National Council for Geographic Education

Stories of the Chesapeake
2026-10-16 15:15 - 15:45 (America/Chicago) | Conference Room: Cullen
Summary
Stories of the Chesapeake offers a compelling glimpse into the cultures, communities, and environmental challenges of America’s estuary, the Chesapeake Bay. As one of the nation’s most important natural laboratories for geographic inquiry, the region provides a powerful example of how physical landscapes and human systems interact across space and time. Stretching across six states and the District of Columbia, the Bay’s vast watershed is shaped by rivers that meander toward the Atlantic, carrying sediment, nutrients, and pollution. These waterways reveal critical connections among land use, urban planning, agriculture, food systems, water quality, and climate change.
The Chesapeake Bay is also deeply connected to life along the Fall Line—the natural boundary where the Piedmont meets the Coastal Plain—where cities emerged and commerce flourished. From Old Point Comfort to pivotal moments such as the War of 1812, the presentation highlights the Bay’s layered geography and enduring significance. Together, these stories illuminate a dynamic system that continues to shape the environmental, economic, and cultural identity of the region.
Session Focus
All Grade Levels | America250 through a Geographic Lens, Physical & Environmental Geography, Human and Cultural Geography | World/International
Conference Room
Cullen
Meet the Presenters
Michael Allen, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Geography at Towson University, 2023 U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Serbia, and President-Elect of the International Society of Biometeorology. Prior, he served as co-coordinator of the Virginia Geographic Alliance and Geography Program Director at Old Dominion University. Since 2019, Michael has coordinated the Chesapeake Bay Climate Institute, a hands-on professional development experience highlighting America’s Estuary, drawing linkages between APHG and other disciplines to the issue of climate change and resilience.

Art, Dance, Theatre, Oh My! Using Arts-Methodologies in the Geography Classroom
2026-10-16 15:15 - 16:00 (America/Chicago) | Conference Room: Lacy
Summary
Come explore how art, dance, theatre, and other creative methodologies can deepen student understanding of geography! In this session, participants will engage in hands-on activities that bring historical narratives, social movements, and global issues to life through tableau theatre, protest art, and cartographic storytelling. Attendees will walk away with ready-to-use lesson ideas, creative assessment strategies, and a renewed vision for incorporating art into their classroom
Session Focus
All Grade Levels | Human and Cultural Geography | Curriculum and Instruction
Conference Room
Lacy
Meet the Presenters
Bethany M. Sanders is a doctoral student in the College of Education at the University of South Carolina and a high school social studies teacher in the South Carolina public school system. She received NCGE’s K–12 Distinguished Teaching Award in 2024, and her doctoral studies focus on teaching geo-literacy in the secondary classroom.

Jessica Flach

Myth, Trolls, and Tectonics: Using Storytelling to Teach Physical Geography
2026-10-16 16:00 - 16:30 (America/Chicago) | Conference Room: Reynolds Leadership Circle
Summary
Iceland’s dramatic landscapes are deeply intertwined with a rich tradition of storytelling, where myths and folklore once served to explain the “unexplainable” in the physical world. This presentation demonstrates how geography educators can leverage such narratives to help K–12 students make sense of core physical geography processes, from coastal erosion to volcanism and river flooding. Grounded in a constructivist and inquiry-based approach, the lesson framework invites students to interpret stories, question “why,” and then connect folkloric explanations with scientific concepts.
Participants will experience a short-version lesson in which students are given a myth and asked to identify the underlying physical process and explain it scientifically. A longer version extends this work over one or more weeks by having students locate a myth from any culture, analyze the physical geography embedded in the story, and draw parallels between cultural and scientific explanations. Additional examples from other cultures illustrate how this approach can be adapted across regions and grade levels. Attendees will leave with ready-to-use lesson structures, ideas for sourcing culturally diverse myths, and strategies for fostering reflective, interrogative classroom discussions that deepen students’ understanding of Earth’s dynamic systems while honoring multiple ways of knowing
Session Focus
All Grade Levels | Physical & Environmental Geography | Inquiry
Conference Room
Reynolds Leadership Circle
Meet the Presenters
Mayra Román-Rivera

How Students Can Apply “The Ten Steps of Walkability” to Evaluate Any Downtown
2026-10-16 16:15 - 16:45 (America/Chicago) | Conference Room: Byrd
Summary
In his book, Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time (2012), Jeff Speck offers ten planning steps for creating American downtowns that are useful, safe, comfortable, and interesting. While the ten steps emphasize walkability, they include improvements to land use, public transit, bicycle use, and traffic flow. In this presentation, I demonstrate how to use Speck’s “Ten Steps” to design a downtown field exercise for university geography students. After reading and discussing the ten steps, my students participated in a guided walk of downtown Edwardsville, Illinois, to collect notes and photos of their observations. They were instructed to answer two questions as they wrote up their results: (1) What does the city do well to promote walkability? and (2) How could walkability in downtown be improved? The assignment concluded with a short paper and an in-class discussion of their results. The surprising outcome of this discussion was students’ desire to learn more about the planning decisions behind what they saw in the field. Applying Speck’s “Ten Steps” gives students the structure to make sense of their field observations and draw meaningful conclusions.
Session Focus
Higher Education | Human and Cultural Geography | Curriculum and Instruction
Conference Room
Byrd
Meet the Presenters
Dr. Susan Hume is a professor in the Department of Geography & GIS at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. She believes in the power of field study in geographic education and has made field-based assignments an integral part of her urban geography and sustainable transportation courses. Susan is a lifetime member and past president of NCGE.

