Friday, April 9 - Sunday, April 11

HAPPY WEEKEND! You have reached the end of Week 11! The Week 11 Read and Respond assignment (blog commenting) is available now, and the remaining Week 11 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 11 Responding: Check your groups. The groups for Blog Responding are basically the same as last week, but there have been some small adjustments, based on the folks who are finished with the class. So, before you do the blog responding assignment, double-check on your group to make sure you are responding to the right folks.

Week 11 Internet: Visiting the other classes. (repeat announcement) For the Week 11 Internet assignment, you will see that the instructions are VERY different from previous weeks: you will be visiting the Storybooks in the other classes. So, please make sure you read the instructions for the Week 11 Internet assignment before you start reading the Storybooks for your Week 11 Internet assignment. There is also an extra credit option for Week 11 so that you can read some more stories in the Storybooks for the class you are enrolled in.

Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in this week. If you want to check to make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. Everyone who turned in a Week 10 assignment on time should have gotten that back from me; if you turned in a late Week 10 assignment or an early assignment for Week 11 or afterwards, I will do my best to get comments back to you on Friday. This is one of the busiest weeks of the semester for Storybooks since so many people are working ahead in order to finish up early - so please be patient; I'll do my best to clear out the stack on Friday as usual.

Grading and the end of the semester. (repeat announcement) Please make sure you read Monday's announcements, if you have not done so already - you will find important information there about grading in this class, along with information about the end of the semester and also about "mixing and matching" to choose the assignments you want to do as you finish the semester.

April 9: Birthday of Tom Lehrer. Friday, April 9, is the birthday of Tom Lehrer, an American mathematician and composer of some very funny satirical songs, born in 1928. If you have never experienced the joy of Tom Lehrer's incredible sense of humor, I recommend checking out the many Tom Lehrer songs and videos at YouTube.com. One of his most famous songs, naming all the elements, is available as a great Flash animation here: Tom Lehrer's Elements song. In addition to math and science songs and some great political satire, Lehrer also wrote a mythology song about Oedipus Rex: "There once lived a man named Oedipus Rex. / You may have heard about his odd complex. / His name appears in Freud's index / 'cause he loved his mother..." HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TOM LEHRER!

Thursday, April 8

Today is Thursday of WEEK 11 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 10 Storybook assignment yet, you may turn that in BY NOON TODAY for partial credit. For those of you in Myth-Folklore or World Lit, Thursday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Wednesday.

Finishing the class early. There are now a few people in each of these classes who have reached 410 points already for a grade of A. Very exciting! You'll see that in the Gradebook there is an item marked "Final Grade." That is where I will record your grade for the class when you let me know you have completed the number of points you need: 410 for an A, 360 for a B, 320 for a C. It's entirely up to you what grade you want to finish with in the class. There is no need to apologize for stopping out with a grade of B or C. Whatever grade you decide to stop with is fine with me. The whole idea behind this points grading system is to let you know exactly where you stand and to allow you to choose to be finished with the class when you have the points you need.

Storybook Stack. There are still quite a few Storybook assignments in the stack and I am making my way through them in the order that they were turned in. If you turned something in before 10AM on Monday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in later on Monday, or on Tuesday or Wednesday, it is probably still in the stack. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

Week 11 Internet: Visiting the other classes. (repeat announcement) For the Week 11 Internet assignment, you will see that the instructions are VERY different from previous weeks: you will be visiting the Storybooks in the other classes. So, please make sure you read the instructions for the Week 11 Internet assignment before you start reading the Storybooks for your Week 11 Internet assignment. There is also an extra credit option for Week 11 so that you can read some more stories in the Storybooks for the class you are enrolled in.

April 8: International Day of the Roma. Today, April 8, is an international holiday in honor of the traditions of the Roma people, who you may know by the name "Gypsy." You can read more about the Romani people in this Wikipedia article, and the Sacred Texts Archive has a section devoted to Roma folktales and traditions. If you have a free moment today, read a folktale in honor of the Roma! Here is an old photo of a Roma woman and her daughter in Yorkshire, England in 1916:

Wednesday, April 7

Today is Wednesday of WEEK 11 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 10 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.

Week 11 Internet: Visiting the other classes. (repeat announcement) For the Week 11 Internet assignment, you will see that the instructions are VERY different from previous weeks: you will be visiting the Storybooks in the other classes. So, please make sure you read the instructions for the Week 11 Internet assignment before you start reading the Storybooks for your Week 11 Internet assignment. There is also an extra credit option for Week 11 so that you can read some more stories in the Storybooks for the class you are enrolled in.

Grading and the end of the semester. (repeat announcement) Please make sure you read Monday's announcements, if you have not done so already - you will find important information there about grading in this class, along with information about the end of the semester and also about "mixing and matching" to choose the assignments you want to do as you finish the semester.

