LIBE 467: Post 6

Google Lit Trips is a fantastic application of the reference resource that is the atlas...in an online-, web 2.0-friendly format.

This resource is great for a number of reasons:

--It appeals to learners who naturally enjoy the visual aspect of learning that occurs with maps.

--It is accessible to students at any place and at any time (so long as a computer and Internet connection are available).

--It takes the classic resource of the map and applies it within the context of literature (something that I think literature teachers sometimes think would be neat to do, but balk at following through on applying the idea because the educational payoff does not always seem to warrant the (at least perceived) amount of work that might go into preparing materials and lessons for an activity centered around mapping a piece of literature). In doing so, it is a nice example of engaging students in the stuff of "21st Century Learning"--using, building, and sharing work online.

--It allows for students to recommend a title that they would like to see featured on Google Lit Trips.

While some works lend themselves better to utilizing maps than others, there are some neat exercises that can occur. I use maps when my students read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because the novel is centered around a trip down a river, and a visual representation of this movement provides a helpful sort of context that serves to concretize the narrative in the reader's mind. A book like Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer would be another example of a book ready for mapping; it, in fact, displays individual maps throughout the text, but a cohesive, complete map of Chris McCandless's entire journey could assist some students immensely in terms of gaining a clear understanding of plot movement.