Resources for Teaching Political Geography
2026-10-16 16:15 - 16:45 (America/Chicago) | Conference Room: Lacy
Summary
Teaching political geography can be an especially complicated task as foreign relations issues are now flash points for cultural and academic debate. This session is designed to connect educators with high-quality non-partisan materials to help teach foreign relations, and how to connect to the content and practices of political geography. Using practice-based methodologies to engage students in “doing” geography, one of the goals of this session is to give teachers ideas on how to get students working with geographic data to involve students in learning concepts while examining real-world situations.
Session Focus
Secondary/High School | Human and Cultural Geography & Geography for Life | Government and Civics
Conference Room
Lacy
Meet the Presenters
Dr. Kyle Tredinnick

Poster Session: Using Extracurricular Programs to Further Geographic Education
2026-10-17 | Conference Area: Commonwealth Hall
Summary
The International Scholars Program is an innovative, student-centered initiative designed to extend geographic education beyond the traditional classroom. Grounded in inquiry-based and interdisciplinary learning, the program immerses students in the study of global geographies, cultures, governments, economies, and histories through sustained, experiential engagement. Participants engage in structured book studies, cultural analyses, collaborative inquiry sessions, academic research projects, and community presentations. The program also incorporates guest speakers and local partnerships to connect global themes to lived experiences.
By intentionally integrating academic rigor with experiential exploration, the International Scholars Program cultivates geographic literacy, critical thinking, cultural competence, and civic awareness. Students move beyond memorization of places and facts to develop spatial understanding, global interdependence awareness, and informed perspectives on contemporary international issues.
This poster will outline the program’s design framework, implementation strategies, and sample learning cycles. Attendees will gain practical tools for adapting the model to diverse educational settings. The International Scholars Program demonstrates how structured, inquiry-driven enrichment can meaningfully advance geographic education and prepare students for engaged global citizenship.
Session Focus
All Grade Levels | Human and Cultural Geography | Curriculum and Instruction
Conference Room/Area
Commonwealth Hall
Meet The Presenter
Justin McCrackin

Poster Session: Assessing the landscape of introductory undergraduate courses in the U.S.
2026-10-17 | Conference Area: Commonwealth Hall
Summary
With the support of an NSF IUSE: ITYC collaborative planning grant, the presenters are looking to invigorate the teaching of undergraduate introductory geography courses, which define the discipline for thousands of undergraduates. They can also be the spark to draw students to major in geography and related fields. We wonder whether the standard survey approach for teaching introductory courses effectively recruits students to further study in geography or does justice to the discipline of geography, particularly newer branches of the field.
Our first step is to assemble a picture of the current landscape of undergraduate introductory geography courses. In collaboration with the American Association of Geographers, we are conducting a broad survey of our own of geography department heads, program directors, and instructors, regarding which courses are taught, the status of instructors who teach these courses, the format and types of materials for these courses, and enrollment data, among other elements. This poster will display our findings to date and invite NCGE attendees to contribute to the data, if they have not already, and to join a growing community of practice of undergraduate introductory geography instructors.
Session Focus
Higher Education | Geography for Life | Curriculum and Instruction
Conference Room/Area
Commonwealth Hall
Meet The Presenter
Dr. Tamar Y. Rothenberg is Professor in the Department of History at Bronx Community College – City University of New York, where she currently teaches World Regional Geography and History of the Modern World. Her publications include the book Presenting America’s World: Strategies of Innocence in National Geographic Magazine, 1888-1945 (Ashgate/Routledge 2007); an article with Karen M. Morin, “Our Theories, Ourselves: Hierarchies of Place and Status in Academia,” ACME 10(1), 2011; chapters in Geography and Empire, ed. Godlewska and Smith (Blackwell 1994) and Mapping Desire, ed. Bell and Valentine (Routledge 1995), and with Karen M. Morin and Mona Domosh, co-edited a special section on feminist historical geography for Historical Geography (2016). She has a BA in History from Wesleyan University, and MA and PhD in Geography from Rutgers University.

Cadey Korson is Professor of Geography at St Clair County Community College in Michigan and Fellow of Advance HE. Her research focuses on place-based pedagogies, Indigenous rights and digital storytelling/mapping. These interests have resulted in a variety of transdisciplinary projects, including The Spatial Awareness Project short film and podcast series on land use classifications in Aotearoa New Zealand, working with iwi to co-create digital storymaps that embed mātauranga Māori, exploring perceptions of social license to operate in the agrifood sector, and documenting the social impact of conservation volunteerism. Recently, Cadey has been awarded a grant from the National Geographic Society to coordinate a student-led streambank restoration project along the Belle River in Columbus County Park, USA, as a National Geographic Explorer.

Poster Session: Revolutionary Crossroads
2026-10-17 | Conference Area: Commonwealth Hall
Summary
Revolutionary Crossroads is a poster session that shows how geography shaped key events of the American Revolution. Developed through the Revolutionary Crossroads field experience with the Virginia Geographic Alliance, the presentation focuses on how rivers, terrain, and transportation routes in the Hudson and Mohawk River Valleys influenced movement, settlement, and military strategy. The poster provides simple, classroom-ready ideas that help students understand why history happened where it did while supporting America250 instruction.
Session Focus
All Grade Levels | America250 through a Geographic Lens | U.S. History
Conference Room/Area
Commonwealth Hall
Meet The Presenter
Teaching in a rural, former coal-mining and tobacco growing region, Alex Long is both a History/Government/Appalachian History & folklore instructor, as well as an English literature instructor in Virginia and East Tennessee; in high school, and at two local universities. For the past twelve years, he has brought both high school and university students out of their shells to share their stories and understand our local histories and culture; all to better inform those around them and around the world. Additionally, he has been a guest lecturer for Eighteenth Century British Drama and Fiction at Oxford University for three years, as well as a lecturer in Scots-Irish/Appalachian folklore at the University of Edinburgh. All these experiences combined have led him to working with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the Birthplace of Country Music Museum-Bristol to help visitors, students, and educators dig deeper into the rich and diverse culture they have in Appalachia. He is furthering his research into his area, along with the rest of Virginia, to continue sharing the importance Virginia still is in the history of our nation; along with the vitality of the Appalachian region in the early history and growth of the state and nation. This is in conjunction with sharing the “true” story of Appalachia as not a region of disparity, but of history which changed the world, rich storytelling, an Indigenous and European melting pot, and the agricultural lifeblood for our early nation through the recent 21st century.

Skyler Verloop teaches social studies and serves as the AVID Coordinator at Lewis High School in Springfield, Virginia. He is an advocate for place-based learning and college access, and has secured grants to provide students with experiential learning opportunities at colleges, museums, Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, Gettysburg National Military Park, and Shenandoah National Park. Skyler is dedicated to fostering student success, promoting critical thinking, and preparing students to pursue higher education and lifelong learning. He also serves as the Social Media Coordinator and Secretary for the Virginia Geographic Alliance, where he supports educators in advancing geographic literacy, spatial thinking, and community engagement.

