Friday, April 8 - Sunday, April 10

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 some more folks having finished up with the classes. 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 which you will find there in the instructions.

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 - and if you turned in a late Week 10 assignment, or if you turned in some other Storybook assignment by Friday at noon, I will do my best to get comments back to you by the end of the day Friday. (Anything that comes in after noon on Friday goes into the stack for Monday.)

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 8: International Day of the Roma. Friday, April 8, is an international holiday in honor of the traditions of the Roma people, whom 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:

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Thursday, April 7

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.

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 on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in on Monday, or on Tuesday or Wednesday, it may still be 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 which you will find there in the instructions.

Finishing the class early. Some more people have finished up the class early: congratulations! When you finish up with the class I record a "FINAL GRADE" in the Gradebook so you can be sure you are done. So, just let me know when 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 (many people are taking this class just for Gen. Ed. credit, and I know it is often not a top priority). 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.

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 91st 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!



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April 6 2012: Student Writing Panel


http://mythfolklore.net/studentwriting

I am pleased to announce that on Friday, April 6, OU's Center for Learning, Teaching and Writing will be sponsoring an all-day colloquium on faculty and student writing. The colloquium will take place in the OU Writing Center, Room 280 Wagner Hall (map); here is the full schedule.

In the final session of the day, 2:15pm - 3pm, there will be a panel of student writers, including three students from MLLL-3043 Mythology and Folklore and MLLL-4993 Ancient Indian Epics. These students will provide a guided tour of their online Storybook projects so that you can learn more about:
  • creative writing assignments
  • semester-long writing projects
  • using GoogleSites to publish websites
  • using Ning to share feedback online
Here is some more information about the students with links to their projects online:


Bailey Carter - Hotel California
Bailey is a senior majoring in Film and Media Studies.



Kira Godinet - Rate My Rishi
Kira is a senior majoring in International and Area Studies.




Chelsey Kraft - Desperate Goddesses
Chelsey is a junior majoring in Journalism.


~ ~ ~
If you are curious to learn more about the Storybook projects, you can find lots of information here:
If you have questions or comments and want to get in touch with Laura Gibbs, the instructor for these classes, you can use email (laura-gibbs@ou.edu) or - even better - use Google+ to connect with Laura and lots of other educators online: http://plus.ly/lauragibbs.

Wednesday, April 6

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 which you will find there in the instructions.

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 before 10PM on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in later on Sunday or 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.

My Wednesday 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 Wednesday. 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.

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. A student even did a Moreau Storybook last year, building her stories around the images in his paintings. One of his most famous paintings shows Oedipus and the Sphinx:

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Tuesday, April 5

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 11 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.

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 which you will find there in the instructions.

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 Saturday, you should have comments back from me and points recorded in the Gradebook. If you turned something in 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 replying to the assignments in the order they were turned in; remember, if you want comments sooner rather than later, turn in your assignment on Saturday or Sunday morning, instead of waiting until Sunday evening or Monday morning.

Wednesday Event. Jack Randolph from the College of International Studies asked me to share this announcement: Social Entrepreneurship: The Role of Technology in the Developing World, Wednesday, April 6, 5PM-6:30PM, in the Sandy Bell Gallery at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. The keynote speaker is Charles Kenny, author of Getting Better: Why Global Development is Succeeding – And How We Can Improve the World Even More. For more information, see the poster for the event here (PDF format).

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Monday, April 4

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 record the final grade for you in the Gradebook.

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, then the Storybooks from Saturday, and then finally assignments turned in on Sunday and on Monday.

April 4 2011: Ugadi. This is the New Year's Festival, also known as Yugadi, which is observed in the southern Indian states of of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa. It is a holiday calculated by the lunar calendar and it usually falls in March, but this year it falls in April. There are many special foods associated with this holiday, including dishes that combine six tastes - bitterness, sweetness, hotness, saltiness, sourness, and tanginess - whose range represents the equilibrium you hope to experience in the coming year. You can read more at Wikipedia; here is an Ugadi greeting card:

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