landmarks, time, direction or distance from one place to another and may associate a particular place with another. Examples: Over by Dallas. Down by the coast. PLACE What kind of place is it? What do you think of when you imagine India? Alaska? South Africa? Burma? The Sudan? Places have both human and physical characteristics, as well as images. Physical characteristics include mountains, rivers, soil, beaches, wildlife and climate to name a few. Places have human characteristics also. These characteristics are derived from the ideas and actions of people that result in changes to the environment, such as buildings, roads, clothing, religion and food habits to name a few. The image people have of a place is based on their experiences, both intellectual and emotional. People's descriptions of a place reveal their values, attitudes, and perceptions. How is your hometown connected to other places? What are the human and physical characteristics of Midland? How do these shape our lives? HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION (HEI) How do humans and the environment affect each other? We change the environment...sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. The environment also impacts us in the same way. Sometimes the environment benefits human society and sometimes it destroys human society. People depend on the environment for many things. They adapt to the environment in some cases and they change the environment to meet their needs in other cases. All places on Earth have advantages and disadvantages for human settlement. One person's advantage may be another person's disadvantage. Some like the excitement of large cities whereas others prefer remote areas. Environment is not just trees, rivers, prairie dogs and rain forests. Environment is a feeling. There is a big difference between the environment of Dallas and the environment of Stanton. MOVEMENT The movement of people, goods, ideas and elements of culture have all played major roles in shaping our world. People everywhere interact. They travel from place to place and they communicate. We live in a global village and global economy. All of this interaction and informational exchange happens through movement. The ways people, goods and ideas move have changed dramatically over time, but the fact that movement occurs has remained a constant. Three parts of movement are: Time Distance, Linear Distance and Psychological Distance Time distance is the time it takes to go from point-A to Point-B. Linear distance is the distance in some unit (miles, meters, etc.) from Point-A to Point-B. Psychological distance involves how close or far away something or someplace seems or feels. These factors each exert great influence over decisions made concerning human activities. REGION A region is the basic unit of study in geography. A region is an area that displays some kind of unity in terms of the government, language, or possibly the landform or situation. Regions are human constructs that can be mapped and analyzed. There are three basic types of regions. Formal regions are those defined by governmental or administrative boundaries (i. e., United States, Midland County, North America). Functional regions are those defined by a set of interactions or connections (i. e., a newspaper service area, cities like Midland and Odessa that are close together and have many commuters back and forth, the Permian Basin, etc.) If the function ceases to exists, the region no longer exists. Perceptual (or vernacular) regions are those loosely defined by people's perception. People’s perceptions differ, so the characteristics of these regions can be viewed differently. (i. e., The Northeast: some view that region as cold and snobby, while others view it as open and close-knit. Some view the Permian Basin as a region that keeps America running through the oil industry, while others look negatively on any area that produces fossil fuels.) Links to the five assigned readings: 1. http://www.jacklondons.net/buildafire.html 2. http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/HiddAsse.shtml 3. http://www.en8848.com.cn/e/DoPrint/?classid=500&id=52940 4. http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/887/ 5. http://www.arabworldbooks.com/Readers2004/articles/handfulofdates.html