Google Lit Trips is one example of this. The object of the Lit Trips is to teach literature in unique ways.
Lit trips encourage teachers and students to take the major character and events in a novel and map out the travels of a protagonist as a way of reflecting in greater depth on the story. Each stop offers the opportunity to add articles and links that lead students to artifacts designed to deepen their understanding of the characters, setting, motivations, and history behind the story.
I especially liked a recent video produced at Jonas Salk High-Tech Academy by San Juan Unified
School District in Sacramento, California. The video describes the process educators at this California school used, including lots of video of the kids working and talking about their Lit Trips. (It is the last video on the page).
Social studies teachers could use this equally well in following the story of an individual through the Civil War (or other wars, there are plenty to choose from). The possibilities are only limited by the imagination. A spin-off on Lit Trips could be autobiographies of family histories. You could also trace the story of cultural groups, political change during the 20th century, where our food comes from and how it gets from far away places to our community grocery stores, and countless other topics.
Using Google Earth in this way takes a certain amount of practice. I worked on an autobiography of all the places I've lived until now, to refresh myself on the use of Google Earth. There is a learning curve, and teachers wishing to use Google Earth Lit Trips need to set aside ample time to be fluent with it before trying to guide their students through the process.
I'd also suggest looking at the wealth of teacher-made Lit Trips for ideas and inspiration. Google Earth provides tutorials, but there are a lot of unauthorized tutorials posted on YouTube that are also quite helpful. In fact, the Google Lit Trips video page includes a link to YouTube so that teachers can check out some of these tutorials.
Check out Google Lit Trips to see the wonderfully creative things teachers are doing with them. You must have Google Earth downloaded on your computer to see the Lit Trips. Google Earth Download
The information you have provided about Lit Trips is great. I have used Google Earth and know they have a multitude of services within the Google bran, but this is something new to me. I like how Google is spending its resources in helping the education community access these fair away places. I will have to check these Lit Trips out and see how I can integrate them into my Social Studies class or maybe I can get an idea to build my own trip.
ReplyDeleteThanks for Sharing
Dennis
Hi Patricia,
ReplyDeleteTremeris Sanders here. It's interesting to see that someone besides myself is going to use Google Earth out of its original context to teach another subject. I really like the idea of Lit Trips because it gives the opportunity to teach literature in a totally new way. You can go to the birthplaces of major authors of a novel you're reading in class and it will give the students a better sense of who the author was and where they came from. I am going to use it in same context but we are going to be looking at instrumental composers during different musical periods. Who knows, maybe Shakespeare will run into Mozart in on of our lessons. LOL.
Patricia this is AWESOME! I have had a fascination with Google Earth since its inception and had never thought of this aspect. While not something that ties with my Computer Science course, it certainly ties in with my love of both literature and history. Just your blog post alone had me zipping around to some of the locations of Civil War battles! I’m not sure why the literary journey aspect of this tool never occurred to me but I want to commend you on a wonderful find! My apologies if this comment is less critical and more Kid-In-The-Candy Store…but this is totally going to distract me from finishing my work for the week.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this Pat. It is a great and unique way of using Google Earth. It gave me an idea of creating a "music trip" around the world, following say Mozart's travels, or Haydn. It's also a great way to get into the multicultural aspect of stories or music too. Having been to Mongolia for example, what a great way to discover a strange land and its culture literally on the other side of the world. Add some music (yes I have a CD of Mongolian music) and explore! Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeletePS Pat,
ReplyDeletehow did you get the classroom2.0 badge on your site? I have been trying to get a couple of badges on mine to no avail. I am sure I'm doing something wrong. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Pat, one of the pivotal moments for me in choosing an AR topic was a FORA.tv talk by the publisher of digital media at Penguin Books, who told amazing and inspiring stories of how they've pushed storytelling into new media. One project involved hiring 6 authors and giving them the directive that they had to "write" their story using Web 2.0 tools and publishing it all online. An author took his reader traveling with the main character through the entire story by using Google Earth and Google Maps! Arcade Fire posted their latest video as a Google Experiment using HTML5 and Google Earth. Each listener customized the video with their own address. There are some exciting location-collaborations out there.
ReplyDeleteGoogle Lit Trips, though, offers more interaction and learning-intensive experiences; seems to go beyond the "how-cool-is-this?" collaboration to the point of real classroom use. An experience that would create a true depth of knowledge! It would be perfect for my unit on European Explorers. We do something called "Who Really Discovered America?" that has small groups looking at the voyages of everyone before Columbus, from Hoi Shin to Bjarni Herjólfsson (my all-time favorite name!) Plotting out their courses using Google Earth would make their trips and contributions more real to fifth graders, and offer great clarity. I'm definitely going to give it a go!