The Life and Death of Edgar Allen Poe

This map is so full of information it is hard to read on this small space. If you'd like to experience the whole map including photos, youtube, and text, go to this map link. http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?client=firefox-a&hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=100181033036540227442.00045a6c6e3da6f1b9eaf&z=3.
I also posted a link on my blogger link list to the right.

When I first started this project, I thought I would only be making a map for my students. I would use the map to teach students about a particular author. I started to create a map featuring the life and death of Edgar Allen Poe. He is a very interesting fellow and it is Halloween. Poe, being the father of the horror story, seemed a logical idea. Also, junior high students really seem to like the tales he spins. Once I figured out how to use the map features and embed YouTube and photos, it took a short time to complete. I was having fun. At school, I showed one of my seventh grade English classes my completed Poe map. They were glued to the computer screen. No one was fooling around, talking, or even fidgeted. They especially liked the YouTube videos. Some students even asked if I had any Poe books they could read! It was at this point that I realized this was the perfect tool for the students to use to create author biographies. It has all of the media the students like, YouTube, photos, and copy and paste. How much more fun can that be for a young tween/young teen? So I had to revise my lesson idea to the following.

Before introducing my lesson, I will have the students look at the Edgar Allen Poe map. I will let the students take their time to explore the different media and text balloons. Then we will discuss what they learned about Poe. After the discussion, I will teach the students how to use the interactive Google map features. When students have practiced with Google Map for one class period, I will give them the assignment below.

My students will create an interactive Google map of Mark Twain. The students will mark his birth, death, and marriage place. In addition, students should mark places where he lived or worked during his career. Also, include any traveling abroad. As a bonus, students can mark the settings for the different short stories or novels Twain wrote. The students should have at least 10 balloons with text. (Go to Wikipedia or another online encyclopedia to get ideas and copy text for your balloons.) Students will also need to embed 5 (five) photos and at least 1 (one) YouTube about Mark Twain.




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