Storybook Stack. There are still a lot of Storybook assignments in the stack and I am making my way through them in the order that they were turned in. If you turned something in on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in on Monday or Tuesday, it is probably still in the stack. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

April 7: Ravi Shankar. Today is the birthday of the amazing Indian musician, Ravi Shankar, one of the modern masters of the sitar. He was born in 1920, so today marks his 90th birthday - and he is still touring and performing around the world! You can read about Ravi Shankar's life and career at his official website (with audio!) and in this Wikipedia article, which is the source for this photo of Ravi Shankar with George Harrison of the Beatles, back in 1967. You can also find some great Ravi Shankar videos at YouTube.com - such as this wonderful video of Shankar's appearance on the Dick Cavett show. Happy birthday, Ravi Shankar!

Tuesday, April 6

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 11 of the class of the class, and I've re-arranged the Quiz area in Desire2Learn so Week 11 is on top. For those of you in Indian Epics, that means starting Buck's version of the Mahabharata, while it's more fairy tales in Myth-Folklore (this time from Denmark and Estonia), while it's French "urban legends" in World Literature. If you have not turned in your Week 10 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit.

Storybook stack. As often on Tuesday, there is still a huge bunch of assignments in the Storybook stack. If you turned in a Storybook assignment on or before noon on Sunday, you should have comments back from me and points recorded in the Gradebook. If you turned something in later on Sunday or on Monday, it is probably still in the stack. You can check the contents of the stack to make sure I received your assignment. I will be reading and reply to the assignments in the order they were turned in.

Week 11 Internet: Visiting the other classes. For the Week 11 Internet assignment, you will see that the instructions are VERY different from previous weeks: you will be visiting the Storybooks in the other classes. So, please make sure you read the instructions for the Week 11 Internet assignment before you start reading the Storybooks for your Week 11 Internet assignment. There is also an extra credit option for Week 11 so that you can read some more stories in the Storybooks for the class you are enrolled in.

Last Words and looking back. Some of you have been doing the Last Words extra credit. As you've seen, those are more like messages to yourself rather than something for other people read; the idea is to take a breather, pat yourself on the back for having made it through another week, and get ready to move on to the next week. If you've been doing those for the whole semester, you might enjoy taking a look back at some of your Last Words posts from the very beginning of the semester. It's been almost three months now, and summer sure seems like a long time ago. So, if you want to remember what life was like back in January, just take a look back at the beginning of your blog - doesn't it seem like a long time ago? Wow!

Grading and the end of the semester. Please make sure you read Monday's announcements, if you have not done so already - you will find important information there about grading in this class, along with information about the end of the semester and also about "mixing and matching" to choose the assignments you want to do as you finish the semester.

April 6: Gustave Moreau. Today, April 6, marks the birthday of the great French painter, Gustave Moreau, in the year 1826. He is famous for his paintings on subjects taken from classical mythology, and you can read about his life and works in this Wikipedia article. One of his most famous paintings shows Oedipus and the Sphinx:

Monday, April 5

Today is Monday. Week 10 of the class is now over. 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 11 will begin tomorrow - and those assignments are available now if you want to get started.

Grading and points. Some 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!

Mix and match points. Now that there are just five weeks of the semester left, you might want to plan to do some "mix and match" in terms of just which assignments you want to complete this semester to get the points you need for the grade you want to get. So, based on the assignments you enjoy most/least in the class, you can certainly skip some assignments, provided that you end up with the points you need at the end. My only recommendation is that you do this cautiously. You don't want to skip so many assignments that you end up not getting the points you need for your desired grade.

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. You can check the contents of the stack to make sure I received your assignment. As usual, I will be reading and replying to the assignments in the order they were turned in, starting with the ones that were turned in on Friday afternoon and on Saturday.

Yes, I got an iPad. That is how I spent my weekend! Some of you may have done the GoogleBooks Tech Tip, so you know about how I rely on GoogleBooks for access to all kinds of Renaissance and 17th- and 18th-century books (my hobby is researching the history of Aesop's fables, especially during the Renaissance period). Well, GoogleBooks makes all these amazing Renaissance and early modern books available for free in PDF format, but I didn't have a really good way to read those books as books. Using a laptop was uncomfortable, my husband's Kindle really didn't work for these GoogleBooks... but the iPad works like a charm. Normally I'm not someone who is really all that interested in computer gadgets per se (websites, yes! gadgets, no...) - but this time, I am really hooked on a gadget. My library of 1000+ GoogleBooks is now sitting, literally, in my hands. Very exciting! Of course, in all the hype about the iPad, they have not been emphasizing how it is perfect for reading Renaissance Latin editions of Aesop's fables... but that is what I am using my iPad for and it is GREAT! :-)

(image source)