First, have students visit Literary Calendar (http://www.yasuda-u.ac.jp/LitCalendar.html). Though this page shows the current month, students can scroll down the page to set the pop-up boxes to any given month and day. If you wish, you may want the students to remain within the same month and search for important historical events for assigned dates. Otherwise, have students search for other specific dates (such as their birthdates, holidays, etc.).

The " This Day XXXXX" page will list different events throughout history that relate to literature. These dates may be the birthdates of famous writers, turning points in literary history, or death dates of famous writers

Each event will most likely have a hotlink to a web-related site. Students can click on highlighted words for each date to find out more information. These links can prove valuable for your literature class. You may want students to keep a log with Title and URL for other students to access later.

Have students create a time-line with the dates and events found. Of the ones listed by the class, ask each student to choose which event he/she feels was the most critical and explain why. Having students to draw conclusions, make inferences and analyze past events can not only deepen their understanding of those events but can spark a new respect for the past and other people.