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Fun for students learning about Anglo-Saxons, Old English, or the history of English.

Meredith Stewart pulls together some TED Talks (Technology, Entertainment, and Design conference) that might provoke good discussion in the English classroom.

The English language, which arose from humble Anglo-Saxon roots to become the lingua franca of 600 million people worldwide and the dominant lexicon of international discourse, is dead. It succumbed last month at the age of 1,617 after a long illness. It is survived by an ignominiously diminished form of itself.

Mike LoMonico shared this excerpt from "Old School" by Tobias Wolff which explains why English teachers are awesome.

St. Columba's College English department's transition year extended essay assignment is a great project.

Orwell's advice to writers.

Glenda teaches us how to teach students to mimic one of the masters of prose-Jane Austen. Mimicry is often a great writing exercise for students who need to examine style.

Great introduction and resources for teaching Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

Glenda Funk shares some performance pedagogy techniques designed to get students out of their desk and on their feet.

The Library of Congress shares an exhibition of "Books that Shaped America." Librarian of Congress James H. Billington says that the list is "intended to spark a national conversation on books written by Americans that have influenced our lives, whether they appear on this initial list or not."

Book Drum is the perfect companion to the books we love, bringing them to life with immersive pictures, videos, maps and music.

The Big Read/NEA's Reader's and Teacher's Guide for Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. Excellent radio show.

Jeff Utecht describes how you can use Goodreads to track students' independent reading.

Hamlet by Savage Chickens.

Paste compiles a list of some of literature's biggest jerks. You know you love to hate them.

This article would be great for teaching the importance of proofreading.

Held annually during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of intellectual freedom and draws attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted banning of books across the United States, including books commonly taught in secondary schools. Here are ideas for celebrating Banned Books Week -- with your students, your children and anyone who believes in having "the freedom to read."

Grand Theft Auto: The Emily Dickinson Edition. This cartoon from xkcd made me laugh. Enjoy!

Shakespeare meets Craigslist.

"Studio 360 explores F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and finds out how this compact novel became the great American story of our age. Novelist Jonathan Franzen tells Kurt Andersen why he still reads it every year or two, and writer Patricia Hampl explains why its lightness is deceptive. We'll drive around the tony Long Island suburbs where Gatsby was set, and we'll hear from Andrew Lauren about his film G, which sets Gatsby among the hip-hop moguls. And Azar Nafisi describes the power of teaching the book to university students in Tehran. Readings come courtesy of Scott Shepherd, an actor who sometimes performs the entire book from memory."