Bigger than a lake

Today I gave my grade 7 and 8 history students a chapter review test. We had studied the time period ranging from The Middle Ages through The Renaissance, The Reformation, Colonialism and ended with the Industrial Revolution. Much of our study included map work, as one really cannot grasp relative location without it.

As a middle years teacher, I spend much of my time repeating myself. I've taken to making checklists with topic headings and marking each time I mention a topic, just to make sure that I have mentioned everything at least five times.

As I was preparing the test, I thought to put a significant emphasis on mapwork, as it had been so important during the study time. I also remembered to let the students know each day the week before the test that there would be a significant map section on the test, including five times yesterday, the day before the test. The map section would include locating and naming all the continents, several countries covered in the time period, and any body of water larger than a lake within the area of study...bodies of water that end with sea, canal, channel, seaway, ocean, etc.

I wasn't surprised at all today when some of the students, after looking at the first section of the test, the map section, said, "You didn't tell us there would be map questions." I simply smiled and showed them my checklist.

As I sit here and correct the map section, I'm looking at some of these bodies of water and recalling some of the ones I've been to, and wonder if and when I will see some of the others. I think it's time for a holiday.

How many bodies of water larger than a lake have you been to?