It's Greek to Me

As I was talking with an English teacher, I discovered that she would soon teach a unit on the Odyssey. I quickly remembered that there is an Odyssey Google Lit Trip. Google Lit Trips are designed "to help students gain a better understanding of the stories they read through mapping." Students become travel companions of the characters in the story. Teacher can design Lit Trips as a teaching tool to  include "pop-up" windows of pictures, additional information, assignments, assessments, and links. A great assignment would be for students to develop an Lit Trip independently or collaboratively with other students and teacher. Before mentioning this wonderful program to the English teacher, I wanted to make sure I knew how to properly use Google Earth, which powers Google Lit Trips.
The words that came to mind during my first time at the controls of Google Earth were "How do you fly this thing?"  "It's Greek to Me," said Homer. That's Homer Simpson, mind you, not Homer the author of the Odyssey. I shook my head because my imagination had gone into overdrive. Needless to say,  I could possibly make the travelers air sick. Like any good pilot, I took flying lessons. With YouTube as my flight instructor and simulator, I got the hang of  navigating a "trip," and I created one of my own.

(Note: Embedding a Google Tour is a beast of another color. See this Youtube video for instructions.)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0958sW2mT4

Lit Trip: Somewhere in the Darkness by Walter Dean Myers


Here is a video on how to create a Lit Trip using Google Earth.


GLT Overview: Animation Demo from GoogleLitTrips on Vimeo.



If you are not motivated to try your hand at Google Lit Trip, perhaps this video will do the trick.


Frankenstein from GoogleLitTrips on Vimeo.