Google Lit Trips by Cheryl Lykowski

The Brain-child Creation of Jerome Burg

Pack Your Bags!

Achievers â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;09

Cheryl Lykowski Lorem Ispum School 2012 web2.0explorer@gmail.com

Imagine being close to the action of an interactive, literary road trip. Using satellite imagery of Google Earth and hands-on technology, Google Lit Trips allow readers to get in the back seat and experience an unfolding journey along with the characters. 2

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Get Ready to Travel

page 4

Get Started Creating Google Lit Trip

page 5

Get Building

page 6

Toolbars, Sidebars, & Navigation

page 7

Formatting Placemarks

page 8

Embedding Video

page 11

Changing Placemark Icons

page 13

Creating Folders

page 17

Editing Placemarks

page 18

Placemark HTML

page 19

Quick Steps

page 20

Get Ready to Travel!

Using interactive files, (images, videos, URL links, and higher-order questions) students delve beyond the text on the pages and explore history, geography, and realworld contexts creating a robust learning experience.

Literary Maps + Multimedia Google Earth __________________ A Great Classroom!

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It puts the kids right in the middle of the story rather than at a desk as the teacher teaches them the story at them.â&#x20AC;? ~ Jerome Burg 4

Get Started Creating a Google Lit Trip There are a few basic things to think about before beginning to create your own Google Lit Trip. 1. Determine what book, short story, poem or other writing you want to base your trip on. 2. Determine what literary theme or curriculum concept you want your students to understand. 3. Read the literature yourself prior to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;teachingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; it to the students. 4. Outline the book as you go. Take notes and mark scenes in the literature that you want to highlight. Make sure you outline the path the character travels in an orderly, logical way. (I tend to use color post-its but you can use online mind mapping tools . Use whatever is most comfortable to you. These notes need to make sense to you.) 5. Learn how to navigate around Google Earth beyond finding your house. Get comfortable with using the tools within Google Earth. Be sure to check out the following tutorials for more help. * Google Earth Website * Google Earth Video Tutorials * Learn Google Earth * Google Earth for Beginners * Google Earth Blog * Google Earth & Larry Ferlazzo

Know Your Audience The concept of a Google Lit Trip can be quite extensive. Trips that are created for elementary students use is quite different than a trip created for middle school. Trips created for high schoolers are quite different than those created for college students. Trips that are student-created are significantly different than those created by educators. Know and understand the audience you are creating for. Creating Content Before I began creating my own Lit Trips, I downloaded and viewed several trips from here. After decide on the title that you would like to expand via a virtual trip you will need to begin collecting content. I usually reread the piece and mark specific spots (with post-its) that I want to highlight during the virtual trip. I tend to use various colors of post-its within the story. One color may highlight an actual place along the journey. Other colors may be used for images, videos, or websites that connect with the story and expand the understanding or prompt a discussion. I may also mark interesting vocabulary that I want to point out and areas where I can highlight higher-order questions. For questioning techniques and thinking skills check out Dare to Differentiate wiki.

Get Building! Place Marks It is important to begin organizing your place marks for a Lit Trip early on. Within Google Earth, click on the ADD menu and add a new folder. This is the folder that will hold all of your content for a particular Lit Trip. Use a good but brief name for your folder. For instance, for the book, “How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World” I called it “Apple Pie.” As you create your place marks within the folder, make sure they are arranged in chronological order as they occur in the story. Beginning the Journey To begin your journey you will create your first place mark and save it in your folder that was created at the beginning. In the Fly To box, enter where you want the Lit Trip to start. This could be the initial place it begins in the actual story or you can start where your school is located. When you’ve located your starting point on globe, click on the yellow push pin. This marker can be changed into an icon of your choosing, including one of your own. When you add a place marker, a pop-up box will appear. This is where you will add your content (images, videos, questions, hyperlinks) for that particular stop on along the journey.

Place Marks, Pop-ups and Paths, Oh My! At first look, editing a pop-up and adding content may frighten some away. You will need to enter HTML code but don’t worry. It looks complicated but it really isn’t! Trust me! Finish Line! When you have created all of your content just the way you want it, the paths are in place creating the effect of really touring then you will save the entire file as a KMZ file. This will allow others to open up your Lit Trip.

Visual Tutorials Visual tutorials can be found on the next few pages. These will have screenshots of Google Earth and pointing out the details or steps you need to know. Also you will find links to many resources on Google Earth, Google Lit Trips, and Creating Virtual Tours for the Classroom at the end. Enjoy your creations!

Toolbars, Sidebars, and Navigation Tools

Search Panel ~ Use this to find places and directions and manage search results

Hide/Show Sidebar ~ Click this to conceal or display the sidebar. (Search, Places, Layers

Placemark ~ Click this to add a placemark for a specific location

Polygon ~ Click this to add a polygon

Path ~ Click this to add a path

Image Overlay ~ Click this to add an image overlay on the Earth

Record a Tour ~ Record your tour (Pro version only)

Measure ~ Click this to measure a distance or area size

Email ~ Click this to email a view or image

Print ~ Click this to print the current view of the Earth

Show in Google Maps ~ Click this to show the current view in Google Maps

Places Panel ~ Use this to locate, save, organize, and revisit placemarks

Layers Panel ~ Use this to display points of interest

Status Bar ~ View coordinate, elevation, imagery data and streaming status

Formatting Placemarks

Click on the yellow push pin to mark and create your placemark.