Designing Flexible Learning Pathways: Implementing BLPL in a World Geography Classroom
2026-10-17 08:25 - 08:55 (America/Chicago) | Conference Room: Reynolds Leadership Circle
Summary
This case study investigates how a high school geography teacher implemented blended and personalized learning (BLPL) in a World Geography course to support student learning within a BLPL framework. The instructional design integrated structured classroom routines, flexible pacing, and digital supports, including a progress-monitoring tool, to create multiple pathways for student engagement with geographic content. Early in the semester, instruction emphasized scaffolding classroom procedures and supporting students’ use of technology. Over time, these supports shifted toward fostering greater student autonomy and sustained engagement. Findings illustrate how BLPL enables teachers to respond to learner variability, balance instructional structure with student independence, and design differentiated learning experiences that deepen geographic understanding.
In this session, attendees will learn concrete instructional strategies and practitioner insights drawn from the case study. The presentation will highlight how BLPL structures can be designed and adapted to support learners in World Geography classrooms. Attendees will explore how BLPL structures can be designed and adapted for secondary geography classrooms and will gain access to a curated website featuring authentic BLPL case examples, along with a printed resource guide. Whether new to BLPL or refining existing practices, attendees will leave with actionable strategies applicable to their own instructional contexts.
Session Focus
All Grade Levels | Geography for Life | Curriculum and Instruction
Conference Room
Reynolds Leadership Center
Meet the Presenters
Sojung Huh is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Texas Tech University. Her research focuses on teacher education and technology integration in K–12 classrooms. She is particularly interested in how geography education and geospatial technologies can support inquiry-based learning, as well as blended and personalized learning.

Teaching Teachers to ‘See’ Place: Integrating Geospatial Technology to Transform Elementary Teacher
2026-10-17 08:25 - 08:55 (America/Chicago) | Conference Room: Byrd
Summary
The editors of the two NCGE journals – the Geography Teacher and the Journal of Geography – invite you to learn about the publication process for the journals and how you can become a successful author. Take half an hour to learn about preparing and submitting manuscripts, completing the publishing process as an author, and supporting the discipline as a reviewer. Attendees will be able to ask questions and solicit publication advice for the rest of the session.
Session Focus
All Grade Levels | Physical & Environmental Geography | STEM
Conference Room
Byrd
Meet the Presenters
Dr. Mary D. Curtis is an Assistant Professor at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in the College of Education where she coordinates the Social Studies teacher preparation program. Dr. Curtis is a geography educator with over 20 years of experience and service from local to international levels. She currently serves as the Vice Chair for the Association of American Geographers Geography Education Specialty Group and as Associate Editor for the Journal of Geography.

Beyond the Textbook...Beyond the Exam: Bridging AP Human Geography Students to Geographic Practice
2026-10-17 08:25 - 08:55 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Lacy
Summary
Recent calls from geographers, including AAG President William Moseley—notably in his 2025 NCGE address—emphasize strengthening the vital bridge between K-12 and college geography educators. Despite robust AP Human Geography (APHG) enrollment, geography remains a “discovery degree” with students rarely considering it beyond high school. This presentation addresses this pipeline challenge through a model for post-AP exam experiential outreach that engages students directly with geographic practice. Building effective bridges requires engagement from both sides: AP teachers willing to connect with college faculty, and geography professors willing to reach beyond university walls. Drawing on our combined experience as an APHG teacher, APHG reader, and college geography professor, this presentation describes designing a campus visit where post-AP exam students engage in hands-on geographic investigation using college-level tools and methods across multiple sub-disciplinary areas. The presentation will share the framework for designing meaningful experiential connections between APHG curriculum and college geography practice, discuss findings from implementation, and explore challenges in building these two-way relationships. Attendees will gain practical guidance for creating similar outreach initiatives adaptable to their institutional contexts, whether as AP teachers seeking college partnerships or faculty engaging high school geography students.
Session Focus
APHG Educators | Geography for Life | Curriculum and Instruction
Conference Room
Lacy
Meet the Presenters
Dr. Thomas R. Craig is an Assistant Professor of Geography and Geographic Information Science in the Department of Geography and Geospatial Sciences at South Dakota State University. With nearly two decades of experience as a geography educator spanning both secondary and higher education, Dr. Craig brings a unique perspective to bridging these often-separate worlds. He has served as an Advanced Placement Human Geography exam reader for ten years and previously taught high school social studies for five years before completing his Ph.D. in Geography from Oklahoma State University.
Kim McCullough teaches AP Human Geography, World Regional Geography, Geography of Religion, and AP European History at Brookings High School. She earned her Master’s degree in Geography from South Dakota State University in 2003. Before joining Brookings High School, she taught at the Flandreau Indian School, served as an instructor in SDSU’s Department of Geography and Geospatial Sciences, and taught at George S. Mickelson Middle School in Brookings.

Map your World: Empowering Students with OpenStreetMap
2026-10-17 08:25 - 08:55 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Cullen
Summary
OpenStreetMap is the world’s largest crowdsourced geospatial database, powering thousands of applications across corporate, government, nonprofit, and academic sectors. As a free and community-driven project, anyone can contribute and anyone can use the data. As a tool for teaching geography, OpenStreetMap (OSM) is unparalleled. Mapping, as a classroom activity, fosters spatial awareness and locational intelligence; open mapping helps students become active engaged citizens where they help others in their community and around the world.
TeachOSM (A program of OpenStreetMap US) is an open resource hub and community network for students and educators to develop geospatial skills and increase civic engagement through project-based learning via OpenStreetMap. Through monthly Working Group meetings and asynchronous collaboration, TeachOSM members maintain a central repository of learning materials & resources designed for educators, facilitate a community of practice by networking educators and hosting mentors, and maintain or advocate for tools that improve the ability for educators to integrate OpenStreetMap into their classrooms and curriculum. Learn about the work of TeachOSM, the OpenStreetMap project, and see case studies of how OSM has been utilized in the classroom.
Session Focus
All Grade Levels | Geospatial Technology | Open Data
Conference Room
Cullen
Meet the Presenters
Alyssa Castronuovo is the Program Coordinator at OpenStreetMap US, a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting OpenStreetMap and its community of mappers. In her role she supports the TeachOSM program, which connects educators interested in implementing OSM in their classrooms to educational materials, shared resources, and the wider OSM community. She loves exploring the beautifully mapped bike and pedestrian infrastructure in her home of Richmond, Virginia.

