Some Notable Recent Links

Over the past week I've come across a interesting writing relating links. Check them out if you get a chance.

• George Orwell diaries - While reading Boingboing.net, a "directory of wonderful things, I came across this story. Beginning August 9th this website will Orwell's diary entries, one per day and chronologically. Seems like an accessible way to wrestle with the ideas of one of the 20th century's greatest thinkers.
  
• Storychasers - On his blog Moving at the Speed of Creativity, Wesley Fryer shared about a new project he is starting to record stories.
  

  Storychasers is a multi-state (and potentially multi-national) educational collaborative empowering students and teachers to responsibly record and share stories of local, regional and global interest as citizen journalists.

  This evolving project has a multimodal bent, as they are seeking out documentaries and newscasts. Seems like an interesting effort to get involved with, either directly or in spirit.
• Blogging Tips - David Warlick's 2 Cents discussed Teaching Tips 50 Useful Blogging Tools for Teachers. If you were hip to the blogging at the Summer Institute, or just looking for a good resource, check it out. Lots of good stuff here.
  
• Telling Stories of our Shared Humanity - TedTalks recently published Nigerian Poet Chris Albani's presentation.

  Chris Abani tells stories of people: People standing up to soldiers. People being compassionate. People being human and reclaiming their humanity. It's "ubuntu," he says: the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me.

  This is a powerful story and worth 16 minutes of your time.
• Tell Me a Story - Radiolab just published a recent Robert Krulwich commencement address arguing for the importance of storytelling in science. It's a good listen for content areas outside of English (well, maybe us too), as it highlights the importance of compelling storytelling as a way to influence people towards truth.