Group items tagged

"Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. An abstract, citation, playing time, and word count are given for each of the passages. Many of the passages also have a related reading strategy identified. Each reading passage can also be downloaded as a PDF and printed for use as a read-along or as supplemental reading material for your classroom. "

"Ecstatic Alphabets/Heaps of Language brings together historical and contemporary works of art that treat language not merely as a system of communication governed by grammatical rules and assigned meanings, but as a material that can be manipulated with creative freedom, like paint, clay, or any other artistic medium. The exhibition is divided into two sections. The first is a historical overview of 20th-century art that experiments with the graphic, sonic, and kinetic possibilities of letters and words. With a few notable exceptions, these works are confined to the two-dimensional parameters of a page. The second section presents an installation of contemporary works, most of which do away with the page; some do away with writing altogether. The artist and poet Emmett Williams observed that "the poem as picture is as old as the hills," citing its beginnings in hieroglyphics,"

new twist on teaching vocab, wonder if it works

Frank McCourt's 2002 essay on teaching creative writing.

A great article by the late Frank McCourt about teaching creative writing and learning alongside his students.

# Record five minutes of a talk radio show. Write down the dialogue and add narrative descriptions of the speakers and actions as if you were writing a scene. # Write a 500-word biography of your life. # Write your obituary. List all of your life's acco

Create poems by erasing words

his is vocabulary material for 131 novels or short stories. Vocabulary words listed for each literary selection appear in the selection and are on The Shakespeare List . Tests and exercises are included for each selection. Anytime a teacher has students r

Companion Visual Puzzle to NPR's story on the Origin of Language / Speech

An online reference for expressing in more descriptive ways.

Great reference for teachers and students. Plug in a confusing word (effect versus affect, for example) and get help.

Create word clouds from texts in a variety of shapes. Requires Microsoft Silverlight.

"A Muse of Fire" from the BBC/PBS documentary The Story of English examines the number of words coined by Shakespeare.

Spell with flickr is a neat app that allows you to create banners or other text with flickr images. Perfect for embedding in wikis or using on blogs or other Web sites.