Friday, February 25 - Sunday, February 27

HAPPY WEEKEND! You have reached the end of Week 6! The Week 6 Read and Respond assignment (blog commenting) is available now, and so is the Week 6 Internet assignment (Storybook commenting), along with the remaining Week 6 assignments that are due on Friday or on Saturday or Sunday - please make sure you get started on those assignments soon. Friday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Thursday.

Friday drop deadline. Friday, February 25, is the last day to drop the class with an automatic grade of W on your transcript. For more information, see Wednesday's announcements.

Commenting on Storybooks. (repeat announcement) Every week from now through Week 12 of the semester, you will be commenting on people's writing at their Storybooks. During these weeks as you comment on people's Storybooks, please provide as much detailed, specific feedback as possible! It's nice to get compliments, but it is also really good to get feedback about what things could be improved, especially now, early in the semester. So, do not hesitate to say when something is confusing, or when something seems repetitious, or if you think something is important is missing. Every semester, students tell me that they wish they had received more detailed feedback on their Storybooks, rather than just generic compliments. So, try to be a really careful and attentive reader of each Storybook you visit, providing detailed, useful feedback in your comments, describing your own experience as you read the Storybook.

The Ning Comment Wall. (repeat announcement) Every week for the next couple of months, people will be leaving comments about your Storybook at the Ning Comment Wall which is part of your Profile page. It would be great if you make the latest activity and blog activity invisible, so that way there will be more room on your Profile page for the Comment Wall. There is a Technology Tip for cleaning up your Ning Profile in order to get things all spiffed up and ready for visitors.

Storybook Stack. There are some late Week 5 and early Week 6-7-8 Storybook assignments in the stack as of Friday morning. My goal is always to get every Storybook returned before the weekend that is turned in before noon on Friday. If you turn something in after noon on Friday, it will go to the top of the stack on Monday morning. For those of you who would like to get comments back sooner rather than later on your Storybook assignment, turn it in on Friday or on Saturday - don't wait until Sunday!

February 25: Neil Jordan. Friday, February 25, is the birthday of the amazing Irish film director, Neil Jordan. You can read an article here in Wikipedia about his very prolific career in movie-making. There are so many of his films that I enjoy, but three of them really stand out - The Crying Game (for which Jordan won the Academy Award), Michael Collins (one of Liam Neeson's best films ever) and Breakfast on Pluto (see the poster below). Happy birthday, Neil Jordan! I am hoping we will get to see many more films from him yet to come!

Thursday, February 24

Today is Thursday of WEEK 6 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 5 Storybook assignment yet, you may turn that in on Thursday morning for partial credit. Thursday morning, until noon, is also the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Wednesday.

Commenting on Storybooks. Every week from now through Week 12 of the semester, you will be commenting on people's writing at their Storybooks. During these weeks as you comment on people's Storybooks, please provide as much detailed, specific feedback as possible! It's nice to get compliments, but it is also really good to get feedback about what things could be improved, especially now, early in the semester. So, do not hesitate to say when something is confusing, or when something seems repetitious, or if you think something is important is missing. Every semester, students tell me that they wish they had received more detailed feedback on their Storybooks, rather than just generic compliments. So, try to be a really careful and attentive reader of each Storybook you visit, providing detailed, useful feedback in your comments, describing your own experience as you read the Storybook.

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 5 assignment, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned an assignment for Week 6-7-8-etc., your assignment 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. Friday at noon is the deadline if you want to get comments back from me about your Storybook assignment before the weekend.

My Thursday schedule. I try to schedule my out-of-office commitments 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.

Friday drop deadline. Repeat announcement. This Friday, February 25, is the last day to drop the class with an automatic grade of W on your transcript. For more information, see yesterday's announcements.

MEDIA AWARD! Big congratulations to Drew Munhausen (Indian Epics) whose music video "Von Phat: Made in America" has won a national award, taking third place in the Broadcast Educator’s Association for student-produced music video. How cool is that???! Here is the video: be warned - if you listen to this song, it will get in your head and you won't be able to get it out for a day or two! Congratulations, Drew!

Wednesday, February 23

Today is Wednesday of WEEK 6 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 5 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 Sunday, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned something in on Monday or Tuesday, your assignment is probably still in the stack, waiting for me to get to it. You can check to make sure your assignment is in the stack; here are the contents of the stack.

Week 6 Internet assignment. If you did not read yesterday's announcement about the Week 6 Internet assignment (reading and commenting on Storybook Introductions), please make sure to take a look at that - the assignment is available now!

