Trippin ’ the Light Fantastic Using Google Lit Trips to Enhance Literature

1. Trippin’ the Light FantasticUsing Google Lit Trips to Enhance Literature Susan McLaughlin Erik Burgeson Vicki Willett

2. Imagine teaching Make Way for Ducklings with a tool that enables students to visually follow the journey that Mr. and Mrs. Mallard as they look for a safe place to raise their ducklings. • Imagine while reading Grapes of Wrath, students can learn about certain aspects of history that affected the time and place of the story. For example, they can read about Lennon and Marx. They can virtually experience a dust bowl.

3. No more imagine,

4. Google Lit Trips … • Bring literature to life • Incorporate technology into your lessons • Combines the satellite imagery of Google Earth with a literature study • Put children in the backseat of an unfolding journey when teaching the literature’s great travel tales • Uses the greatest journey stories of all times to give your students a ride they will never forget

5. Teachers can now … • Come up with more activities that are highly creative for their students • Use Google Earth to, not only plot where a character travels, but begin to nudge students toward higher order thinking and reasoning • For example, using the lit trip The Grapes of Wrath, the teacher could set the stage for current immigration issues. This allows the students to connect the book to events from their own lives.

7. Let’s begin to immerse students into literature in an exciting way • Open up www.googlelittrips.com and as Jerome Berg, the creator would say • Sit back • Relax • And get ready to fly • Passports are optional

8. Get Ready • Search the Google Lit Trip site for already created lit trips. Click on the grade level tabs at the top of the page • Once you find a trip you would like to try, press download (a .KMZ file will be downloaded onto your computer.)

9. Premade Lit Trips These are listed by grade level

10. K-5 Lit Trips • We All Went on Safari • Possum Magic • A Family Apart • Brothers • Seaman • Big Anthony • A Yellow Balloon • Abuela • Paddle to Sea • Make Way for Ducklings • By the Great Horned Spoon

11. 6-8 Lit Trips • The Watson’s Go to Birmingham • Walk Two Moons • Marching for Freedom • Fever • The Brothers’ War • Remote Man • Underground to Canada • Hannah’s Suitcase • The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants • Slave Dancer • My Brother Sam is Dead

12. 9-12 • Expedition Literature- Into the Wilds • Os Lusiadas(This trip is entirely in Portuguese.) • Fifteen Poets • The Kite Runner • The Aeneid • Candide • Traveling with PJ Wodehouse • The Grapes of Wrath • Macbeth • Night • The Odyssey

13. Higher Education • Buddenbrooks • Hyakunin Ishhu, One Hundred Poets in One Hundred Poems • The Road • The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson • Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man • Blood Meridian

14. Get Set • Deselect all layers by clicking the check box next to the primary data base • Click the check box next to the terrain and 3D building layers

15. Now you are ready to fly • There are two ways to view a lit trip • You can simply click the play button and this will automatically run though the tour • However, Jerome Berg recommends using the manual buttons to view the trip. • Click on the icon or description marker • Double click on that icon and you will automatically fly to the exact location that the maker has created • Once there, click on any text in blue. That will direct you to any websites or information created by the maker.

16. Benefits of a lit trip • Engages students in literature, introduces geography concepts, activates background knowledge and provides students with access and exposure to the world around them • Provides an interactive, multimedia experience • Reaches all learning domains • Ties Content with time and place • Integrates highly creative activities within the language arts content area

17. Google Lit Trip Tie to 21st Century Skills • Brings the greatest literature journeys to today’s 21st century students by tracking them on Google Earth • Combines digital literacy skills, research, literary study, reading and writing for the web • Provides cross curricular connections, literary explorations • Integrates content area with fiction and nonfiction sources • Involves active engagement that compares with using manipulatives for hands-on learning in math

18. Teacher or Student Created Lit Trips Eighth Grade students creating a lit trip

19. Book Selection • Select books where the character is on some kind of journey, to real places • Chavella’s Magic Bubble • Detectives in Togas • Angels and Demons • To Kill a Mockingbird-probably not

20. Literary Theme and Concepts • Literary Concepts: plot, character development, structure, conflict, “Why are we reading this?” • Geographic Concepts: Spatial relationships, geographic origins, character feelings about being in a particular place • Social Studies Concepts: Historic Events affecting the characters decisions, current events …

21. Important Considerations • Be prepared for the digital equity considerations and provide time in class time to complete the project. • If this is the first time students have used Google Earth, devote a full class to teaching the basics including: Folder structure, placemarking, path creation, adding photos, adding websites, creating snapshot views and recording the tour • Broadband Width- Google earth can be a broadband hog. Think about how many simultaneous users can be realistically using it at the same time.

