Drawing the World

A few days ago I looked at my classroom and decided, it was time to change the bulletin board. Unlike many teachers, I actually do not despise changing them. I have the opposite problem, I like it too much! My creativity just runs ramped and I tend to waste time doing it "just right".

Since our next unit is on where we live in the world, I decided to draw the earth and have little people holding hands in the middle of the earth. The words around the earth would say "Go into all the world". Great idea...however, drawing the earth is certainly not an easy task. I thought it through for a few days and when I finally found a circle I could us to trace, I got busy.

After tracing and cutting out my beautiful blue circle, I was faced with the task of forming the land. But...which view of the world would I do? Would I put North America in the middle? Would I put Australia and PNG in the middle?

All my life I have grown up seeing world maps in books, on walls, and in stores that feature North America as the "center of the world". But when I came to this side of the world, Australia and PNG were in the middle. This made me ponder. Why do we put North America in the middle?

Is it because we believe North America is superior to other continents? Do we do this because the majority of our students are from North and South America? Is this actually creating a nation of "North American" focused individuals? Or is that due to lessening of emphasis on geography, history, and world studies in our school systems today?

Despite all these thoughts I decided to put Australia, PNG, and Korea in the middle, seeing as all but two of my students are from this side of the world. Unlike my PNG kiddos, my America ones will have little problems knowing where they are from and the countries that lay in proximity.