Cool Tool Review 4 - GoogleLitTrips

   I came across this cool tool while reading a techie article a few weeks ago and immediately thought it sounded like a great way to get students interacting with the literature I plan on teaching.  I had to check it out! It was kismet.  The tool is called Google Lit Trips.  It works in conjunction with Google Earth, which must be installed first.  Via a Lit Trip, a teacher (or student) is able to place mark places on a map that are vital to the literature.  They can add photos, notes, or video to highlight important aspects of the text and enhance comprehension while mapping out the movement that takes place in the book.
   
    Google Lit Trips has three ways it can be used in the classroom.  A teacher may select an Google Lit Trip from the Google Lit Trip Library to share with students.  (The Library has a small variety of books for various grade levels).  A teacher can choose to create their own Lit Trip for a book they are reading or to map out something that happened in history.  To do this go here. Or, a teacher can demonstrate and have students create their own Lit Trips!  If this idea appeal to you, check this out!  The link will give you instructions and useful tips on how to help your students create their own trips. I love the last option!  So, much better than reading book reports...

    This tool is called Google Lit Trips and does lend itself to an ELA classroom, however it also could be used for social studies/history classes, geography, and to create cross curricular lessons.  If a teacher wants to create or have students create their own Lit Trips, a few things must be remembered:
1.) It only works with narratives or histories set in real places. (or made up places based on real ones)
2.)  There must be movement in the story... as in the characters actually must move from place to place.  This can mean between countries, cities, or even different places within a city.
3.) Google is big on following copyright laws.  They repeated recommend having students practice finding images on places like Creative Commons, Wikipedia, and similar sites and state clearly that when creating Lit Trip, they can only be published if all images are copyright safe and sources are cited.

    So, how might one use this?  I would use this tool when reading books dealing with the Holocaust, or about Greek mythology, or books about the relocation of the American Indians.  Anything historical where people move great distances would be great to teach using this tool.  If I were to teach historical biographies, I would have students select one of four to five Holocaust autobiographies.  I would then use this tool as summative assessment.  Students would be asked to get in common groups according the book they selected.  Then they could create a Lit Trip documenting the journey their character took.  They could add photos and video of survivors discussing the various labor camps, what was happening on the front lines of the war, and what happened when the war ended.    It would be a great way to compare survivors experiences, and to assess what students understand about their stories.  I love that students get to take the role of the teacher, and prompt discussions that interest them.

     Using this tool, students can save their trips to their individual devices and can share them with others if they choose to submit it to Google.   I found it easy to download Google Earth and access a premade Lit Trip.  It takes some practice learning how to navigate on Google Earth, but once you understand how to move on the map following the path becomes easy.  Creating a Lit Trip would be more difficult and more involved.  I or my students would need to take note of the places mentioned in the reading, then seek out URLs for images and video that would be useful in understanding characters, setting, plot or themes.  Here I would need to teach my students about the rules of copyright and how to find images and video that are safe to use.  Then, they just plug and chug!  While it is a bit complicated, Google Lit Trips does a great job providing detailed instructions, even I was able to follow them.  Check out this Cool Tool here.