The internet has given us a wealth of information that we will never be able to fully utilize in a lifetime. With so much of our reading now done online, media literacy has become an important facet of our overall literacy and reading lives. We consume so much information on a daily basis whether it is through advertisements, commercials, news, pop culture, or the web. So many websites provide news, products, and information geared toward our specific interests. It is important that students are able to scrutinize all this information and become critical and aware of what is out there. Part of this process involves reading, learning, and building literacy in these new evolving areas. I encourage you to take time at some point to see what the web has to offer for your educational and personal growth. In the meantime, the purpose of this page is to give you a few literary and educationally inspired websites that you may explore at some point! If you have other suggestions, please let me know!
All things Literature
Amazon.com Amazon has tons of products, but it is a great place to buy books in particular because you can get good deals on used (and occasionally new) books from the marketplace and you can read lots of reviews on potential books that may interest you. Many other booksellers provide these things also so be sure to look into it. Also keep the marketplace in mind for college. It will save you tons of money; even the new books on Amazon are oftentimes cheaper than college bookstores.
Ted Talks
TED Talks cover a wide range of topics. They are short (generally about 15-20 minutes) and are given by professionals or experts on the given topic. If you have never watched a TED Talk, I strongly encourage you to search for one that might interest you and give it a shot!
Library of COngress
The Library of Congress has a wealth of resources from digital archives to special collections on certain topics.
Mental Floss
Mental Floss is a magazine of interesting stuff! Check it out! You don't have to subscribe to get a taste of their articles. You can like them on Facebook and many articles are at your fingertips.
Not just for pinning products and recipes, Pinterest allows you to pin and save creative DIY projects, book lists, quotes, etc. Any of your interests all in one place to save and explore at your leisure.
Suggestions For Facebook
Did you know you can do more with Facebook than just creep on your frenemies or the hot guy or girl in gym class? Gear up your news feed by following a local news station or newspaper. It is a super easy way to stay informed on local headlines, and if you don't want to read the article, keep scrolling. There are many pages you can like and follow that will feed your brain. For those bookish people, there are many literature and grammar pages. Whatever your interest, history, science, technology, etc., there is a page that will keep you updated in that area or just provide tidbits of interesting information in that field.
A few suggested pages that you might take a look at:
A few suggested pages that you might take a look at:
- TED Talks
- Literature is My Utopia
- Book Riot
- National Geographic
- On This Day in History
- The Big Think
- NPR
- Mental Floss