HAPPY WEEKEND! This is the end of Week 4. The Week 4 Read and Respond assignment (blog commenting) is available now, and the remaining Week 4 assignments are due on Friday or on Saturday or Sunday - please make sure you get started on those assignments soon. Also, Friday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Thursday.
Week 4 Blog Response assignment. For the Responding assignment, you should be looking for the Week 4 blog essay post and blog storytelling post - remember that you may need to SCROLL DOWN, because some people are working ahead. If someone does not have the Week 4 essay and/or Week 4 story, just pick another post in their blog instead so that you end up commenting on a total of two blog posts per person. Some people have asked about the assignments: they are RANDOM - really! So you may get the same person two weeks in a row (especially in World Literature, which is the smallest of the three classes). All I can tell you is that it is the magic power of random at work: you cannot predict just what will happen!
IMPORTANT NOTE: IT Maintenance. On the third Sunday of every month, IT does maintenance on its servers. There will be a maintenance window this Sunday, January 18. This often causes service outages, which may affect email and other OU IT services. The maintenance window is in the morning, and the maintenance should be completed before noon on Sunday. For specific information and updates, see the IT Alerts page at alerts.ou.edu (this is also a good page to check if you are experiencing problems with Desire2Learn, email, or other IT services).
Storybook Stack. On Friday, I should finish reading and responding to every Storybook assignment in the stack that was turned in before Friday at noon (contents of the stack). If you turn something in before Friday at noon, my goal is to get comments back for you before the weekend. I don't do any grading over the weekend, so if you turn something in after noon on Friday, it will go into the stack. I'll start working through the stack first thing on Monday morning, in order. If you want to get comments sooner from me next week rather than later, turn in your assignment earlier - the huge majority of people turn in their assignments on Sunday, and it sometimes takes me several days to reply to all of those. If you turn your assignment in on Saturday instead, you will get back comments from me more quickly.
Font size in Composer. Many of you will be working on your Storybook coverpage this weekend. As you do that, please be careful with font size and read these Instructions for Larger Fonts in Composer. The best way to change the font to something larger is by designating it as a Heading. That way, you can be sure that you will get good results on every browser. Other methods of changing the font size can vary enormously from browser to browser and may not lead to the results you want. So, make sure if you want to make something a larger font size, you choose Heading 1 or Heading 2 or Heading 3 - depending on how large you want it to be.
Important repeat announcements. I've included some information in the announcements this week about the Week 4 Introduction assignment, along with some sample Coverpage layouts for you to look at. If you did missed some of those announcements, please take a look back at the past announcements. Those announcements will be helpful as you work on the Week 4 Storybook and Internet assignments this weekend!
Snopes.com: Green M&M Legend. In honor of Valentine's Day on Saturday, February 14, I decided to look for a Valentine's Day Legend from Snopes.com. Here is the first one I found: in 2008, the Mars Candy Snackfood Company promoted the distribution of packages of all-green M&M candies because the green candies are supposedly an aphrodisic - true or false??? Well, it is true that Mars promoted the green candies for Valentine's Day last year, but as to whether the green ones really are an aphrodisiac, Snopes.com is not saying! Other legends about the candy colors are as follows: orange M&Ms are good luck, brown ones are bad luck, and if you get a red one last out of the bag, you should make a wish and it will come true. As for the green candies being an aphrodisiac, no one is quite sure how this rumor got started - but it has been circulating since the 1970s! Happy Valentine's Day!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Thursday, February 12
Today is Thursday of WEEK 3 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 3 Storybook assignment yet, you have until noon today to turn that in for partial credit. For those of you in Myth-Folklore or World Lit, Thursday morning, until noon, is also the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Wednesday. (Indian Epics has no Wednesday assignments, so there is no Thursday morning grace period.)
Writing Center. As you start working on your Storybook Introduction this week, and for all your future Storybook assignments, you are expected to turn in a formal piece of writing, with correct English usage, spelling, and punctuation. If you would like some extra help with that, make a visit to the Writing Center where you can get free assistance. Whether you need a refresher course on English punctuation or some help in learning how to proofread your own work, the Writing Center is the place to go! For hours and services, visit the Writing Center website. Note that they have a NEW LOCATION this semester: they are no longer in Bizzell, but have moved to the new Wagner Student Academic Services Center.
Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the large stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in. If you turned in an assignment before noon on Monday, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned something in on Monday after noon or on Tuesday or Wednesday, it is probably still in the stack, waiting for me to get to it (contents of the stack). If you want comments back from me on an assignment before the weekend, make sure to get it turned in by Friday at noon at the latest.
My schedule today. Normally I do most of my work during regular business hours on Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Friday, while scheduling my out-of-office commitments on Wednesdays - but this week I've ended up having to schedule my out-of-office appointments on Thursday instead. So, that means I may be a bit more slow to respond to your emails today because I'll be out of the office for at least part of the day - but if you send me an email during the day on Thursday, I'll definitely get back to you by the end of the day.
Coverpage color schemes. One of the best things you can do with your coverpage is to find a background color to complement the image that you have chosen. There are lots of tools you can use for finding colors. In addition to the color wheel in Composer, you might enjoy using this online tool: Dynamic Color Picker. This allows you to find the "hex code" for a color, which you can then enter into the Format - Page Colors screen in Composer. Make sure you choose Text, Link, and Visited Link Text colors to go with your Background Color choice! You can find out more about that here: Background Colors in Composer. Here are some examples of Coverpages with a background color that complements the main image; click on the link to visit the actual coverpage:
Writing Center. As you start working on your Storybook Introduction this week, and for all your future Storybook assignments, you are expected to turn in a formal piece of writing, with correct English usage, spelling, and punctuation. If you would like some extra help with that, make a visit to the Writing Center where you can get free assistance. Whether you need a refresher course on English punctuation or some help in learning how to proofread your own work, the Writing Center is the place to go! For hours and services, visit the Writing Center website. Note that they have a NEW LOCATION this semester: they are no longer in Bizzell, but have moved to the new Wagner Student Academic Services Center.
Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the large stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in. If you turned in an assignment before noon on Monday, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned something in on Monday after noon or on Tuesday or Wednesday, it is probably still in the stack, waiting for me to get to it (contents of the stack). If you want comments back from me on an assignment before the weekend, make sure to get it turned in by Friday at noon at the latest.
My schedule today. Normally I do most of my work during regular business hours on Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Friday, while scheduling my out-of-office commitments on Wednesdays - but this week I've ended up having to schedule my out-of-office appointments on Thursday instead. So, that means I may be a bit more slow to respond to your emails today because I'll be out of the office for at least part of the day - but if you send me an email during the day on Thursday, I'll definitely get back to you by the end of the day.
Coverpage color schemes. One of the best things you can do with your coverpage is to find a background color to complement the image that you have chosen. There are lots of tools you can use for finding colors. In addition to the color wheel in Composer, you might enjoy using this online tool: Dynamic Color Picker. This allows you to find the "hex code" for a color, which you can then enter into the Format - Page Colors screen in Composer. Make sure you choose Text, Link, and Visited Link Text colors to go with your Background Color choice! You can find out more about that here: Background Colors in Composer. Here are some examples of Coverpages with a background color that complements the main image; click on the link to visit the actual coverpage:
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Wednesday, February 11
Today is Wednesday of WEEK 4 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 3 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit. Wednesday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Tuesday.
Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the large stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in. If you turned in an assignment on or before Sunday at 9PM, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned something in after 9PM on Sunday or on Monday or on Tuesday, it is probably still in the stack, waiting for me to get to it. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. I reply to the assignments in the order that they are turned in, so if you want comments back earlier in the week, try to turn your Storybook in on Friday or Saturday instead of waiting until Sunday! The Storybook stack is very much a first-come first-served process. :-)
Week 4 Storybook: Introduction. If you did not read yesterday's announcements, please check those announcements for important information about the Week 4 Storybook assignment.
Coverpage samples. Carrying on from yesterday's announcements, here are some more examples of different kinds of coverpage layouts that people have used in the past. Today I've picked out some of the Storybooks that use a table layout so that you can have an image and text side by side, with the story links lifted to the right of the main image. Using a table is an easy way to arrange images and text side by side (if you set the table borders to zero, they will be invisible). Click on the link to see the actual coverpage:
Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the large stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in. If you turned in an assignment on or before Sunday at 9PM, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned something in after 9PM on Sunday or on Monday or on Tuesday, it is probably still in the stack, waiting for me to get to it. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. I reply to the assignments in the order that they are turned in, so if you want comments back earlier in the week, try to turn your Storybook in on Friday or Saturday instead of waiting until Sunday! The Storybook stack is very much a first-come first-served process. :-)
Week 4 Storybook: Introduction. If you did not read yesterday's announcements, please check those announcements for important information about the Week 4 Storybook assignment.
