May 30, 2007

I spent a lot of time today searching Librarian's Internet Index. I found a wonderful site for Shakespeare teaching supplements. This site provides access to major texts of the English Renaissance in their original versions. Multimedia tutorials (which move swiftly) "present viewers with background and contextual material" for plays such as "Romeo and Juliet," "Merchant of Venice," "Richard III," and "King Lear." It also includes tutorials on book production during the time period, with sections on "Folios, Quartos, and Publishing," and "Editing and Unediting." http://dewey.library.upenn.edu/sceti/furness/eric/

The English Renaissance in Context (ERIC) is a NEH-funded project designed to provide scholars and students at a variety of levels with access to major texts of the English Renaissance in their original versions. ERIC grows out of both contemporary critical tendencies in the field of English Renaissance studies and a commitment to providing broad access to original source materials that would otherwise be out of reach for many. ERIC takes advantage of the NEH "Teaching with Technology" initiative to fashion some fresh approaches to familiar texts and issues. ERIC uses the desktop to supplement the classroom and the library.
ERIC comprises two separate but integrated units: a set of tutorials on some of Shakespeare's plays and on the making and selling of books during the Early Modern period; and a database of scanned texts from Penn's Furness Shakespeare Library. When used in combination, these two units can provide students with a rich introduction to English Renaissance literature in its historical and artifactual context.

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/rl/ll/
This web site has a wonderful list of recommended literature: Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve is a collection of outstanding literature for children and adolescents. The recommended titles reflect the quality and the complexity of the types of material students should be reading at school and outside of class.