Midterm Grade Reports. This is the week when faculty turn in grade reports at Ozone; I've entered grade reports now which means (I think) that you can see that now at Ozone. The midterm grade is based on Weeks 1-7, but not counting the Week 7 Storybook (since I am marking those right now). So, here is how that works out, based on a total of 200 points: if you had 182 points or more, you are headed for an A; with 160-181 points, you are headed for a B; with 142-159 points you are headed for a C. Of course, you can check your progress at any time; there is a Grading Chart that shows each week of the semester and what your total points indicate. If you want to improve your grade, there is still plenty of time to increase your level of participation in the class both by turning in the required assignments and/or doing extra credit to make up for any assignments you have missed.
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 by noon on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in later on Sunday or on Monday, it is 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.
Week 8 Internet assignment. The Week 8 Internet assignment is now available. Once again, you will be commenting on the Storybooks that already have at least one STORY available for you to read. Most of the Storybooks do now have at least one story, since many folks who did not publish a story in Week 6 did publish a story for Week 7. Check the assignment instructions for details about how to find your Storybooks to look at for this week!
Tuesday Events. The Puterbaugh Festival Opening Night Reception honoring Irish playwright Marina Carr will begin at 7:30PM at the Norman Depot, 2oo S. Jones Avenue (time/location/details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.
March 6: Andrzej Wajda. Today marks the birthday of one of the world's great film directors: Andrzej Wajda, who was born in 1926 and who is still an active filmmaker. In fact, one of his recent films, Katyń, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 2007. Katyń is the name of a forest near Smolensk in western Russia where over 20,000 Polish military officers and other Polish prisoners of war were executed. At first, the Nazis blamed the crime on Stalin, and then Stalin blamed the crime on the Nazis, and only recently has it become undeniably clear that the executions were in fact carried out by the Soviet NKVD on Stalin's orders. This was a very personal film for Wajda to make, as his father was one of the slain Polish officers. I highly recommend the film; you can read a review I wrote about it here to learn more.
