English Companion Ning Group

In the midst of all of the "uproar" over the President's planned speech to school kids on Tuesday, I keep thinking about what all of this says about schools, about what they are for, and about the perception that a lot of people in this country have of them.

The good news for students is that even though that means waking up early and doing homework, there are a number of web-based and social tools to help you get through the school year. From staying organized to improving study habits to making sure you reference your research sources properly, the web can help you be a better student.

This article appears in the Holt Elements of Literature Sixth Course: Essentials of British and World Literature text alongside Beowulf and an excerpt from John Gardner's Grendel. It is a good companion piece for Beowulf.

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

Use the time-slider on Etherpad to see students' writing process. Very cool!

english skills, letter writing, Genre

Through the integration of EtherPad into TokBox users can talk about changes to a document while enacting those changes at the same time.

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

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.

Digitial images from the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The page image are available in 3 sizes and can be easily read online.

The Internet Shakespeare Editions has high quality facsimilies of Shakespeare's Folios and Quartos available for viewing online. You may view the books in their entirety, page by page. The site includes facsimiles and transcriptions of Folio 1, Folio 2, Folio 3, and Folio 4, and many Quartos available online.

The Morgan Library & Museum is pleased to present the only surviving manuscript of Paradise Lost, Book 1. This epic poem is considered Milton's greatest artistic achievement and one of the finest works of the human imagination. Acquired by Pierpont Morgan in 1904, it is the most important British literary manuscript in the collection. The 33-page manuscript has been temporarily disbound, providing an opportunity to see more of its pages than ever before. Also in this presentation are first editions of Paradise Lost printed in England and the United States during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and a rarely seen miniature portrait of the poet.

The History of England is an early work of Jane Austen. She completed the composition in November 1791 when she was just 15 years old. Jane Austen's History is a lively parody which makes fun of the standard schoolroom books of the time. Declaring herself to be a 'partial, prejudiced and ignorant Historian' she cites works of fiction, such as Shakespeare's plays, as historial authority and includes references to her own family and friends. Jane's older sister Cassandra illustrated the text with imaginative portraits of the English monarchs

The original version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. The manuscript is the handwritten version of the stories presented to 10-year-old Alice Liddell.