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Eight Miles to Excellence

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES (Objectives)
 After having worked through the lesson plan titled "Relay Race Around the World," students will realize that, with practice, they can use the green mileage markers on the Interstate highways to pace them as they recite 279 Geography Items in about Eight Miles.

FIVE STEP LESSON PLAN

Set Induction/Anticipatory Set:
 Ask the students how long it would take to travel one mile if they were going 60 miles an hour (1 minute)? Ask how long it would take a vehicle to go eight miles at the same speed (8 min.)?

Instruction/Teaching to the Objective:
 Tell the students that they should all (with practice) be able to recite the Continents and Oceans, 50 States, 50 capitals, countries of South America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East South East Asia in in less time than it would take to ride in the family car for 8 miles at 60 miles an hour.

Guided Practice:
 Have one of your students 'time' you as you recite the continents and oceans. Then have the student 'time' you as you recite the 14 countries of South America. Explain that you have timed yourself at home as you recited all continents, oceans, 50 states, 50 capitals, countries of Central America, South America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia and that it took you less than 8 minutes.

Independent/Group Practice:
 Work on one region of the world at a time. Time each student in the class as they recite Continents and Oceans. Record their times. Then time every student as they say the countries of Central America. Record their times. Go through the entire class with each region of the world (as time permits) until each student has worked with the same number of regions. Have students add up their times.

Closure:
 Explain that they can each practice all of these regions while travelling about Eight Miles on the Interstate.

EVALUATION:
 Students should be able to score much less than 480 seconds (8 minutes).

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS:
 A stopwatch and a chart to mark students times. May take one or two class periods.

Note: In order to be fair, begin the various regions with students in different rows so they will have a few minutes to mentally practice before it is their turn.

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