Formatting Placemarks

What you type is what you get in the first line on the pop-up description. It will be in Bold and there will be a space after it. The only options are whether you use CAPS or not.

turns BOLD on turns italic on

3 4

inserts paragraph break <img src=” opening command to insert image

La Brea Tar Pits

turns italic off

Paragraph Breaks look like TWO Returns. They create an extra space between lines. Paragraph breaks do not need to be turned off.

http://www.tarpits.org/art/trapmam.jpg location of image on internet

turns BOLD off

“> ends command to insert image

Line breaks work just like paragraph breaks, but they don't add the extra space.

inserts a line break

<a href=” opening command to insert Link

http:// www.xyz.com the website address

“> ends command to insert link

La Brea Tar Pits creates text for link

</a> ends command to insert link and text for link

Formatting Placemarks

Insert Embed Code for Video

Cut and paste the "embed" code for the video like you see above into the properties window of your placemark.Â When the user double clicks on the placemark, they will then see the video playing in the Google Earth placemark window.

Embed Video into Placemarks

Most video-hosting sites will have an embed code for you to use. Make sure you copy and paste the entire code. If you want to adjust the size of the video player, you can change the “WIDTH” and “HEIGHT” within the code.

Changing Placemark Icons

Creating a Folder for Your Google Lit Trip

Editing Placemark Information

Placemark HTML

Copy and paste the HTML code inserting what you need in place of BOLD RED FONT. 1. Code for inserting image: <img src="Insert image properties URL here"> 2. Code for inserting image: <img src="Insert image properties URL here" width=300 height=150"> 3. Code for inserting hyperlink: <a href="Insert URL address here">Insert text that you are hyperlinking here</a> 4. For adding spaces, use the html code for breaks: •

For multiple spaces, add more breaks -

5. For adding paragraphs, use the html code for paragraphs: 6. For making font bold, use the html code for bold: 7. For making font italic, use the html code for italic: 8. For Teacher Tube video/Google Videos After you have found the video you would like to add, copy and paste the "embeddable video code" from the site. Cut and paste the "embed" code for the video like you see above into the properties window of your placemark. When the user double clicks on the placemark, they will then see the video playing in the Google Earth placemark window. 9. Discovery Streaming Video 1. Sign in to Discovery Streaming, find the video you would like to add. 2. Click on the Share drop down menu. 3. Copy and paste the link into the properties window of your placemark. (You may want to add directions instructing the viewer to click on the link to view the video.)

Quick Steps

Here are step-by-step directions on creating your first Google Lit Trip. At the end of each step you will find a number within a parentheses. This references the page number within this document as to where you will find an image with the steps. This step-by-step also assumes that you have chosen your piece of literature that you are creating a trip for and have gathered all of the needed resources. 1. First, you will need to make sure you have Google Earth downloaded to the computer you will be working on. Internet connection is a must when working with Google Earth. 2. Find the location you want to mark. When you have the best view possible, click the push pin icon in the tool bar at the top of the GE window. This will place the icon in the location and open the NEW PLACEMARK window. You may need to click and drag the pushpin to the best location you have chosen. 3. In the Name box, enter the name you want displayed beside the marker on the map. In the Description box, you’ll be entering the information your user will see when they click on the marker. This can be simple text but also can be much more elaborate, including displaying images and embedding links. (pages 8-12 & page 18) 4. At this point, you’re finished and can click OK. You should also see a new item added in the Places panel in the left column, usually in the Temporary Places folder. (If you don’t see the item in Places, check under Search. Occasionally Earth puts new placemarks in there. Just click and drag the item to the Temporary Places folder to put it where it’s supposed to be.) Test your marker by clicking once on the push pin icon or on the name of the marker in the Places section. (page 17)

Quick Steps ~ Getting Fancy with Placemarks

Getting Fancy With Placemarks (pages 13-16)

1. After a while youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll get tired of a plain yellow stick pin for your icon. To change that, right click on your marker and choose Get Info (Mac) or Properties (Windows/Linux). That will display the Edit Placemark window. Click the icon in the upper right corner. That will display the icon window. 2. Click on anyone of the icons to replace the yellow push pin. You can also use your own icons by clicking the Add Custom Iconâ&#x20AC;Ś button and uploading an image (gif, jpg or png). Click on the Style, Color tab to change the color of either the label for your placemark or the color of the icon itself. You can also change the size each and determine how transparent each is. Both of these are useful when your mark is being placed on lighter backgrounds.

Quick Steps ~ Creating Paths

Creating Paths for Your Google Lit Trip 1. The ADD PATH tool is what connects your route and completes your Lit Trip. It is the route characters take as they move through their journey that begins to distinguish a Google Lit Trip from projects that are merely collections of placemarkers. 2. Clicking on the ADD PATH tool brings up a "description window." The description window allows multiple adjustments to a path line while using the tool. It is a good idea to provide a NAME for the path. A Lit Trip may consist of many route segments and being able to distinguish these segments from each other is critical. For example: Chapt 1 > Chapt 2 3. The ADD PATH tool does NOT work by clicking on a starting point and then dragging to the end point. Doing so will create a mess that will have you screaming at your computer! Simply click at a starting point and then click at a different point and a path will appear between the two clicks. If you then click on a third point further along the route, the route will extend to the location of the third click. This extending the route through a succession of clicks is the essence of creating a "bent" line for the route. 4. Click the STYLE, COLOR tab in the description window to change the color

and thickness of the route line. Because the color of the earth consists mostly of shades of green, blue, and beige, be sure to pick a color that has sufficient contrast to show clearly and select a thickness that will show from any altitude that you want it visible from.

Quick Steps ~ Saving as a KMZ file

Saving as a KMZ file 1. Right-click on the folder that contains your completed Lit Trip and click on “SAVE PLACE AS” 2. Browse to the location you wish to save your KMZ file, then click SAVE. 3. To load your KMZ file click on “FILE > OPEN” 4. Browse, find, and select your file, then click on OPEN.

For more information, contact: Cheryl Lykowski web2.0explorer@gmail.com