English Companion Ning Group

As teachers make selections from the boxes at the bottom, the choices are entered at the top. By the time a teacher has selected a thinking skill, content, resources to be used, the final product, and the size of the group (one option is "1″), the assessment is summarized at the top of the screen.

Excellent use for online portfolios. Thanks whoever I got this from because I've forgotten...

That's mine :) Students will make a copy, personalize, and fill it up during the year.

Very interesting and timely article, important even, about writing in the new era that features insights from Stanford's Andrea Lundsford discussing findings from her longitudinal study of writing and why we have cause for hope.

Images from the only known medieval manuscript of the epic saga of 'Beowulf', the most important surviving work of Anglo-Saxon poetry. The manuscript dates from the early 11th century, two generations before the Norman Conquest - though the poem itself is probably even older. Written in Old English, it tells of a thrilling struggle between the hero, Beowulf, and a bloodthirsty monster called Grendel.

Good unit plan on Homer's Iliad done by a student teacher for a portfolio. Some good handouts and questions.

quick video tutorial showing how easy it is to create portfolios using Google Sites.

Popular fairy tales and folk stories are more ancient than was previously thought, according research by biologists.

Discussion of Percy's edits of his wife's book

The big news from coming from Google today was the release of Google Sidewiki. Sidewiki allows you to comment, annotate, and edit any webpage.

From a great session at NCTE 2009 about teaching literature of the Middle East and knocking down stereotypes. Great resources here.