Tuesday, September 30, 2008

What Matters to...

Throughout this semester in my English Nine class, we are spending time exploring the question of what matters to each character we read about. So far, we have read Jack London's "To Build a Fire" , excerpts from Thoreau's Walden, and connected those two to Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild. With each piece we read, we take some time to reflect and connect. We have tried to examine what really matters to each of these characters. To visually demonstrate our understandings, throughout the semester, we will be plotting our understandings in Google Earth. I am going to upload the students' KMZ files so that you too can follow their understandings and journey. As I have said before, not all the examples are exemplary, but we publish the good, the bad, and the ugly here at Camp Smith.

FinlayB.
Olivia B.
Molly B.
Mitchell B.
Brianna B.
Tanner C.
Elizabeth E.
Anthony F.
Brett G.
Reagan G.
Maureen I.
Emily K.
Nick K.
Mitchel L.
Jake L.
Nate L.
Ruth L.
Angelica L.
Colleen O.
Joe O.
Chase O.
Kalvin P.
Selena R.
Ethan R.
Breanna S.
Paige S.
Aaron S.
Mani V.
Alex W.
Caleb W.

Next, we are going to watch Star Wars and connect the journey of Luke Skywalker to Odysseus from Homer's The Odyssey. The next set of entries will be much more personal in nature asking kids to connect these heroes' journeys to their own personal journeys.

3 comments:

robertc2012 said...

That sounds like fun watching Star Wars. 2nd hour LA should do that!

Dr. Bad Ass said...

These are fabulous examples of a creative way to use Google Earth with literature. I'm planning to do a similar thing with my students (preservice English teachers) and their reading of _Resistance_ by Barry Lopez.

BenH said...

I look forward to checking these out in Google Earth, but in the meantime I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks for your incorporation of Star Wars into curriculum.