Return to Integration Strategies Main Page

Google Lit Trips for Students

with Language-Based Learning Disabilities

Curriculum Integration Project

By Caitlin Kraus

Simmons College

June 2009

Jessica is a 16-year-old girl with a language-based learning disability.  She is able to read with fluency; however, she has difficulty with vocabulary retention and word retrieval.  These issues affect overall reading comprehension.  She attends a school for students with language-based learning disabilities where she is in the 11th grade.  Jessica participates in a daily one-to-one language arts tutorial.  In this structured setting, she reads a variety of novels with teacher guidance to focus on building her vocabulary and improving her comprehension. 

Jessica gets easily discouraged when she doesn’t understand what she has read or when she misses something in the text; most often, this is related to unknown words or concepts in the readings.  She responds well to positive reinforcement, and is self-driven by the desire to learn about the world. Jessica has strong opinions about political topics and current events, so she seeks information to support her opinions.  Jessica is a visual learner and retains new words and definitions with greater success when presented with a visual representation to go along with each word.  Jessica also needs to be provided with a substantial amount of background information in order to comprehend time periods, themes and other literary elements when reading literature. 

The website I selected for Jessica is Google Lit Trips.    Google Lit Trips is a program that can be used in conjunction with a novel to help students discover the journeys characters take in real images and videos.  It can be used as a pre-reading strategy or as a guide to follow along with.  The program is connected to Google Earth and physically maps the location where the characters of the novel are in cities and towns around the world through satellite imaging.  For certain novels, such as Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, you download the book’s Google Earth file, and you can travel the journey the main characters take on the virtual map.  At each location on the map, there is a small file folder.  When you click on the folder, the site allows you to view the setting of each location discussed in the book.   These folders also contain video clips on the selected area’s culture, links to websites that have further information on the location, and brief summaries of the city or town. 

Google Lit trip connects to the Massachusetts English Language Arts Curriculum Framework standards in the following ways:

Reading and Literature:

1. •8.32: Identify and analyze the point(s) of view in a literary work.
   

2. •8.33: Analyze patterns of imagery or symbolism and connect them to themes and/or tone and mood.
   

3. •9.6: Relate a literary work to primary source documents of its literary period or historical setting.
   

4. •9.7: Relate a literary work to the seminal ideas of its time.
   

5. •11.5: Apply knowledge of the concept that the theme or meaning of a selection represents a view or comment on life, and provide support from the text for the identified themes.
   

6. •12.3: Identify and analyze the elements of setting, characterization, and plot (including conflict).
   

7. •12.6: Analyze, evaluate, and apply knowledge of how authors use techniques and elements in fiction for rhetorical and aesthetic purposes.
   

A full listing of the Massachusetts English Language Arts Curriculum Frameworks can be found at: http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html

For the specific activities listed above go to: http://www.googlelittrips.org/

As a visual learner, this site is particularly useful to Jessica, as it is entertaining and it addresses her academic needs.  Jessica has no physical impairments that would make navigating this website difficult.  The folders open easily, and the explanatory text in the folders is logical and does not contain complex vocabulary.  The images in the folders are relevant and clear.  This will help her obtain more background information about the locations involved in her book, and therefore, will aid her comprehension of events, by providing her with visual anchors for her to tie new material to.  The nature of the images, in that they are photographs and satellite images, would also appeal to Jessica.  This type of picture is age appropriate and gives her context of the events happening in the real world. The images and videos provided will also help Jessica connect new vocabulary terms in the novel to visual information.  A two-column note sheet, containing the locations (photos images and the name of the place) in the left hand column and blank note space in the right column, would be useful for Jessica to record information she learns about each of the locations.  She could refer back to this note sheet as she reads along.

Google Lit Trips’ Instructional Design:

1. 1. Gain learners attention: 
   

2. •Google Earth flies you into literary geographic location
   

3. •Unique imaging of the earth’s surface
   

4. •Pop up screens that contain images and videos
   

5. 2. Inform learner of lesson objective:
   

6. •Explain to child that this activity will help her understand the characters’ journeys and the overall plot of the novel
   

7. •Remind student of times that she has used these skills, such as scrapbooking or journaling about the novel.
   

8. 3. Recall prior learning:
   

9. •Remind child that she has begun to learn background information about the geographic locations in which this story takes place and the characters in general.
   

10. 4. Review distinct features and examples:
    

11. •Have a two-column note sheet in chronological order, according to the novel,  for the student to follow along with.
    

12. •Show preliminary images of the geographic location to be explored.
    

13. 5. Guide learning:
    

14. •Spend time going over how to navigate Google Earth using a mouse.
    

15. •Practice opening a folder and looking at its contents.
    

16. •Demonstrate the order of the Lit Trip.
    

17. •Go to the first location on the character’s journey together.
    

18. 6. Elicit performance (ask questions such as):
    

19. •“What happened when the character went to this location?”
    

20. •“What is the landscape like on this particular spot on the journey?”
    

21. •“What is the system of government in this country?”
    

22. 7. Perform informative feedback: 
    

23. •“Can you believe the conditions these characters had to hike through?”
    

24. •“Great job on your notes. Be sure to include what the character would be experiencing in this location.”
    

25. 8. Assess performance:
    

26. •Use completed note sheet and the student’s ability to fill in the note sheet to access amount of information obtained from the activity.
    

27. 9. Enhance transfer of learning:
    

28. •Use questions on the quizzes and tests where the answers can be derived from the experience of using this program.
    

While this program is ideal for Jessica, it could also be implemented in the general education classroom in order to facilitate inclusion.  Students of different learning types could work together in pairs in order to compliment each other’s learning style.  The visual components of this site make it exquisite for visual learners; however, the video clips and cultural music can be beneficial for auditory learners. The ability to jump from location to location would appeal to those who learn in a kinesthetic manner, so overall this program’s design can work for any type of student.  Google Lit Trips is a great strategy for the pre-reading stage of gathering and reinforcing background information. 

Return to Integration Strategies Main Page