Class Procedures and Reminders
Blog AND Storybook Comments. Both the Week 6 blog commenting and Week 6 Storybook commenting (Internet) assignments are ready to go! The assignments are somewhat similar, but they are also different, so make sure you read the instructions for the Storybook comments, and if you have any questions, let me know! For the next six weeks, you will have these same two assignments each week: blog comments and Storybook comments, with random groups each week, plus a free choice each week for the Storybooks.
Week 6 UnTextbook Report. Thanks as always to the people who filled out the Google Form with your comments and feedback about the Asian and African units. I've written up the results here: Week 6 UnTextbook Report. Those of you in the Myth-Folklore class might want to take a look as you get ready for Week 7's reading.
Designing Your Class Schedule. (repeat announcement) I've drawn up some sample class schedules that show exactly how you can arrange this class like a M-W-F- class OR like a T-Th class OR a weekend class. There are other possibilities, too, of course — the options are really unlimited. As I've mentioned before, I would encourage everyone to come up with their own schedule since it's unlikely that the daily deadlines are going to align with your existing commitments. The weekend is a great time to start your new schedule!
Storybook Stack. I don't update the Storybook stack as often on the weekends, but you can check there to make sure I received your assignment; I'll update it at least once or twice over the weekend. If you want comments back on your assignment sooner rather than later, turn your work in today or on Sunday morning. If you wait until Sunday evening, you will be farther down in the stack and will have to wait longer for my comments back to you.
Week 8 Review. (repeat announcement) For those of you who are working ahead, Week 8 is a review week, and the M-T-W-Th assignments for Week 8 are not ready yet, but they will be ready on Friday, October 3. If you have finished the reading and blogging for Week 7 already, just keep on going: you can move on to Week 9 reading assignments now! That's the Native American reading in Myth-Folklore, and Narayan's Mahabharata in Indian Epics.
The following items are for fun and exploration:Week 8 Review. (repeat announcement) For those of you who are working ahead, Week 8 is a review week, and the M-T-W-Th assignments for Week 8 are not ready yet, but they will be ready on Friday, October 3. If you have finished the reading and blogging for Week 7 already, just keep on going: you can move on to Week 9 reading assignments now! That's the Native American reading in Myth-Folklore, and Narayan's Mahabharata in Indian Epics.
Learning Resource: Growth Mindset. As you can guess, I am a big fan of Carol Dweck's theory of the "growth mindset" as the key to learning!
Mythology Words in English: Today's mythology word in English is JOVIAL, from the planet Jupiter, named for the Roman god Jupiter, a.k.a. Jove. For details, see this blog post.
Featured Storybook: When Brothers Cross Paths. You probably know the Winchester brothers from the TV show Supernatural, and you surely know the Brothers Grimm, so in this Storybook you can see what happens when the four brothers join forces.
FREE Kindle eBook: Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria by Elphinstone Dayrell. Here is a link to the book at Amazon, and this blog post provides additional information about the contents of the book, which is the source for the Nigerian unit coming up in Myth-Folklore next week.
Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago; the second-best time is now (a Chinese proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. This is true for trees... and for other long-term projects too!
Ramayana Image: Today's Ramayana image shows Hanuman and Sita, along with some of the rakshasis who are holding Sita prisoner.
Saturday Event on Campus: There will be a violin recital by Hal Grossman in Catlett Music Center at 8PM (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.
September 27: Rosetta Stone. On this day in the year 1822, Jean-François Champollion announced that he had deciphered the Rosetta stone, a crucial step in the interpretation of the ancient Egyptian writing system which was based on hieroglyphs. So, if you have seen the ads for "Rosetta Stone" language-learning software, you might be interested in reading about the history of the real Rosetta Stone itself! You can find out more in this Wikipedia article, and below you can see a picture of the actual Rosetta Stone in the British Museum:
Note: You can page back through older blog posts to see any announcements you might have missed, and you can check out the Twitter stream for information and fun stuff during the day.