Mapping the Professional Fall Line: A Grades 4-12 Geospatial Careers & GIS Curriculum
2026-10-17 08:25 - 08:55 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Robins Family Forum Theater
Summary
How do we find tomorrow’s geospatial professionals today? The answer lies in “backwards mapping” industry requirements directly into our K-12 classrooms.
Join the author and presenter for a deep dive into Geospatial Approaches and Careers, a curriculum passion project designed to bridge the gap between foundational education and professional practice. This session demonstrates how to scaffold high-level GIS workforce standards—such as executive briefing and professional data evaluation—into developmentally appropriate experiences for students starting as early as 4th grade.
By integrating interdisciplinary standards with geospatial thinking, technology, and advocacy, this framework prepares students to move from classroom learners to industry-ready analysts. Attendees will explore a 4-12 pipeline that connects NGSS, C3 Framework, and AP Human Geography skills to the missions of agencies like the Department of Homeland Security.
Whether you are a classroom teacher, a school leader, or a policy broker, you are invited to explore these possibilities and discuss strategies for implementation in your own learning community.
Attendee Take-away: Participants will receive a digital “Geospatial Career Readiness Toolkit,” featuring the full curriculum draft, the Parkdale GIS Graphic Organizer, and the Professional Executive Brief Rubric.
How can we bridge the gap between classroom geography and the high-demand geospatial workforce? This session introduces a modular consultancy model derived from the Geospatial Approaches and Careers project. Rather than a “one-size-fits-all” curriculum, this model offers a “backwards-mapped” framework that allows educational leaders to implement geospatial career pathways in part or in whole, depending on their local resources and goals.
The presenter will demonstrate how to adapt industry-standard requirements—such as Executive Briefing and GIS Data Evaluation—for diverse settings, including elementary enrichment, middle school STEM modules, and high school CTE programs. We will explore how these “pluggable” units align with NGSS, C3, and APHG standards to create a professional pipeline that is both developmentally appropriate and industry-aligned.
Session Focus
All Grade Levels | Geospatial Technology, Human and Cultural Geography, & Geography for Life| Curriculum and Instruction
Conference Room
Robins Family Forum Theater
Meet the Presenter
Daniel Joseph Whalen is an educational leader with a 22-year career dedicated to fostering student engagement and spatial literacy. Currently serving as an Assistant Principal in Las Vegas, New Mexico, his passion for geography is deeply rooted in his own diverse geographic upbringing—from the industrial heart of Pittsburgh to the close-knit, multi-generational farming villages of upstate New York. Holding a BA in History from SUNY Albany and an MA in Educational Leadership from The George Washington University, Daniel brings a profound understanding of how community, environment, and a “sense of place” shape student identity and achievement.
Over his 18-year tenure with Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland, Daniel became a driving force in geographic and spatial science education. He spent a decade in the classroom teaching AP Human Geography and was instrumental in shaping the district’s instructional framework, including co-authoring the AP Human Geography elective curriculum. Recognizing the critical importance of geospatial technologies, he later transitioned into Career and Technical Education (CTE). In this capacity, he pioneered pathways for students by developing and teaching comprehensive curricula for Homeland Security Science, Digital Cartography, and Advanced Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
A dedicated advocate for geographic education at the national level, Daniel is thrilled to connect with fellow educators and leaders at the National Council for Geographic Education annual conference. He brings a wealth of assessment and mentorship experience to the geography community, having served as an AP Human Geography Reader since 2009 and a College Board Table Leader since 2023. As a Certified Geospatial Educator (GeoEdC) and a 2018-2019 American Geographic Society Fellow, Daniel has consistently championed spatial education, supported by his leadership as Treasurer of the Maryland Geographic Alliance and his history of presenting on GIS integration at previous NCGE and Towson University conferences.
Today, Daniel applies his geographer’s lens to school-wide administration, guiding educators to build innovative CTE pathways to graduation. In his administrative roles, he integrates character education and community-specific values into the curriculum—equipping students not just for the global workforce, but to lead and serve locally in Meadow City. Whether developing school-wide instructional strategies or serving as the energetic “SportsCenter” voice celebrating student milestones, Daniel remains fiercely committed to elevating expectations, celebrating student success, and expanding access to high-quality geographic education.

The GeoSpatial Zone
2026-10-17 08:25 - 17:40 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Halsey Family Hall
The Geospatial Room located in the Halsey Family Hall, offers a full day of sessions dedicated to bringing the power of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) into today’s classrooms. Designed for geography educators at all levels, these sessions will showcase innovative tools, instructional strategies, and real-world applications that help students analyze patterns, solve problems, and better understand our changing world through a geographic lens.
Join fellow educators and geospatial experts to explore hands-on resources, classroom-ready ideas, and new ways to inspire the next generation of spatial thinkers.
Full Schedule

8:25 – 8:55 a.m. – Session 1: “Geospatial Esri Lab” – Full details coming soon.

9:10 – 9:50 a.m. – Session 2: “Getting Started with MapMaker” – Full details coming soon.

10:05 – 10:45 a.m. – Session 3: “Intro to StoryMaps: – Full details coming soon.

2:15 – 2:55 p.m. – Session 4: “Teaching and Learning with Storymaps”

Storymaps are powerful communication tools that combine place-based understanding with interactive media to create engaging, spatially grounded narratives. A range of storymap platforms allows educators and students to integrate maps, multimedia, and analysis across diverse educational settings. This presentation shares insights gained from using storymaps with both secondary students and undergraduates, highlighting strategies for assignment design, scaffolding, and assessment. Examples will illustrate how storymaps can support spatial thinking, critical analysis, and public-facing communication. Participants will be invited to consider how storymaps might enhance their own instructional practice and strengthen student learning.
About the Presenter: Mary Schorse

3:10 – 3:50 p.m. – Session 5: “Mapping Meaning: Student-Led Geospatial Stories in Environmental Literacy”

This session explores how student-centered geospatial projects can strengthen environmental literacy and geographic thinking. Participants will examine 2–3 student projects that use GIS, mapping, and spatial data analysis to explore local environmental issues. Projects include field data collection, spatial analysis, and digital storytelling to investigate topics such as watershed health, land use patterns, habitat connectivity, and environmental equity. Presenters will share how these projects are structured, scaffolded, and assessed, with an emphasis on inquiry, place-based learning, and student agency. Attendees will gain practical strategies for integrating geospatial tools into environmental and geography instruction without requiring extensive technical expertise. The session balances examples of student work with discussion of instructional design, making it relevant for educators working in traditional classrooms, specialty programs, or interdisciplinary settings. Participants will leave with concrete ideas for designing geospatial learning experiences that connect students to their local environment while building essential geographic skills.
About the Presenter: Jill Rich is an educator and director of the Center for Environmental Studies and Sustainability at Varina High School in Henrico County, Virginia. With extensive experience in curriculum development, GIS instruction, and project-based learning, she leads innovative, sustainability-focused programs that connect students with real-world environmental challenges. She coordinates capstone projects, field experiences, and community partnerships, preparing students to apply geospatial thinking in meaningful and impactful ways.

