A Virtual Experience

Part of my July 4th week-end was traveling to the Met without the frustration of traffic, sore feet and complaints from a hungry family! Although a virtual visit isn't as emotionally moving as the 'real thing' but it can be the next 'best thing' and a powerful learning experience if it is effectively implemented within the context of a lesson! This is what google lit trips and google earth can provide and more for the traveling enthusiast and learners in a classroom. Students are able to access places and to visualize historical travels in an interactive way. When I taught Zinn's, "Columbus, Indians and Human Progress", I used to bring in maps of Columbus' journey so students can be given a visual, a platform for discussion, as well as a deeper understanding of his explorations. Google earth can easily make journeys tirelessly accessible. I thoroughly enjoyed both tools and often explore through these sites European countries, the wonders of the world, parks, my own plot of land, or the country I have yet fully been able to explore, the United States of America! I would like to use these tools during the fall to offer students much needed schema before plunging into some of our transcendental authors we will be actively reading about, e.g. Emerson, Thoreau and more. I would like them to feel the sense of a literary community that existed at that time in Concord, Massachusetts. There's a lot of work to be done to prepare for this course but the tech tools that I will bring along, should leave a lasting impression on us all!