English Digital Resources
American Passages: A Literary Survey is a 16-part American literature course. The video programs, print guides, and Web site place literary movements and authors within the context of history and culture. The course takes an expanded view of American literary movements, bringing in a diversity of voices and tracing the continuity among them. The materials, which are coordinated with the Norton Anthology of American Literature, can be used as the basis of a one or two-semester college-level course or for teacher professional development. 16 half-hour video programs.
English Composition: Writing for an Audience. This video series introduces basic principles and strategies for communicating in writing to a variety of audiences and improving general composition skills. Throughout the series, students will meet a wide array of professionals whose work involves writing — not only authors, journalists, and teachers, but also musicians, judges, nurses, engineers, scientists, and athletes — who will discuss how they write with their specific audiences in mind. This series can also be used as a resource for teacher professional development. 26 half-hour video programs.
Literary Visions. Noted critics, authors, scholars, and actors enliven this exploration of literature and literary analysis. Dramatizations, readings, and discussions build skills in critical thinking and writing. Illuminating excerpts of short fiction, poetry, plays, and essays — both classic and contemporary — highlight standard literary forms and devices including plot, myth, setting, and character. This series can also be used as a resource for teacher professional development. 26 half-hour video programs.
Signature: Contemporary Writers. See what it's like to be a writer today through video portraits of six diverse writers, all with roots in the South — Bobbie Ann Mason, Ed McClanahan, Marsha Norman, George C. Wolfe, Lee Smith, and Barbara Kingsolver. The authors read from their own works and talk about their lives, their influences, their successes, and their failures. Students will gain insight into the writing process and learn creative strategies for turning their own experiences into compelling writing. This series is useful for courses in American literature, contemporary fiction, theater, women's studies, and Southern fiction. 6 one-hour video programs.
Voices and Visions. The lives and works of 13 renowned American poets are interpreted through dramatic readings, archival photographs, dance, performances, and interviews in this inspiring series. Illustrative poems in each program are accompanied by insights into their historical and cultural connections. The series covers the terminology of poetry and the larger role of poets in American and world literature studies. Poets include Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Elizabeth Bishop. 13 one-hour video programs.