4:05 – 4:45 p.m. – Session 6: “Everything is similar, everything is different: State GIS Clearinghouses as resources for education”

Most states have GIS clearinghouses to provide finding resources, metadata,downloadable datasets, and streaming services for public users. This presentation explores the missions of these efforts, the technology used to operate them, and opportunities for geographic education including: the geography of state GIS, governance between scales of government, standardization, and evaluating source data.
About the Presenter: Matt Gerike is Geospatial Program Manager for 9-1-1 GIS at the Virginia Geographic Information Network where he supports localities across the commonwealth. He has managed GIS offices and projects in local government, worked with state level GIS clearinghouses and data development projects, and taught at several colleges and universities. Matt is active in the Geospatial Professional Network (GPN), contributes to National Emergency Number Association (NENA) work groups relating to GIS, and volunteers with the Virginia Geographic Alliance.

5:00 – 5:40 p.m. – Session 7: “GeoExplorer and 4-H Leadership Team Plenary” – Full details coming soon.

Conference Room
Halsey Family Hall

Learning Along the Fall Line: Building an OER State Atlas for All Learners
2026-10-17 09:10 - 09:50 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Reynolds Leadership Circle
Summary
Imagine a free, comprehensive digital atlas designed specifically for K–12 educators — one that connects geography, history, science, ELA, and math in a single resource. The Virginia Geographic Alliance has built exactly that with An Atlas of Virginia, offering 40 full-page maps, interactive online resources, nonfiction text, charts, and a teacher guide aligned to state standards in one dynamic resource.
In this session, participants will explore the features and instructional potential of An Atlas of Virginia and discuss what it takes to build something similar in their own states. We’ll examine the components that make this atlas an effective classroom tool — from cross-curricular connections and literacy support to interactive maps and standards alignment — and brainstorm how state geographic alliances, university partners, and educators can collaborate to bring similar projects to life digitally.
Whether you teach in Virginia or anywhere across the country, you’ll leave with inspiration, a replicable model, and practical next steps for advocating for — or building — a state atlas resource your students deserve
Session Focus
All Grade Levels | America250 through a Geographic Lens | Curriculum and Instruction
Conference Room
Reynolds Leadership Center
Meet the Presenter
Annie Evans, Director of Education and Outreach, has spent over half her life teaching history and civics in Virginia’s K-12 public schools. She collaborates with a network of educators, museums, and cultural institutions nationwide to create learning resources that inspire the next generation of educators, public historians, and community leaders. Her work emphasizes inquiry-based and place-based learning, connecting local history to broader topics for secondary and post-secondary audiences while fostering vibrant communities among educational groups and institutions. Annie is the recipient of the National Council for History Education’s Sarah Drake Brown Leadership in History Award, recognizing her dedication to history education and collaborative approach to curriculum design.

Crossing the Conceptual Fall Line: Scaffolding AP Human Geography FRQs
2026-10-17 09:10 - 09:50 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Lacy
Summary
AP Human Geography students often possess strong content knowledge but struggle to translate that understanding into effective Free-Response Question (FRQ) responses. This interactive workshop focuses on practical, classroom-tested strategies for scaffolding FRQs while maintaining AP-level rigor and alignment with the APHG Course and Exam Description.
Participants will analyze common student breakdown points, unpack FRQ task verbs, and practice using scaffolds that support geographic reasoning, vocabulary, and evidence-based explanation. Emphasis will be placed on helping students move from description to analysis across human and cultural geography topics such as population, migration, urbanization, and development.
Attendees will actively engage with and share a variety of strategies and will leave with adaptable resources that can be implemented immediately. This session is designed for APHG educators seeking to improve student writing, equity of access, and confidence with FRQs while strengthening core geographic thinking skills.
Session Focus
APHG Educators | Human and Cultural Geography | Curriculum and Instruction
Conference Room
Lacy
Meet the Presenter
Allison Cecil is a National Board Certified Teacher and social studies educator at duPont Manual High School in Louisville, where she teaches AP Human Geography and Dual Credit courses in business and personal finance. She serves as an Assistant Chief Reader for the College Board AP Human Geography Exam. Allison develops inquiry-based curriculum and professional development focused on strengthening students’ geographic reasoning and evidence-based writing. Her recent projects include contributing as an author to History of Korea: Course Companion for IB History Paper 3 and leading classroom and community-based initiatives through the Korean War Legacy Foundation Veterans Legacy Project.

The Unruly Rio Grande: How A Meandering River Re-shaped the US-Mexico Line
2026-10-17 09:10 - 09:50 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Robins Family Forum Theater
Summary
Rivers flood and change over time which can cause major issues regarding political boundaries between nations. What happens when this directly impacts people’s homes, cultural beliefs, and economic zones. This session focuses on the shifting Rio Grande border with Mexico due to significant flooding in the 19th century and the changes that resulted in a 100 year dispute over a stretch of land in El Paso, Texas. During a time period of heightened Cold War tensions, a peaceful negotiation was reached that ended the dispute and permanently altered the course of the Rio Grande River in this area. Various materials and resources will be provided along with lessons that can be used in U.S. History courses or AP Human Geography classes.
Session Focus
Higher Education | Physical & Environmental Geography | U.S. History
Conference Room
Robins Family Forum Theater
Meet the Presenter
Dawn Schmidt teaches in Tempe, Arizona at Corona del Sol High School. This is her 30th year and she is teaching Honors World Geography to 9th graders, AP Human Geography, an elective for 10th-12th graders, and Honors United States History to 11th graders. Schmidt currently serves as a board member of the Arizona Council for Social Studies and she is also Teacher Consultant for the Arizona Geographic Alliance. She was awarded the K-12 Distinguished Teaching Award by NCGE in 2021, the Isidore Starr Outstanding Social Studies Teacher by ACSS in 2016, and the Flinn Foundation Outstanding Teacher Award in 2013 and 2008. Schmidt has had the opportunity to participate in educational study tours in Taiwan, Japan, Tajikistan, Honduras, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates.

