What country do you live in? (teaching)

When I asked my students this question last week, I received varied answers: Morocco, New York City, Delaware, Queens...all somewhat dishearteningly so close to the end of the year. They all could tell me which planet they live on (well, the loud ones got it right) and they threw out some related information (the borough, the country of origin, their towns, their blocks). But, the concept of which country they currently call home has proved to be somewhat difficult information to submit to the question-answer system.

The globe, maps in our text book, and repeated verbal cues had failed for so long. It was time for me to pull out the teaching aids. Today, during 8th period, I pulled out the LCD projector, plugged in a laptop, and had a little 3D interface with our world. After a few moments of technical difficulty, we used Google Earth to fly from the world, to our country, to our state, to our city, to our borough, right down to our very own P.S. They loved it. We found the corner the crossing guard stands on. We tilted the view so we could see up the block. We zoomed in and out. We found bridges, countries (I had to gloss over the request to see the country Santa is from) and oceans. They were impressed.

I don't know if they can tell anyone what they saw or can tell me which country they live in. ...but, it was fun. I love the things that can happen when we intergrate technology into the classroom. And, I feel like I actually imparted knowledge.