22. Planning a Google Lit TripStudent Project • Group vs Individual- each group could do a place or a chapter within the book • Use of organization tools on Google Lit Trip Site • Outline expectations: Number of placemarks, pictures, websites …

23. Sample Rubric • Grading Rubric for Google Lit Trip Presentations: • _____Meaning: • Descriptions and text are relevant to the story and the setting (wartime). • _____Development: • Includes 10 placemarks with balloons that include pictures and text (5 from English, 5 from Social Studies). These placemarks illustrate details that help deepen the understanding of the story and setting. • _____Language: • Proper use of conventions in written and oral communication. • _____Organization and Appearance: • There is a coherent order of places presented that help a potential reader understand the setting and general story-line. Pictures and text are easy to read in the balloon, and there is a consistency of style. Appropriate voice, volume and manner during presentation. • _____Content: • Well-chosen events and places that serve to illustrate aspects of the book and wartime setting, including: author, setting, character, plot points, climax/turning point, key quote, reasons for the war, how government got the country involved, the role of the press, key events of the war, impact of war on people, and/or results of war.

24. Ready, Set, Create The nuts and bolts

25. You have the perfect book, so now what? • Begin by creating a storyboard. Here is one idea • 1 is where the story begins • Decide what pictures, websites and videos • What other information or questions you would like included to enhance the story

26. Adding a Folder • After you have the lit trip places set up begin by adding a folder to save it in. • Right click it • Click add • Click folder • Title your folder As long as the folder is selected anything you add will automatically go into that folder.

27. Once you begin adding slides Save And Save Often

28. That bares repeating Save And Save Often

29. How to Save • Click on the Google Earth folder you created • Go to FILE-SAVE-SAVE PLACES AS • This will save your tour as a .KMZ file

30. Find the perfect location

31. Adding a placemark • Add a placemark With your folder selected, maneuver Google Earth to the place you want to start your tour. Click the "pin" icon on the toolbar. • A “New Placemark” window will appear. Drag the pin to the exact spot where you want it to appear on the map. Fill in the details for your placemark. • Left click on the pin in the window to change style

32. Editing a Placemark • You can immediately edit a placemark or go back at anytime. • Right click on the placemark • Select properties

33. Adding an Image • Any image that you want to add to the Lit Trip has to already be on the internet • There are only two ways to add an image • You can find an image already on the internet • Search images • Copy and paste image locations • Firefox- you can right click image location • Internet Explorer-You may need to go to properties • Upload photos onto some kind of photo storage • Create an album, upload photos • Follow the same steps as before

34. Insert Image onto Slide • You will need to create an image tag • You need to type in a little bit of code • <img src=“url for picture”> • What that does is tell Google Earth that it needs to pull up the image from the source. • You are typing a greater than carrot, then a space • Follow by =“ then the url for the picture” • End with less than mark Video Explanation

35. Adding Text • To add text to slide • Select properties • Type • If you need spaces because of other information • <br> for each space • So if you would like two spaces <br><br>

36. Adding a Hyperlink from a Website • Find the website that you want to link and copy the entire URL • In the “description box” of the placeholder, type in <a href="paste URL of the webpage">Type text you want to appear as link</a> • Ex: <a href=http://www.tanzaniaodyssey.com/ northern-tanzania-safaris/tarangire.htm>Take a Tour of Tanangire National Park</a> This will directly take you to Tanangire National Park’s home page.

37. Let’s Create a Lit Trip In your handout you have a list of basic codes Many of the codes came from the following sources Some came directly from Jerome Berg as he helped with the creation of different lit trips Some came from the Google Lit Trip Site Others came from http:my.ccsd.net/userdocs

38. Ready, Set, Create • Open Google Earth on your computer • Deselect all layers by clicking the check mark next to the primary data base • Click the check mark next to terrain and 3D building layers • These are the exact same procedures you do when you view a premade lit trip.

39. Let’s Begin • Open MY PLACES on the sidebar • Right click it • Click add • Click folder • Title your folder- Detectives in Togas

40. Adding a Placemarker • Under fly to type: Forum, Rome, Italy • Click the magnifying glass • Maneuver the screen to find the view you like • Click on the pin marker • Drag the pin to the exact spot you want it to appear