What’s in a Name? ​Exploring Place Names as Forms of Social and Geographic Storytelling
2026-10-17 09:10 - 09:50 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Cullen
Summary
Explore the profound social, historical, and political meanings behind the names attached to places. Far from simple labels, place names, or toponyms, are power-laden expressions of a community’s identity, values, and ongoing struggles for recognition.
Session Focus
All Grade Levels | Human and Cultural Geography | Inquiry
Conference Room
Cullen
Meet the Presenter
Brian Smith is a full-time middle school teacher in Oak Ridge, TN where he teaches World History and Geospatial Technologies. He is also the Tennessee Geographic Alliance Executive Director.

Mapping Learning: Using Survey123 to Create Student-Generated Content Across Disciplines
2026-10-17 09:10 - 09:50 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Byrd
Summary
In this session, we’ll explore how Survey123 can be used to design authentic, student-generated content experiences across a range of subjects — from World Languages and Geography to History and Psychology — in both K–12 and higher education settings. Participants will walk away with concrete examples of classroom-ready Survey123 projects that challenge students to observe, collect, and analyze real-world data in ways that deepen geographic understanding and cross-disciplinary connections.
Whether you’re new to GIS tools or looking to expand your current practice, this session will show you how a simple form can become a powerful lens for inquiry-based learning — right at the fall line between traditional instruction and the student-centered classroom of the future.
Session Focus
All Grade Levels | Geospatial Technology | Inquiry
Conference Room
Byrd
Meet the Presenter
Shana Crosson is a former Social Studies teacher turned geospatial technology consultant at the University of Minnesota, now focusing on integrating geospatial technologies and spatial thinking across the curriculum in higher education and in K-12.
Jessica Bateman Winkelaar holds a PhD in Social Studies Education and has been a social studies educator since 1995. She has spent most of her career as a middle school teacher and is currently teaching seventh grade World Geography. She serves on the Steering Committee for the Minnesota Alliance for Geographic Education (MAGE).

Reawakening the Stealth Geography Approach in a Persistent Battleground: Elementary Education
2026-10-17 10:05 - 10:45 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Byrd
Summary
In the early 2000s, integrating geography and literacy at the elementary level garnered attention (Gandy, 2006; Holloway, 2015) in the wake of NCLB and the College and Career Readiness Standards. The need for such calls further intensified in the wake of recent nationwide science of reading initiatives and persistent standardized testing. Consequently, elementary teachers’ time constraints further marginalize elementary-level geography. As a result, a stealth approach that integrates Geography with literacy is required to provide meaningful geography instruction in elementary grades (Sekeres & Gregg, 2008). As noted in the Road Map for 21st Century Geography Education, “Geography should be taught wherever it is found – whether in math, science, social studies, literature, technology, or the arts” (Bednarz et al. 2013, p. 10)
This presentation will provide a threefold approach to address marginalization in elementary-level geography. First, reviewing previous scholarly advances in integrating geography and children’s literature offers a clear way forward. Second, examples of effective integration of literature with the Geography for Life Six Essential Elements will be demonstrated. Third, participants will receive an introductory list of elementary geography children’s books and additional resources to empower teachers and teacher educators to integrate elementary geography into quality children’s literature.
Session Focus
Early Childhood/Elementary | Geography for Life | Literacy
Conference Room
Byrd
Meet the Presenter
Jayson Evaniuck

Places of Service and Sacrifice: Teaching Through National Cemeteries
2026-10-17 10:05 - 10:45 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Lacy
Summary
National cemeteries are powerful geographic places, yet they are rarely used as instructional anchors in the classroom. This session presents a place based inquiry model that uses national cemeteries to help students explore space, movement, scale, and human impact through the study of Korean War veterans.
Through the Korean War Legacy Foundation’s Veterans Legacy Project, students research individual veterans buried in national cemeteries and construct geographic biographies that trace lives across multiple places. Students analyze maps, primary sources, and spatial data to connect local communities to global conflict on the Korean Peninsula. The inquiry culminates in student contributions to the Veterans Legacy Memorial, giving learning an authentic civic purpose.
Participants will explore classroom ready, modular instructional materials and engage in discussion about how this work fits into existing geography and social studies courses. While examples focus on the Korean War, the inquiry structure is intentionally transferable to other conflicts, service eras, and local contexts. Teachers will leave with adaptable materials and concrete strategies they can use immediately.
Session Focus
Secondary/High School | America250 through a Geographic Lens | U.S. History
Conference Room
Lacy
Meet the Presenter
Allison Cecil is a National Board Certified Teacher and social studies educator at duPont Manual High School in Louisville, where she teaches AP Human Geography and Dual Credit courses in business and personal finance. She serves as an Assistant Chief Reader for the College Board AP Human Geography Exam. Allison develops inquiry-based curriculum and professional development focused on strengthening students’ geographic reasoning and evidence-based writing. Her recent projects include contributing as an author to History of Korea: Course Companion for IB History Paper 3 and leading classroom and community-based initiatives through the Korean War Legacy Foundation Veterans Legacy Project.

From Maps to Mandates: Teaching the Arab-Israeli Conflict with Primary Sources
2026-10-17 10:05 - 10:45 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Cullen
Summary
Explore the history and background of the Arab-Israeli conflict through primary source documents and teaching strategies that support critical analysis of texts. Major historical developments in the Arab-Israeli conflict will be discussed. Participants will develop content knowledge, experience student activities, and receive ready-to-use resources and links to digital resources with detailed lesson plans including primary source documents, maps, and all necessary student materials. Curricular resources emphasize informational texts with text-dependent and document-based questions to support close, analytic reading and evidence-based responses, new literacy strategies, and best practices in the use of technology in the classroom. Participants will be able to deliver rigorous, standards-based instruction, meeting state social studies content standards. High School World History and Global Politics teachers, and their colleagues who seek to enrich their general content knowledge, will benefit from this workshop.
Session Focus
Secondary/High School | Human and Cultural Geography | World/International
Conference Room
Cullen
Meet the Presenter
Casey Finch is an Educator for Institute for Curriculum Services and presents at conferences and facilitates professional learning for educators in the Northeastern region of the United States. Prior to joining ICS, Casey spent 15 years teaching Social Studies. He taught in both public and private secondary schools in NH, CO, and MA. Most recently, Casey worked for CFR Education developing teaching and learning materials about global civics. Casey holds a B.A in Political Science from the University of New Hampshire and an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Denver.
Casey facilitates professional learning for the following states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and DC.

