Week 12 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.
Gradebook Declarations. (repeat announcement) Some of you are under a lot of pressure at the end of the semester with projects and tests in your other classes. So please, if you do not have time to fully complete one of the assignments for this class, just skip it, and make up the points later. Read each Declaration carefully and do NOT make the Declaration if you have not completed the work. You need to check your word count and other requirements BEFORE you do the Declaration. The penalties for making false Gradebook Declarations are serious; if you are not clear about this, please check the Honor Code for this class. Your Gradebook Declarations need to be accurate and honest; the whole grading system in this class depends on it.
Storybook Stack. There are still some Storybook assignments in the stack (late Week 11 Storybooks plus early Week 12-13 Storybooks), and I am making my way through them in the order that they were turned in. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. As always on Friday, I will do my best to get comments back before the weekend to any assignment turned in before noon on Friday. Anything that is turned in after noon on Friday will be added to the stack first thing on Monday morning.
Grading and points. (repeat announcement) As you can see in the Grading Information page, 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. My only request is that you please let me know when you are done so I can adjust the comment group assignments accordingly!
Overview of Week 12 and Week 13 Internet assignments. (repeat announcement) The Week 12 Internet assignment is available now, and you will be commenting on Storybooks in your class, with an extra credit option to look at Storybooks in the other classes. Then, for the Week 13 assignment (available next Tuesday, on November 16), you will be voting on your favorite Storybooks for the semester. After you turn in your nominations, I'll set up a ballot so everybody can vote for the best Storybooks - it's not for a grade or anything, it's just for fun, and it gives the folks who have done really excellent work on their Storybooks a chance to get some well deserved recognition.
Saturday, November 13: Vine Deloria. Saturday, November 13, marks the death five years ago, in 2005, of the Sioux Indian author and political activist Vine Deloria, Jr. You can read more about Vine Deloria's life and career in this Wikipedia article. Deloria is most famous for his 1969 book Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto, and also for his various works in religion and theology, such as God Is Red: A Native View of Religion and Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact. Deloria's writings are thoughtful and thought-provoking, and very witty, too, as you can see in one of Deloria's most often cited quotations: When asked by an anthropologist what the Indians called America before the white man came, an Indian said simply, ‘Ours.’ If you are curious to hear Vine Deloria, you can check out this webcast from the Library of Congress from 2002, as part of the National Book Festival.