Automatic W for class drops. (repeat announcement) This week, if you drop a class, it shows up automatically as a W on your transcript. After this week, you cannot drop a class with an automatic W. Instead, you can only receive a W if you are passing the class at the time of the drop (and if you are passing a class, you probably would not need to drop the class, right?). So, if you are finding the semester to be overwhelming, this is the week when you can make adjustments to your schedule that will not have an adverse effect on your transcript.

February 23: Majel Barrett Roddenberry. As a lifelong fan of Star Trek in all its incarnations, I am also a fan of Majel Barrett in all her incarnations - and today, February 23, is Majel Barrett's birthday. She was born in 1932 and died in 2008; her husband, Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, died in 1991 - and in 2012, their ashes are scheduled to be launched into deep space. Majel Barrett provided the voice of the computer for Star Trek: The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, and she also played Nurse Chapel in the original series and Lwaxana Troi in Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Here's a picture of her from back in the Nurse Chapel days, along with the rest of the cast of the original series:

Tuesday, February 22

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 6 of the class, and I've re-arranged the Quiz area in Desire2Learn so Week 6 is on top. This week's topic is Greek mythology in World Literature, while in Myth-Folklore, you are moving to the Middle East, and in Indian Epics, Hanuman is on his way to Lanka! If you have not turned in your Week 5 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit.

Week 6 Internet assignment available NOW. Now that Week 6 has begun, the Week 6 Internet assignment is also available. You will be reading and commenting on four different Introductions this week. The assignment is available now, and everybody should have published their Introduction already. If someone does not have their Introduction yet, you do NOT have to wait for them. Go on to another Storybook that is ready for you to read. You'll find detailed instructions at the Internet assignment page.

Storybook Stack. As usual at the beginning of the week there are still LOTS of Storybook assignments in the stack. If you turned something in on Friday or Saturday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in on Sunday or on or Monday, 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. It is really important that you check to make sure your assignment is in the stack. Every week, at least one or two emails are mysteriously gobbled up by the OU email system, leaving no trace - and the sooner you can let me know about that, the better!

Spring Break. For Spring Break, you will have the entire week off - that will happen during Week 8, as you can see on the Semester Calendar here. You will have your regular Week 8 assignments due on Tuesday-Thursday. Then, I would encourage everybody to finish up the final Week 8 assignments on Friday, March 11 - but if you want to wait and do them on the weekend after Spring Break, you can do that, too. The grace period for wrapping up Week 8 will be on Monday morning, March 21, after Spring Break.

February 22: Rashi. Today marks the birthday in the year 1040 of the great French rabbi Rashi, who wrote one of the most important commentaries on the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. His name, Rashi, is an acronom: his actual name was Shlomo Yitzhaki, so from his name and title, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, we get the nickname R-SH-I (it's kind of like the way we use JFK or LBJ to refer to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson). You can read about his career in this detailed Wikipedia article. The image below comes from The Rothschild Miscellany, an illuminated manuscript from the Middle Ages that contains Rashi's commentary on the Biblical Book of Proverbs; the image show King Solomon, the putative author of Proverbs, expounding their meaning:

Monday, February 21

Today is Monday, and Week 5 of the class is now over - and that means you have completed one-third of the semester. Wow! Week 6 will begin tomorrow - and those assignments are available now if you want to get started. Monday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Friday/Saturday/Sunday.

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 be reading and replying to the assignments in the order they were turned in, beginning with the assignments turned in on Friday afternoon or on Saturday.

Writing Center. As you continue working on your Storybook Introduction and begin adding stories to your project, 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.

Automatic W for class drops. This week, if you drop a class, it shows up automatically as a W on your transcript. After this week, you cannot drop a class with an automatic W. Instead, you can only receive a W if you are passing the class at the time of the drop (and if you are passing a class, you probably would not need to drop the class, right?). So, if you are finding the semester to be overwhelming, this is the week when you can make adjustments to your schedule that will not have an adverse effect on your transcript. Friday, February 25, is the final date this semester for dropping with an automatic "W" on your transcript.

February 21: Multilingual Poetry Cafe. Here's an announcement from Elizabeth Rucker... Love languages? Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Adams RSA, and the Adams Faculty-in-Residence are hosting Speak Up! The Multilingual Poetry Cafe MONDAY, February 21st at 7 PM at the Adams Faculty-in-Residence apartment (Adams Center, 1st floor). We'd love to see every language represented so bring your favorite poems, songs, and raps to share! Homemade cookies and lemonade will be provided! See the poster for more information - and if you have a campus event you want me to announce to the class, just let me know.