Friday, December 2 - Sunday, December 4

HAPPY WEEKEND! You have reached the end of Week 14! The Week 14 Read and Respond assignment (blog commenting) is available now, and the remaining Week 14 assignments are due on Friday or on Saturday or Sunday - please make sure you get started on those assignments soon. I would also strongly - STRONGLY - encourage you to finish your Week 15 assignments this weekend, since it is the LAST WEEKEND you will have to do work for this class.

IMPORTANT SCHEDULE NOTE. For those of you who will still be doing classwork during Week 15 (dead week), please be aware that it is on a different schedule: All final Week 15 assignments are due by Friday, December 9, at NOON. In addition, unlike previous weeks, you do not have the option to turn in your Week 14 Storybook assignment late. Instead, your Week 14 Storybook assignment MUST be turned in on time - that is, during the Week 14 grace period Monday morning, December 5, at the very latest. You have to get the Week 14 assignment turned in on time so that I can get comments back to you in time to complete your Week 15 assignment by Friday at noon!

Course evaluation at eval.ou.edu. (repeat announcement) The course evaluations for this course and your other courses are available now at the eval.ou.edu website. I hope you will take a few minutes to complete the evaluation - your feedback is incredibly helpful to me in making improvements to these courses, and it is also a big help to the College in general as they continue to develop the online course program. The online course program exists because students find it valuable to be able to take courses online, and any ideas you have for how the program can be improved will be very useful to the College as they continue (hopefully!) to offer these online courses. Plus, you might win a free iPad just for participating! (So far, no student in one of these courses has won an iPad... but maybe it will finally happen this semester: I think they should have a special iPad give-away just for online course students, IMHO.)

Final Grades. (repeat announcement) As you reach the points you need for your final grade in this class - 410 points for an A, 360 points for a B, 320 points for a C - let me know, and I'll record the letter grade for you there in the Desire2Learn Gradebook. You can mix and match whatever assignments you prefer to get the final points you need - but be careful as you make your choices, so that you don't accidentally come up short of the points you will need.

Storybook stack. As of Friday morning, there were a few Storybooks still in the stack; you can see here the contents of the stack. If you want to turn in a Storybook to get comments and points before the weekend, make sure you turn that in by noon on Friday. I'll try to reply to everything turned in on Friday - but, to be sure, please turn your Storybook in by noon.

Friday Events on Campus. See Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker at the Rupel Jones Theater! Performances are 8 PM Dec. 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 and 3 PM Dec. 3, 4, 10, 11 (time/location/details). Find out more about this event and other events happening on Friday at the Campus Calendar online.

Storybook ballot results! Thanks to all of you who took the time to cast your ballot, and congratulations to the winners, to all the nominees, and to EVERYBODY who learned how to make your own website this semester: I hope that is a skill that will turn out to be useful to you in the future! :-)

MYTH-FOLKLORE
INDIAN EPICS
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Thursday, December 1

Today is Thursday of WEEK 14 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 13 Storybook assignment yet, you may turn that in BY NOON for partial credit. For those of you in Myth-Folklore, Thursday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Wednesday.

STORYBOOK VOTING: Polls close at 5PM today. Today, Thursday, is your last chance to vote for your favorite Storybooks. Just like every semester, because all the Storybooks are so good, the votes are VERY close - so, yes, a single vote does make a difference in this very local micro-election. You can see the nominees here for both classes. The voting will go until 5PM today, Thursday, and I'll announce the results in Friday's announcements.

Storybook stack. There are still a few Storybooks in the stack which I hope to get to today. You can check the contents of the stack to make sure I have received your assignment. If you want to get comments back before the weekend, make sure to get your Storybooks turned in by Friday at 8AM.

Course evaluation at eval.ou.edu. For information about the course evaluation now available online, see yesterday's announcements.

Week 15 Schedule. For those of you who will still be doing classwork during Week 15 (dead week), see yesterday's announcements.

Grading and points. (repeat announcement) When you finish up with the class I record a "FINAL GRADE" in the D2L 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 that means it is often not a top priority). Whatever grade you decide to stop with is fine with me; just let me know when you are done, and I'll record the grade!

Thursday Events on Campus. Art Museum Poetry Reading - Glenn Mott will present poems in conjunction with Robert Rauschenberg's Lotus Series in the Fred Jones Museum at 7PM in the Nancy Johnston Records Gallery (time/location/details). Find out more about this event and other events happening on Thursday at the Campus Calendar online.

