For teachers: Exploring literary spaces via Google Earth

This is really a wonderful tool for teachers. A great modern way to engage students and open their minds to new vistas.

If you know a teacher that you believe would find this information useful please pass along the link to this post.

clipped from google-latlong.blogspot.com Much of the world's greatest literature incorporates a literal journey as a metaphor representing universal experiences we share with the characters as we travel through our own life’s journeys. The Odyssey, Candide, and The Grapes of Wrath immediately come to my mind. Focusing on the real settings within these stories can often engage students in new ways that significantly enhance their empathy for the fictional characters and their various trials. Literature students have often been asked to mentally chart the characters' progress, but Google Earth can make this significantly more realistic and personal for them. As I head to the Googleplex this week to speak with this year’s group of tech-savvy educators at the Google Teacher Academy, I wanted to share a bit about how I’ve found Google Earth useful for teaching literature.