Arizona 20122013 Alliance Grant

Arizona 20122013 Alliance Grant Alliance Network Grant 2012-2013 The mission of the Arizona Geographic Alliance is to promote geography education and be the advocates for geographic literacy. Since 2003, we have conducted over 309 workshops that have impacted over 15,200 teachers who are teaching more than 604,400 students. These workshops have been in schools and school districts as well as in state and national level settings. Each year we conduct our annual geography conference. We also host various day-long workshops that focus on a region of the world or on a teaching strategy. We impact hundreds of preservice teachers through education methods classes. Our membership totals over 3300 educators. Our major means of communicating with the membership is through emails and via our website and Facebook accounts. Our website (http://geoalliance.asu.edu/azga/) features a wide selection of classroom ready maps. Our newest resource for teachers is a bank of 75 plus GeoHistory lessons. The website also has 85 GeoLiteracy and 85 GeoMath lessons as well as a series of virtual workshops on how to teach geography to ELLs. Both GeoLiteracy (2003) and GeoMath (2005) programs have been nationally recognized by the National Council for the Social Studies, and the virtual workshops have received the 2010 Geography Excellence in Media Award from the National Council for Geographic Education. The leadership cadre of the Arizona Geographic Alliance is comprised of 165 Teacher Consultants. To become a Teacher Consultant (TC), an educator attends an Alliance Summer Geography Institute (ASGI). Since 1994, the Alliance has held 11 ASGIs. In 2011, seven teachers from Arizona and 14 teachers from Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico participated in 7 days of classroom instruction and field experience in the Four Corners region. Each participant was expected to become an advocate for geography. As an advocate for geography they help other educators become better teachers of geography and work towards legislation that would assist geography education. Every other year we hold an Advanced Alliance Summer Geography Institute (AASGI). These institutes are themed based, and some of the themes have been GeoHistory, Physical Geography of the Mountains, Deserts, and Oceans, GeoSpatial Technology, Route 66, and Borderlands. This experience is reserved for Teacher Consultants of the Arizona Geographic Alliance. The Co-coordinators are Professor of Geography, Dr. Ronald Dorn, and retired teacher, Gale Olp Ekiss. The Office Manager is Cathy Davis. They are assisted by professors emeritus of geography, Drs Malcolm Comeaux and Robert Mings. Donna Campbell is the strategic planning consultant.