Yippy-Ki-Yay, Morphin’ Culture!: Teaching Holiday Traditions and Cultural Change Using Die Hard
2026-10-17 10:05 - 10:45 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Robins Family Forum Theater
Summary
The “Die Hard as a Christmas movie” debate offers an entry point for engaging students in learning about culture and its interpretation. [JE1.1]As classroom practice shifts toward an emphasis on human geography and the use of geo-literacy skills, understanding how to engage students with complexity of geography is increasingly important. Because social studies teachers do not receive adequate geography education in their preservice education programs (Bednarz et al., 2013), we developed and taught a series of mini-lessons focused on cultural change to preservice teachers in a social studies methods course. Using Die Hard as a throughline, we developed lessons on (1) elements of culture, (2) folk and pop culture, (3) the impact of technology (e.g. film, home video, internet, etc.) and diffusion on culture, and (4) how virtual spaces are a cultural landscape. Though developed for preservice teachers, this session will address how the lessons can be easily adapted for middle and secondary classrooms. While the Die Hard debate is fun to have, we concluded with discussions about how cultural change is a normal, yet invisible, process.
Session Focus
Secondary/High School | Human and Cultural Geography | Inquiry
Conference Room
Robins Family Forum Theater
Meet the Presenter
Jeff Eargle is a clinical associate professor at the University of South Carolina where he serves as the Secondary Social Studies Program Coordinator in the College of Education. He is the coeditor of the forthcoming two-volume book Teaching Holocaust Geographies in Middle and High School from Palgrave Macmillan.

Vernon Turner is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina, where he teaches social studies methods in the Department of Teacher Education. His work focuses on social studies education and teacher preparation, with particular attention to inquiry-based instruction and classroom practice. Prior to joining USC, he taught high school geography, including Advanced Placement Human Geography.

Bethany M. Sanders is a doctoral student in the College of Education at the University of South Carolina and a high school social studies teacher in the South Carolina public school system. She received NCGE’s K–12 Distinguished Teaching Award in 2024, and her doctoral studies focus on teaching geo-literacy in the secondary classroom.

Redistricting Education Amidst the "Gerrymandering Wars
2026-10-17 10:05 - 10:45 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Reynolds Leadership Circle
Summary
As the ongoing “gerrymandering wars” intensify, this session asserts redistricting’s “place” in broader civics education. Mid-decade redistricting battles continue to erupt across the country, including right here in Virginia—but contrary to media narratives, these battles are not unprecedented. Exploring the history and mechanics of redistricting and gerrymandering through a nonpartisan and spatially-grounded lens, we will demonstrate how they are both fundamentally geographical processes and shift the discussion from “which side wins” to “how these processes shape representation.” Participants will gain additional subject area expertise and explore easy-to-incorporate lessons and materials demonstrating geography’s critical role in democratic citizenship and social studies educators’ roles in supporting it.
Session Focus
All Grade Levels | GeoCivics
Conference Room
Reynolds Leadership
Meet the Presenter
Adam Dohrenwend is an Assistant Professor of Geography at James Madison University (JMU), where his research and teaching focus on electoral geography and political ecology. He regularly lectures on redistricting and gerrymandering, publishes on these and other electoral geography topics, and provides nonpartisan analysis to a variety of regional print and broadcast media outlets, including on this year’s redistricting referendum in Virginia.

Cultivating Civic Stewardship Through StoryMaps: Narrative Mapping of Coastal Displacement
2026-10-17 14:15 - 14:55 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Reynolds Leadership Circle
Summary
This interactive workshop models how ArcGIS StoryMaps can be used to support geographic thinking and civic stewardship through narrative mapping in secondary classrooms. Participants will engage with a classroom-ready lesson centered on displacement in southwest Louisiana Indigenous communities, including Isle de Jean Charles and Pointe-au-Chien. Using curated photographs, community interviews, historical shoreline data, erosion maps, and student-created counter-maps, educators will explore how students analyze human–environment interactions and connect global processes such as climate change, subsidence, and environmental decision-making to the loss of culture and displacement of entire communities.
The session demonstrates how StoryMaps and counter-mapping practices empower students to challenge dominant narratives of coastal loss, elevate community-centered perspectives of place, sovereignty, and stewardship, and make evidence-based claims using geospatial data. Participants will examine how to scaffold inquiry through printed large-format maps, spatial annotation, fieldwork simulations, and multimodal storytelling to deepen student engagement and geographic reasoning. Attendees will leave with classroom-ready lesson structures, research-informed strategies for narrative mapping, and practical approaches for integrating StoryMaps into human–environment and place-based geography units.
Session Focus
Secondary/High School | Physical & Environmental Geography | Inquiry
Conference Room
Reynolds Leadership Circle
Meet the Presenter
Nicole Means is an Instructional Specialist and AP Human Geography teacher at West Feliciana High School in St. Francisville, Louisiana. She is a National Board Certified Teacher and serves as a Reader for the AP Human Geography Exam, bringing a strong focus on student thinking and real-world application into her work.
Throughout her career, Nicole has been awarded several teaching fellowships, including the National Geographic Grosvenor Fellowship and the Fulbright Distinguished Award, which have shaped her approach to designing place-based, inquiry-driven learning experiences. She is an avid traveler who sees the world as a field study and leads student travel experiences so students can engage with places beyond their own communities.
Her work connects students’ local experiences to broader regional and global patterns. She has conducted fieldwork in her community and across the greater Baton Rouge area, and more recently in southwest Louisiana, where she collaborates with Indigenous communities to explore environmental change, cultural landscapes, and displacement.

Demography 101: Understanding Population Trends through Hands-on Activities
2026-10-17 14:15 - 14:55 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Lacy
Summary
Population dynamics have been in the news, especially related to falling birthrates and what that might portend for future generations, economics and the environment. This session engages participants with the latest data and projections from demographers and prognosticators but also puts the data into a historical context. The data is included in experiential activities – simulations, group modeling and data analysis – that encourage student inquiry. As a group, we’ll model world population growth from the 19th century to the present and then the U.N. projections for the next 75 years, showing population distribution among world regions. We will create and analyze age-sex distribution graphs for different countries using new data sets, and will use interactive digital tools and data visualization to discuss the Demographic Transition Model and how it applies to current birth and death rates around the globe. Throughout the session, we will discuss ways to incorporate these activities into World Geography and AP Human Geography coursework. Receive lesson plans and background materials in an electronic format, plus maps and wall charts for the classroom.
Session Focus
APHG Educators | Human and Cultural Geography | Curriculum and Instruction
Conference Room
Lacy
Meet the Presenter
Carol Bliese is the Senior Director of Teacher Programs for the Population Education (PopEd) program at the non-profit organization Population Connection. The program provides teaching materials, professional development workshops, and ongoing support for current and future K-12 teachers that focuses on environmental topics around sustainability and societal topics around global citizenship. Carol manages the day-to-day functioning of PopEd’s workshop program, oversees the development of curriculum, and participates in short and long-term strategic planning. She facilitates teacher training workshops, in-person and online, throughout the U.S. and Canada and has led over 850 workshops in her almost 20 years with the program, including sessions for the National Council for the Social Studies, National Science Teaching Association, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the North American Association of Environmental Education, and the National Council of Geographic Education.

