Friday, February 11 - Sunday, February 13

HAPPY WEEKEND! You have reached the end of Week 4! The Week 4 Read and Respond assignment (blog commenting) is available now (with new groups!) 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!

NEW RESPONDING GROUPS. The blog responding groups have been shuffled around, so you should find some new people to read and respond to this week. I'll be shuffling the blog groups like this every three or four weeks during the semester. If somehow I've accidentally left anybody off the list, please let me know right away! With these new groups, if someone has not done the blog posts for the current week, you will certainly be able to find other posts in their blog from previous weeks that you can comment on (you can even go back and read their Introduction post, for example).

Storybook Stack. As of Friday morning, I had returned all the Week 3 assignments; there were still some early Week 4, 5, and 6 assignments. I will do my very best to finish reading and responding to every Storybook assignment in the stack that gets turned in before Friday at noon (contents of the stack). 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. 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. If you want comments back sooner, turn your assignment in on Friday or Saturday, not on Sunday or Monday.

Storybook comments. (repeat announcement) Please make sure you look for my comments in the emails I send back to you; my comments are marked with ==> which should make them easy to see as you scan down the text of the email. So, in addition to the top part of the email, the main comments are inserted into your assignment below. You should save these emails, too, since you will be working on the Storybook all semester and you might need to look back at a past email to get some information to help you with a later assignment.

Week 4 Internet: Coverpages. (repeat announcement) For your Internet assignment in Week 4, you will be publishing a Coverpage for your Storybook. This means you will create a NEW SITE with GoogleSites, and the homepage for that new site will be your Coverpage. I hope you will enjoy creating a website for your Storybook. To get some ideas, you can visit these previous Myth-Folklore and World Lit Storybooks, along with these previous Indian Epics Storybooks, and you can also take a look at this semester's new projects: World Literature, Myth-Folklore, and Indian Epics. After everybody publishes their coverpages for Week 4, the Week 5 Internet assignment will be to take a look at different coverpages and give people feedback about them! That assignment will be available starting next Tuesday, February 15.

Tech Tip emails. (repeat announcement) In the long list of things that I work on each week for these classes, the Tech Tip emails come last - sometimes I don't manage to get to those for a week or two, depending on how busy things are (and right now, with everybody getting their Storybooks started, it is a very busy time of the semester for me). Please don't let that hold you back, though - you can go ahead and complete other tips. You definitely don't need to hear back from me about your Tech Tip emails before you go ahead and do more tips if you want!

February 11: Frank Herbert. Today, Friday, marks the anniversary of the death of the science fiction writer Frank Herbert who died in 1986. His novel, Dune, published in 1965, is one of the most popular science fiction novels ever written. Herbert himself wrote five sequels to the novel, with further volumes added by Herbert's son, Brian Herbert, using notes left by his father at his death. Below is a cover for one of the paperback editions of Dune, showing one of the mighty sandworms!

Thursday, February 10

Today is Thursday of WEEK 4 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 the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Wednesday.

Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the large stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in. If you turned in a Week 3 Storybook by Monday at noon, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned something in later on Monday or on Tuesday or Wednesday, 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 should be able to get through the remaining items in the stack by the end of the week. If you want comments back from me on a Storybook assignment, make sure you turn that in by Friday at noon. If you turn something in before noon on Friday, I will do my best to get comments back to you before the weekend!

My Thursday schedule. I do most of my work during regular business hours on Monday-Tuesday and Friday, while scheduling my out-of-office commitments each week, usually on Wednesday or Thursday. This week, I am going to be out of the office for part of the day on Thursday. That means I may be a bit more slow to respond to your emails today than on the other days of the week - but if you send me an email during the day today, I'll definitely get back to you by the end of the day.

Writing Center and Grammar Review. As you start working on your Storybook Introduction for Week 4, 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. You can also work on specific problem areas (commas, apostrophes, and run-on sentences are the most common problems people have) by reviewing these topics and then taking some extra credit Grammar Quizzes.

February 10: Sadequain. Today, February 10, marks the anniversary of the death of the great Pakistani painter and calligrapher, Sadequain, who died in 1987. You can read about his life and works in this Wikipedia article and at the Sadequain Foundation website, where you can find examples of his calligraphy (as below), along with paintings, murals and other artwork. Calligraphy has a special place in the Islamic tradition; you can read more about Islamic calligraphy at Wikipedia.

Wednesday, February 9

*** CAMPUS CLOSED ON WEDNESDAY ***

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 comments. Please make sure you look for my comments in the emails I send back to you; my comments are marked with ==> which should make them easy to see as you scan down the text of the email. So, in addition to the top part of the email, the main comments are inserted into your assignment below. You should save these emails, too, since you will be working on the Storybook all semester and you might need to look back at a past email to get some information to help you with a later assignment.

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 9PM on Sunday, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned something in later on Sunday or on Monday or 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 before Sunday. The Storybook stack is very much a first-come first-served operation!

