Take virtual trips around the world following the characters of the novel you are reading in class! Even better, engage your students in creating virtual trips that not only follow the characters of a novel but that also provide critical commentary on the novel to demonstrate higher-level thinking. Plus, these projects can be shared with (and then used by) others around the world with Google Lit Trips!

Have you ever heard of Google Earth? If not, Google Earth is a free piece of software for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. This software can be downloaded at school by our Field Engineers (Call the Help Desk at 847.934.8100--press 2!) on all compatible computers that meet minimum system requirements. (Please consult with your iTech teacher before calling the Help Desk and asking for an installation of Google Earth.) Google Earth is an atlas come alive--and one that can be modified further by students and others who mark it up with additional information and links.

With Google Lit Tours, students have created tours based on where the characters in the novels that they have read have lived and traveled. In some of these projects additional information has been added by the students that they have created as links while in other projects the links simply take one to off-site content, such as Wikipedia entries. These sites can also prove very engaging to explore as a pre-reading activity in small groups, too.