Environmental Cooperation: Forging a Peaceful Path in the Middle East
2026-10-17 14:15 - 14:55 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Cullen
Summary
This session examines some of the major environmental challenges in the Middle East, particularly around water resources, and the ways that Israelis, Jordanians, and Palestinians are cooperating to meet these challenges. Participants will develop pedagogic content knowledge about environmental challenges in the Middle East; regional cooperation among Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority to meet challenges; and environmental cooperation as a path to peaceful coexistence. Participants will also experience and apply critical pedagogy around social and environmental activism in the Middle East by focusing on case studies of three environmental groups. This presentation is particularly suited to high school social studies and history teachers; it is aligned with the common core and the resources emphasize 21st century skills such as using technology, collaboration, building consensus, and analysis.
Session Focus
Secondary/High School | Physical & Environmental Geography | World/International
Conference Room
Cullen
Meet the Presenter
Casey Finch, Educator with the Institute for Curriculum Services, presents at conferences and facilitates professional learning for educators in the Northeastern region of the United States. Prior to joining ICS, Casey spent 15 years teaching Social Studies. He taught in both public and private secondary schools in NH, CO, and MA. Most recently, Casey worked for CFR Education developing teaching and learning materials about global civics. Casey holds a B.A in Political Science from the University of New Hampshire and an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Denver.
Casey facilitates professional learning for the following states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and DC.

An Ecocentric Approach to Teaching Geography
2026-10-17 15:10 - 15:50 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Reynolds Leadership Circle
Summary
Human-led exploitation of our planet has resulted in an enormous environmental crisis. Anthropocentrism, the belief that the world was made for humans and
everything in it is meant for human use, often goes unnamed in conversations about systemic issues. Yet, this pervasive worldview is at the root of our ecological crisis and is deeply intertwined with other unjust ideologies. Geography curriculum and instruction, while often well-intentioned, can perpetuate anthropocentrism. Extractive/exploitative language, idealized views of the theory of environmental possibilism, and the sharp divisions between “human” and “physical” are just a few examples of how anthropocentrism is reinforced to our students in geography. This session encourages educators to take a more ecocentric approach in their classrooms—a necessary step towards a more sustainable future for us all. It opens space for us to share ideas of how we can introduce diverse perspectives in our classroom and work to foster our students’ passions to be stewards of the environment.
Session Focus
All Grade Levels | Geography for Life | Curriculum and Instruction
Conference Room
Reynolds Leadership Circle
Meet the Presenter
Jacie Lackey (she/her) is a social studies educator at Yukon High School in Oklahoma. She teaches a variety of classes including AP Human Geography, AP Psychology, and Sociology. She is also a first-year doctoral student in Educational Studies at the University of Oklahoma, where her research focuses on critical pedagogy of place and ecological social studies education.

Beyond the Map: Building "Geography Trunks" with Children’s Literature for Adolescent Inquiry
2026-10-17 15:10 - 15:50 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Byrd
Summary
Why do the Five Themes of Geography often feel like a flat checklist of definitions rather than a dynamic lens for understanding the world? Too often, geography instruction in the secondary classroom stops at memorization, leaving students disconnected from the human stories behind the maps. This hands-on workshop seeks to enliven the geographic experience by integrating culturally rich, award-winning children’s literature into adolescent inquiry.
Participants will go beyond simply exploring a curated “Geography Trunk”—they will learn the methodology to design and build their own. By analyzing a wide breadth and depth of cultural narratives, attendees will discover how to select texts that offer deep cultural experiences while illustrating how the Five Themes impact us all. Using visual literacy strategies, we will demonstrate how to transform these stories into vibrant tools for critical thinking. You will leave with a curated bibliography, a “Trunk” blueprint, and the tools to move your students beyond the definitions and into the heart of global citizenship.
Session Focus
Middle School/Junior High | Human and Cultural Geography | Inquiry
Conference Room
Byrd
Meet the Presenter
Kendra Miller is a middle school social studies teacher at Providence Christian Academy and an executive board member for the Tennessee Council for Social Studies. A seasoned presenter, she frequently shares her expertise at national, state, and local conferences within the social studies and education sectors.
Currently, Kendra is a PhD student at Middle Tennessee State University studying Literacy Studies with an emphasis on Literacy Instruction and Staff Development. Her work bridges classroom practice and academic research, focusing on the intersection of literacy and social studies education.

Place-Naming in Virginia: From early European settlement to the 21st century
2026-10-17 15:10 - 15:50 (America/New_York) | Conference Room: Lacy
Summary
This session will introduce the evolution of place-naming in Virginia. We will start with a hands-on activity using the John Smith Floor Map (large version created by the Virginia Geographic Alliance) to explore Native American and early European toponyms. We will look at the impacts of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars on Virginia place names, and also examine the renaming of major highways in Loudoun (but not neighboring Fauquier) County in 2021. Finally, we will learn how Virginia’s unique political structure creates the roads with names that change from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Session participants will receive access to the VGA John Smith Floor Map Teacher Guide developed with the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.
Session Focus
Secondary/High School | Human and Cultural Geography | U.S. History
Conference Room
Lacy
Meet the Presenter
Maggie Creech, Director of History Education at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, holds a BA in History and Archaeology from The George Washington University and an MA in Archaeology from the University College of London. At VMHC, her talented team oversees a variety of award-winning student, teacher, and public learning opportunities for all ages. She has over fifteen years of experience in public history, archaeology, and education – and is passionate about the power of place and object-based learning to create past-present connections and build empathy. In 2024, Maggie won the Virginia Council for Social Studies “Friend of Education” Award.

Alex Northrup is the Director of the Innovation Lab at Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia, where he also teaches AP Human Geography, AP Environmental Science, and Field Studies. He is a table leader for the AP Human Geography exam reading and is active with the Virginia Geographic Alliance, including serving as an instructor for Chesapeake Bay Climate Institute. He recently presented about place-names in Virginia at the International Conference on Geographic Naming and Geographic Education in Seoul, South Korea.