December: Latin Christmas Carols. As one of my Latin hobbies, I collect Christmas carols and holiday songs in Latin, and I've got a special blog - Gaudium Mundo - where you can find a different Latin Christmas carol or holiday song for each day of the month of December... beginning with Rudolphus on December 1 - with no less than SIX, count 'em, SIX different versions of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in Latin! So, if you have taken Latin or are taking Latin now, you might want to check out the Gaudium-Mundo blog for a Classical Christmas! If you are interested in Rudolph in particular, here's the page about Rudolphus rubrinasus.

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Wednesday, November 30

Today is Wednesday of WEEK 14 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 13 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.

Course evaluation at eval.ou.edu. After an initial mix-up, the course evaluations are now available at eval.ou.edu. THANKS in advance for your input. Every semester I make changes to these classes, trying out new things, improving things, etc., and your input is extremely valuable in deciding what changes to make. It is also very important in determining the future of the online course program; there is still a lot of resistance to online courses at OU, and student input is crucial in determining what direction the online course program will take at OU.

Storybook Stack. There are still quite a few Storybook assignments in the stack, but I have managed to read and respond to everything turned in last week or over the weekend. Storybooks turned in on Monday or later are probably still in the stack. If you want to check to make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. Also, if the points from the Storybook will give you what you need to finish the class, send me an email to let me know, and I'll put your Storybook at the top of the stack. :-)

Storybook Ballots. (repeat announcement) I've tallied up the nominations that people turned in (thanks to everybody who participated in that part of the process!), and you can see the top nominations for each class here: Storybook Ballot Fall 2011. The ballot contains LINKS to all the Storybooks which you can use to refresh your memory - and also to visit the Storybooks in the other class, if you are curious. For each class, you will find the actual ballot for voting in Desire2Learn in Week 14. This is just for fun - not for points or a grade or anything. If you have a few minutes to spare, please vote for your own personal favorites! The ballot will be available until 5PM on Thursday of this week and I'll announce the results Friday.

Week 15 Schedule Note. (repeat announcement) For those of you who will still be doing class work during Week 15 (dead week), please be aware that it is on a different schedule: the final deadline for Week 15 assignments is Friday, December 9, at noon. There is no weekend time and there is no Monday morning grace period, since that would run into final exam times. As a result, your Week 14 Storybook assignment must be turned in by Monday noon, December 5, at the latest - I cannot accept late Storybooks for Week 14 because that would not give me time to get comments back to you for your Week 15 assignment. So, please take note: no late Week 14 Storybook assignments.

Wednesday Events on Campus. There will be a seminar on Final Exams & Test Management at 4PM in Wagner Hall 245 (time/location/details). Find out more about this event and other events happening on Wednesday at the Campus Calendar online.

November 30: Mark Twain. Today, November 30, marks the birthday of Mark Twain in the year 1835. As the author of Huckleberry Finn, Twain is one of the most important authors in the American literary tradition - and also one of the funniest. My favorite of Twain's books is A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which you can read online here - with illustrations, too! The image below shows Twain accepting an honorary degree at Oxford University in 1907:

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Tuesday: November 29

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 14 of the class. That means you are finishing up Buck's Mahabharata in Indian Epics (Week 15 will be a Mahabharata review week), while it's American folklore in the Myth-Folklore class. For those of you who are working ahead, Week 15 is also available, and I would really encourage you to finish those assignments now so that you can take full advantage of dead week. If you have not turned in your Week 13 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit.

Storybook Ballots. I've tallied up the nominations that people turned in (thanks to everybody who participated in that part of the process!), and you can see the top nominations for each class here: Storybook Ballot Fall 2011. The ballot contains LINKS to all the Storybooks which you can use to refresh your memory - and also to visit the Storybooks in the other class, if you are curious. For each class, you will find the actual ballot for voting in Desire2Learn in Week 14. This is just for fun - not for points or a grade or anything. If you have a few minutes to spare, please vote for your own personal favorites! The ballot will be available until 5PM on Thursday of this week and I'll announce the results Friday.

Storybook stack. There are still a lot of Storybooks in the stack; I've been focusing on the people whose Storybook assignment would give them the points they need to finish up the class. If you turned in an assignment, you can check the contents of the stack to make sure I have received your email. Meanwhile, if the points for that assignment will give you the points you need to finish the class, send me a separate email to let me know, and I'll put your Storybook at the top of the stack.