Coverpage samples. Carrying on from yesterday's announcements, here are some more examples of different kinds of coverpage layouts that people have used in the past. Today I've picked out some of the Storybooks that use a table layout so that you can have an image and text side by side, with the story links lifted to the right of the main image. Using a table is an easy way to arrange images and text side by side (if you set the table borders to zero, they will be invisible). Click on the link to see the actual coverpage:
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Tuesday, February 10
Today is Tuesday of WEEK 4 of the class. For those of you who are working ahead, Weeks 5 and 6 are also available! If you have not turned in your Week 3 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit.
Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the large stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in. If you turned in an assignment on or before Saturday at 4PM, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned something in after 4PM on Saturday, or on Sunday or on Monday, it is probably still in the stack, waiting for me to get to it. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. Please make sure you wait until you get comments back from me before you go on from the Week 3 assignment until Week 4. Thank you for your patience as I work my way through the stack!
Week 4 Storybook: Introduction. For your Week 4 Storybook assignment, you will be writing the first draft of the Introduction, and then in Week 5 you will be revising the draft and publishing the Introduction online. A few students have already finished the Week 5 assignment and published their revised Introductions. Just to give you a sense of the range of possibilities, you can see all three types: (1) some Introductions written in a tradition style, explaining the topic (Mallory's Love Goddess Storybook), (2) or you can start with a traditional Introduction and then segue into the frametale (as in Christa's Zen Storybook, Stephanie's Epic Journeys, or Erin's Trios at PerezHilton.Com), (3) or you can write the Introduction entirely contained inside the frametale (as in Austin's Forever My Brother Storybook or Olivia's Rajiv and F.R.I.E.N.D.S.). Which way you will choose to do your Introduction depends on your topic and your storytelling plan - it's up to you, based on what you think is the best way to draw your readers in!
Coverpage samples. For the Week 4 Internet assignment, you will be publishing a coverpage for your Storybook. It needs to contain at least one image, or you may decide to use more images - that's up to you. As you design the coverpage you need to think about how to display the title, and the image(s), along with some good navigation to help people find their way to your Introduction online and, later, to each of your stories. This week I'll be posting some examples of different layouts people have used for their Storybook coverpages; click on the link for each Storybook to see the actual page:
Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the large stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in. If you turned in an assignment on or before Saturday at 4PM, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned something in after 4PM on Saturday, or on Sunday or on Monday, it is probably still in the stack, waiting for me to get to it. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. Please make sure you wait until you get comments back from me before you go on from the Week 3 assignment until Week 4. Thank you for your patience as I work my way through the stack!
Week 4 Storybook: Introduction. For your Week 4 Storybook assignment, you will be writing the first draft of the Introduction, and then in Week 5 you will be revising the draft and publishing the Introduction online. A few students have already finished the Week 5 assignment and published their revised Introductions. Just to give you a sense of the range of possibilities, you can see all three types: (1) some Introductions written in a tradition style, explaining the topic (Mallory's Love Goddess Storybook), (2) or you can start with a traditional Introduction and then segue into the frametale (as in Christa's Zen Storybook, Stephanie's Epic Journeys, or Erin's Trios at PerezHilton.Com), (3) or you can write the Introduction entirely contained inside the frametale (as in Austin's Forever My Brother Storybook or Olivia's Rajiv and F.R.I.E.N.D.S.). Which way you will choose to do your Introduction depends on your topic and your storytelling plan - it's up to you, based on what you think is the best way to draw your readers in!
