Geo-Narrative Reflection

The Geo-Narrative was a stressful experience for me.  I did not really know how I could use the Geo-Narrative lesson.  After much contemplation, I decided to use Google Earth to teach my unit on "The Diary of Anne Frank."  It is a drama my students read every year, but they don't have a lot of background knowledge about Anne Frank, WWII, or the Holocaust.  I thought that the Geo-Narrative is a great way to build that background knowledge.  I'm really excited to implement this lesson.  I think it will engage my students and help them visualize the story.  I also think that by seeing the Geo-Narrative, students will become more empathetic towards the characters in the story.

I placed four placemarks on my map.  One is on Astumbo Middle School so that my students can see their relation to Anne Frank.  The next placemark is on Anne's childhood home (Frankfurt, Germany).  The third placemark is on the secret annex in which Anne and her family hid from the Nazis (Amsterdam).  The last is on the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp Memorial, where Anne died (Germany).  In each placemark, a picture of Anne is there along with the directions for students. In my lesson, the students are to create their own Geo-Narrative, providing a biography, objective summary about the events that surrounded Anne's life, and pictures.  They are to present these facts to the class using their Geo-Narrative as a visual. I thought this would be a great way to introduce Anne, and students can get a better picture of who she is before reading the script.