World Travelers

Do you have lessons that use journals, maps, timelines?

How did students complete the assignment? It's time to put away the markers and craft paper and jump into the 21st century! The online tools below will bring your traveling and timeline assignments to life.

Travel Journal Options

A few years ago Jerome Burg came up with the idea of Google Lit Trips. Basically, you create a customized KML file in Google Earth that tracks the voyages, adventures, and travels of literary figures within a novel. Since then, teachers all over the world have replicated this idea, expanding it to other subjects. The Lit Trip website has lots great resources. While Google Lit Trips are a great idea, the execution of a student-created trip is a logistical uphill battle. Non-techie teachers will struggle with it and you have to dedicate some significant time to it. However, the idea is still brilliant. So in comes ...

Everlater / Tripline / MapVivo

These tools are designed for people to track their vacations within an easy-to-use series of web-based forms. Students can journal adventures in the following ways:

• Track travel with maps
• Blog and post messages
• Display photos & video

Example #1: Immigrant Journal (Project Link)

• Leon Ivanov
• Adam Magoon

Example #2: Holocaust Project (Project Link)

• Natalie
• Saida

Example #3: 5 Themes In Our Dreams (Project Link)

• MapVivo
• Tripline

Example #4: Elementary School - Age of Exploration

• Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo

Integration Ideas

• Using a fictional or historical character and trace their travels.
  • Track George Washington's troop movement during the Revolutionary War
  • Grapes of Wrath - follow the Joads as they cross the country