Serendipity35

An interesting classroom idea - to use Google Earth to teach literature.

“Lit Trips” involve mapping the movements of characters over a plot’s timeline and providing excerpts, pictures, and links at each location using Google Earth.

For example, Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian covers a lot of ground across the old West.

Some authors (McCarthy is said to be one of them) actually map out plots visually using geographic maps before and during the writing of novels.

Walk Two Moons is another book (popular in middle schools) that works well with this approach.

There's a nice video introduction to Lit Trips done by Kate Reavey, a professor at Peninsula College, that is probably the best introduction to using them and will take you through samples.

There is quite a range of literature choices - The Odyssey, The Grapes of Wrath and Make Way For Ducklings (created by kindergarten and first graders) are all part of the collection.

And there is more than just maps and geography when you use the images and links to additional sites about people, authors and allusions.

There are sections from K-5 to higher education.

Jerome Burg is the founder of Google Lit Trips.

http://www.googlelittrips.com