Week 4 Internet: Coverpages. (repeat announcement) For your Internet assignment in Week 4, you will be publishing a Coverpage for your Storybook. This means you will create a NEW SITE with GoogleSites, and the homepage for that new site will be your Coverpage. I hope you will enjoy creating a website for your Storybook. To get some ideas, you can visit these previous Myth-Folklore and World Lit Storybooks, along with these previous Indian Epics Storybooks, and you can also take a look at this semester's new projects: World Literature, Myth-Folklore, and Indian Epics. After everybody publishes their coverpages for Week 4, the Week 5 Internet assignment will be to take a look at different coverpages and give people feedback about them! That assignment will be available starting next Tuesday, February 15.

Tech Tip emails. As I've announced before, in the long list of things that I work on each week for these classes, the Tech Tip emails come last - sometimes I don't manage to get to those for a week or two, depending on how busy things are (and right now, with everybody getting their Storybooks started, it is a very busy time of the semester for me). Please don't let that hold you back, though - you can go ahead and complete other tips. You definitely don't need to hear back from me about your Tech Tip emails before you go ahead and do more tips if you want!

February 9: Paul Laurence Dunbar. Today marks the death in the year 1906 of the great African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. Dunbar was born a free man, in the state of Ohio, in the year 1872, but both of his parents had been slaves. His father served in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, a black regiment of the Union Army whose story is told in the amazing film, Glory. There is a special section of the Library of Congress website dedicated to Dunbar's poetry - it is definitely worth browsing through! The image below shows a poster advertising a public reading by Dunbar of his poetry (Ohio Historical Society):

Tuesday, February 8

*** CAMPUS CLOSED ON WEDNESDAY ***

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 4 of the class, and I've re-arranged the Quiz area in Desire2Learn so Week 4 is on top. This week's topic is ancient Greece in Myth-Folklore, Sufi stories in World Literature, and a new version of the Ramayana in Indian Epics. If you have not turned in your Week 3 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit (see Monday's announcements for details about late Storybook assignments).

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 by 10PM on Saturday, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned something in later on Saturday or on Sunday or 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.

Week 4 Internet: Coverpages. For your Internet assignment in Week 4, you will be publishing a Coverpage for your Storybook. This means you will create a NEW SITE with GoogleSites, and the homepage for that new site will be your Coverpage. I hope you will enjoy creating a website for your Storybook. To get some ideas, you can visit these previous Myth-Folklore and World Lit Storybooks, along with these previous Indian Epics Storybooks, and you can also take a look at this semester's new projects (see next announcement).

Storybook Coverpages published! There are already some people who have published their Storybook Coverpages - please feel free to take a look: World Literature, Myth-Folklore, and Indian Epics. Congratulations to the people who are ahead of schedule on their Storybooks! This list was updated on Monday morning; I'll keep adding new Storybooks to the list as people turn in their Week 4 Internet assignments.

February 8: Nirvana Day. In some Buddhist countries, February 8 is celebrated as Nirvana Day or Parinirvana Day (in other countries the holiday is celebrated on February 15). This is, by tradition, the anniversary of the day on which the Buddha left this life; as he died, he achieved "nirvana" which is release from the cycle of life, suffering, death and rebirth. You can read more about this holiday at the BBC Religions website. The image below is a depiction from Thailand of the Buddha's parinirvana:

Monday, February 7

Today is Monday, and the big news is, of course, that CAMPUS IS OPEN for classes again. Meanwhile, 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 5 Internet assignment. 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 that assignment until everybody has gotten their Storybook coverpages published online, which will be happening later this week when people get to the Week 4 Internet assignment. During Weeks 5-12, the Internet assignment will be available on the first day of each week (Tuesday) and you will have all week to complete it. I'll make more information available about all that next Monday, when the Week 5 Internet assignment will be available.

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 already - please do not go on to the Week 5 Storybook assignment until you get my Week 4 comments, etc.). I will get comments back to you as promptly as I can; if you want comments sooner rather than later, turn in your assignment on Friday or Saturday instead of waiting until Sunday to turn that in.

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 after noon can receive up to 8 points credit; if it is turned in on Tuesday, you can get up to 7 points of credit; on Wednesday, 6 points of credit; the absolute deadline for turning in your Storybook assignment for partial credit is noon on Thursday, when you can get up to 5 points of partial credit.

February 7: Laura Ingalls Wilder. Sunday, February 7, marks the birthday in the year 1867 of the American author, Laura Ingalls Wilder. I'm sure many of you may have read her series of books about life growing up on the American frontier, starting with Little House in the Big Woods, and you might also have seen the old Michael Landon television series based on that series, Little House on the Prairie. You can read more about the life and career of Laura Ingalls Wilder in this Wikipedia article. This photograph shows the Ingalls family, with Caroline (mother) on the left, Carrie and Laura standing, then Charles (father) sitting, with Grace and Mary on the right (image source):