To complete the Mapping in the Classroom course, students will assemble a portfolio containing evidence of their learning. Over the course of five sessions, students will create maps, take notes on key concepts, collect a toolbox of resources, and design a lesson plan engaging students in map-related activities. The portfolio requires submitting draft and revised maps, highlights from concept and resource tools, and the lesson plan. In a reflection, students will explain how their knowledge of maps and spatial thinking can be applied to their own teaching based on the evidence in their portfolio.

1. | 1 N A T G E O E D . O R G
M A P P I N G I N T H E C L A S S R O O M - P O R T F O L I O
To complete this course, you will assemble a Mapping in the Classroom Portfolio—a purposeful collection of resources,
notes, and your plans to incorporate the content and skills from this course in your instructional practice.
Throughout the course, you will work on components of the portfolio, then collect them for reflection and submission in
the final session.
Goals Demonstrate how your knowledge about maps and spatial thinking, and your ability to incorporate this knowledge
into your teaching practice, have increased over the course by:
• including maps that you developed over time in this course.
• collecting maps that may be useful in your classroom and adding them to your Resource Toolbox.
• completing a Key Concepts organizer during or after course readings.
• designing or modifying a lesson that engages students in map reading and/or mapmaking in the context of your
discipline-specific lesson.
Your portfolio will demonstrate that you have met the goals above. The Mapping in the Classroom Portfolio includes:
• Rough Draft Map (Created in Session 3)
• Revised Final Map (Created in Session 4)
• Highlights from your Key Concepts Organizer (Created in Sessions 1-4)
• Highlights from your Resource Toolbox (Created in Sessions 1-5)
• Mapping in the Classroom Lesson Plan (Created Sessions 2-4)
• Portfolio Reflection (Created in Session 5)
Use this checklist to make sure you are completing all the required elements in your portfolio.
S E S S I O N 1
• Key Concepts Organizer: Identify important concepts to record and make notes about each concept while viewing
videos, reading articles, and participating in the discussions.
• Resource Toolbox: Add maps, articles, videos, and other resources that may be useful in your future instructional
planning.
S E S S I O N 2
• Key Concepts Organizer: Identify important concepts to record and make notes about each concept while viewing
videos, reading articles, and participating in the discussions.
• Resource Toolbox: Add maps, articles, videos, and other resources that may be useful in your future instructional
planning.
• Mapping in the Classroom - Lesson Plan: Use the Mapping in the Classroom - Lesson Plan Template and Mapping
in the Classroom - Lesson Plan Rubric to help begin developing your lesson or activity. In this session, you will
submit a short assignment broadly describing your topic and lesson.

2. | 2 N A T G E O E D . O R G
S E S S I O N 3
• Initial Map: Create an initial draft of your map using data collected.
• Key Concepts Organizer: Identify important concepts to record and make notes about each concept while viewing
videos, reading articles, and participating in the discussions.
• Resource Toolbox: Add maps, articles, videos, and other resources that may be useful in your future instructional
planning.
• Mapping in the Classroom - Lesson Plan: Continue to work on your lesson or activity.
S E S S I O N 4
• Key Concepts Organizer: Identify important concepts to record and make notes about each concept while viewing
videos, reading articles, and participating in the discussions.
• Resource Toolbox: Add maps, articles, videos, and other resources that may be useful in your future instructional
planning.
• Mapping in the Classroom - Lesson Plan: In this session, you need to complete your lesson plan and submit it for
review by your peers in the next session. You will need to respond to two prompts in addition to submitting the
complete lesson plan:
• Explain why you selected this lesson or activity, what the learning goals are, and how you modified it to suit
your needs.
• Include how you would collect evidence of student learning in a visual and creative way. It could include
student work, images, excerpts from student writing, or a video of a student discussion that shows what
students learned. Think creatively here. Student thinking can be made visible through a variety of means
including blog posts, quick writes, iterations of mapmaking, etc. Just be clear in your plans how this
evidence will connect to your learning objectives.

3. | 3 N A T G E O E D . O R G
S E S S I O N 5
• Lesson Plan Peer Review: You will use the Mapping in the Classroom - Lesson Plan Rubric to provide feedback on
lesson plans from two peers. You will not need to update your lesson plan.
• Revised Map
• Reflection and Portfolio Submission
• Complete a written reflection statement to introduce your portfolio. The reflection should respond to the
following question: (500 word maximum)
What have I learned about maps and spatial thinking that I can use in my own teaching? How is this learning
reflected in the evidence in this portfolio?
As you respond consider:
• how your personal knowledge of maps and spatial thinking has grown through course content
• how your geographic perspectives have changed based on your work in this course
• how your understanding of maps and spatial thinking have changed by engaging in mapmaking yourself
• how your maps reflect these changes
• how changes to your instructional practice will impact student learning
• Include the following documents in your portfolio as evidence:
• Rough draft of map
• Final version of map
• Highlights from your Key Concepts Organizer
• Highlights from your Resource Toolbox
• Maps and Spatial Thinking Lesson Plan (from Session 4, no additional revisions necessary)