Final Grade in Gradebook. There are already a few students who have finished the course completely - by working ahead and doing extra credit, they already have the 410 points needed to get an A in the class. Exciting! I've now added the Final Grade item to the Gradebook. This is where I will record your letter grade when you have finished with the class. That way you can be sure about the grade you will receive, even though I will not be filling out the actual grade report forms until the end of the semester in December. Congratulations to those of you who are finished with the class already!
Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in this week, and the deadline for turning in a late Week 10 assignment for partial credit is Friday at noon. If you want to check to make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. Because of my schedule this Friday, I am not sure if I will have comments back to you before the weekend for anything turned in by noon on Friday - but if you turn something in by noon on Friday, I will be sure to get comments back to you sometime on Saturday at the latest.
Grading and points. (repeat announcement) Quite a few people have been asking me about the points and grading, so let me refer you again to this Grading Information page. In short, you need 410 to get an A, 360 points to get a B, and 320 points to get a C. When you get the number of points you need, you are done! It is fine with me if you decide to stop doing work for the class whenever you have the grade you want to receive (many of you are taking this class for Gen. Ed. requirements, which means you just need a C to get graduation credit). My only request is that you please let me know when you are done so I can adjust the comment assignments accordingly!
Thanksgiving. (repeat announcement) I have also received several questions about Thanksgiving in this class now that it is November. You will get a full week off for Thanksgiving break in this class. So, Week 13 will start on Tuesday, November 18, with the usual Tuesday-Thursday assignments due that week. Then, you have a week off. There are no assignments between Friday November 21 until Friday November 28 (Thanksgiving Day is November 27). You will have the usual Week 13 weekend assignments due November 29-30, with the usual grace period until noon on Monday, December 1. Then Week 14 will start up on Tuesday, December 2. I am guessing that many of you will probably already be done with the class by the time Thanksgiving break arrives!
Saturday, November 8: Bram Stoker. November 8 marks the birthday in 1847 of the Irish novelist Bram Stoker who is, of course, most famous for his invention of the modern literary figure of Count Dracula, published in 1897. Stoker's Count Dracula has in turn given rise to a whole genre of vampire fiction including the recent Twilight series of novels by Stephanie Meyer. You can read more about Stoker's life and career in this Wikipedia article. Stoker's Dracula has inspired many later novels, films and even comic books, but I will confess that my favorite Dracula is Count von Count of the Muppets! :-)