Coverpage samples. For the Week 4 Internet assignment, you will be publishing a coverpage for your Storybook. It needs to contain at least one image, or you may decide to use more images - that's up to you. As you design the coverpage you need to think about how to display the title, and the image(s), along with some good navigation to help people find their way to your Introduction online and, later, to each of your stories. This week I'll be posting some examples of different layouts people have used for their Storybook coverpages; click on the link for each Storybook to see the actual page:
Monday, February 9, 2009
Monday, February 9
Today is Monday, and Week 3 of the class is now over. That means the semester is 20% over already - wow! Monday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. Week 4 will begin tomorrow - and those assignments are available now if you want to get started. The Week 5 assignments are also available now, too! (Week 6 will be available tomorrow.) For those of you who are working ahead, you will note that the Week 5 Internet assignment is not available yet; you'll need to wait on those until everybody has gotten their Storybook coverpages published online.
Storybook stack. As always on Monday, I will have a HUGE bunch of assignments in the Storybook stack that were turned in over the weekend or on Monday morning. The first thing I will do on Monday morning when I get to work is to update the list of items in the Storybook stack. So, after 8 a.m. or so on Monday, you will be able to check the contents of the stack to make sure I received your assignment. I will then start reading the assignments in the order they were turned in. Please do not go on to the Week 4 Storybook assignment until you get Week 3 comments back from me (and the same is true for those of you who have turned in Week 4 assignments - please do not go on to the Week 5 Storybook assignment until you get my Week 4 comments). Thank you for your patience as I make my way through the giant stack! :-)
Late Storybook assignments. Each week, the Storybook assignment is the only assignment that can be turned in late for partial credit. Since I cannot get all the Storybooks graded and returned immediately, it is fine with me if you turn in the Storybook late. A Storybook assignment turned in on Monday afternoon can receive up to 8 points credit; if it is turned in on Tuesday, you can get up to 7 points of credit, up to 6 points on Wednesday and up to 5 points if you turn it in by noon on Thursday. The absolute deadline for turning your Storybook assignment for partial credit is noon on Thursday. No late Storybook assignments will be accepted after Thursday at noon.
February 9: Tu B'shvat. Today is the Jewish holiday of Tu B'shvat, the "Fifteenth (day) in (the month of) Shevat," also known as the "New Year of the Trees," a holiday that falls in either January or February of each year, depending on the Jewish calendar, coinciding with the full moon. This year it falls on February 9. In Israel, the date is especially associated with the flowering of the almond trees, which you can see in the image below. On this holiday, people eat dried fruits and nuts, and new trees are planted, something like our on our "Arbor Day" holiday. You can read more about the holiday at Wikipedia, which is also the source for this image showing an almond tree in bloom in Israel:
Storybook stack. As always on Monday, I will have a HUGE bunch of assignments in the Storybook stack that were turned in over the weekend or on Monday morning. The first thing I will do on Monday morning when I get to work is to update the list of items in the Storybook stack. So, after 8 a.m. or so on Monday, you will be able to check the contents of the stack to make sure I received your assignment. I will then start reading the assignments in the order they were turned in. Please do not go on to the Week 4 Storybook assignment until you get Week 3 comments back from me (and the same is true for those of you who have turned in Week 4 assignments - please do not go on to the Week 5 Storybook assignment until you get my Week 4 comments). Thank you for your patience as I make my way through the giant stack! :-)
Late Storybook assignments. Each week, the Storybook assignment is the only assignment that can be turned in late for partial credit. Since I cannot get all the Storybooks graded and returned immediately, it is fine with me if you turn in the Storybook late. A Storybook assignment turned in on Monday afternoon can receive up to 8 points credit; if it is turned in on Tuesday, you can get up to 7 points of credit, up to 6 points on Wednesday and up to 5 points if you turn it in by noon on Thursday. The absolute deadline for turning your Storybook assignment for partial credit is noon on Thursday. No late Storybook assignments will be accepted after Thursday at noon.
February 9: Tu B'shvat. Today is the Jewish holiday of Tu B'shvat, the "Fifteenth (day) in (the month of) Shevat," also known as the "New Year of the Trees," a holiday that falls in either January or February of each year, depending on the Jewish calendar, coinciding with the full moon. This year it falls on February 9. In Israel, the date is especially associated with the flowering of the almond trees, which you can see in the image below. On this holiday, people eat dried fruits and nuts, and new trees are planted, something like our on our "Arbor Day" holiday. You can read more about the holiday at Wikipedia, which is also the source for this image showing an almond tree in bloom in Israel:
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