UPDATE Week 14 Internet assignment. There was an IT error of some kind that has now been fixed - so, yes, the online course evaluations for these classes are NOW AVAILABLE, as of 10 AM on Tuesday morning, together with the evaluations for your other classes. If you logged on earlier and were told the evaluation was not available, give it another try. You should now be able to log on to eval.ou.edu and complete the online course evaluation for this course along with your other courses. (Thanks again to those of you who let me know where was a problem; the instructors do not have any access until January, so I had no way of knowing just what the situation was - if you run into other problems here, definitely let me know; thanks!)

IMPORTANT Week 15 Schedule Note. For those of you who will still be doing classwork during Week 15 (dead week), please be aware that it is on a different schedule: the final deadline for Week 15 assignments is Friday, December 9, at noon. There is no weekend time and there is no Monday morning grace period since that would run into final exam times. As a result, your Week 14 Storybook assignment must be turned in by Monday noon, December 5, at the latest - I cannot accept late Storybooks for Week 14 because that would not give me time to get comments back to you for your Week 15 assignment. So, please take note: no late Week 14 Storybook assignments.

Tuesday Events on Campus. On Tuesday at 2PM in the Photography Gallery of the Fred Jones Museum there will be a walking tour of the exhibit "No Heaven Awaits Us: Contemporary Chinese Photography & Video." (time/location/details). Find out more about this event and other events happening on Tuesday at the Campus Calendar online.

November 29: C. S. Lewis. Today marks the birthday in the year 1898 of the famous author and scholar, C. S. Lewis. Lewis is probably best known today for his series of Narnia books. You can read more about Lewis's life and career in this Wikipedia article, and there is also a biographical film about his later life which is very much worth watching: Shadowlands. The image below shows the first-edition covers of the Narnia books. I like these books very much; my personal favorite is The Magician's Nephew - and if you took a look at Kathleen's Storybook, A Town Called Diggory, you might have noticed that she made good use of names borrowed from that book for her project!

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Monday, November 28

Today is Monday, and Week 13 of the class is now over. (Yes, Week 13 - that is the week which started before Thanksgiving; you had all of Thanksgiving week off.) Monday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due at the end of Week 13. Week 14 will begin tomorrow - and those assignments are available now if you want to get started. The Week 15 assignments are also available now, too!

Storybook stack. As usual on Monday, the Storybook stack is very large! First thing on Monday morning, I will update the contents of the stack, and I will begin working my way through the stack based on the order in which things were turned in. If the points for your Storybook assignment(s) will give you the points you need to finish up the class, send me a SEPARATE email and I'll move your assignment(s) to the top of the stack; you can put something like "Final Storybook points" in the subject line of the email so I'll be sure to see it.

Week 13 Internet assignment. UPDATE: *BALLOT NOW AVAILABLE* After people finish turning in their Storybook nominations for the Week 13 Internet assignment today at noon, I'll prepare a ballot with the most-nominated Storybooks for you to vote on. I will do my best to get that ready on Tuesday, with voting to take place this week, and winners to be announced on Friday. Thanks to everybody who turned in their nominations!

Week 14 Internet assignment. For the Week 14 Internet assignment, you'll be doing an online course evaluation of this class. The online evaluation will take place at the eval.ou.edu website, and the evaluation will probably be available starting on Tuesday, November 29 (at least, that is when it has been available in past years). You will be receiving an email directly from the College of Arts & Sciences with specific information about how to log on and complete the evaluation form for this class and for your other classes. THANKS in advance for your input. Every semester I make changes to these classes, trying out new things, improving things, etc., and your input is extremely valuable in deciding what changes to make.

Monday Events on Campus. In the Food Court of the Union there will be a free noon concert by Stephen Pittman (time/location/details). Find out more about this event and other events happening on Monday at the Campus Calendar online.

November 28: William Blake. Today marks the birthday in 1757 of the visionary English poet and artist William Blake. You can read more about his remarkable life and career in this Wikipedia article. Much of Blake's artwork was religious in nature; the painting below is an illustration of the famous scene from the Biblical book of Samuel, where the witch of Endor (right) conjures up the ghost of Samuel (center) at the command of King Saul in disguise (left):

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