Class Procedures and Reminders
Portfolio/Storybook Stack. I don't update the Portfolio/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, don't wait until Sunday evening. If you wait until Sunday evening or the Monday grace period, you will be farther down in the stack and will have to wait longer for my comments back to you.
Indian Epics: Weeks 11-14. There's a twist in the reading routine for Indian Epics in Weeks 11-14 so that you will be choosingwhat you want to read: Buck's Mahabharata (for four weeks) OR four one-week long reading options from the Myth-Folklore class. I've put up some information here that I hope will be helpful: Indian Epics Reading Choice. I hope that all makes sense, and if you have any questions about that, let me know!
Week 10 UnTextbook Report. Thanks as always to the people who filled out the Google Form with your comments and feedback about the Native American units. I've written up the results here: Week 10 UnTextbook Report. I hope you will enjoy the next two weeks of stories from the British Isles, both English and Celtic. If you have any questions as you make your reading choices, let me know.
Google Back-Up/Check-Up. (repeat announcement) I've made a new extra credit assignment that is available each week so that you can back up your work, just in case, and also check on your progress in D2L. You'll see this in the weekly assignments list now with the other end-of-week extra credit options: Back-Up / Check-Up Extra Credit. I would also urge everybody to make sure you have an alternate email address and/or text messaging option in case you run into trouble with your Google account: Google Account Security.
The following items are for fun and exploration:
Book Recommendation: The Unfolding of Language by Guy Deutscher. I would suggest that if you are going to read, and only one, book about linguistics, this would be the book to read! Don't let the evolution aspect put you off. Guy Deutscher's goal is to speculate about language change in the past based on the language changes we see happening around us today, every day. It's exciting stuff, and a very fun read, written with a general audience in mind.
Featured Storybook: Odysseus Goes Shopping. In the beginning, there was a list — a shopping list, and adventures worthy of Odysseus await Sam, our intrepid shopper, as he dutifully attempts to acquire all the items on that shopping list in time for Thanksgiving dinner.
FREE Kindle eBook: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. 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 Celtic Fairy Tales unit coming up in Myth-Folklore.
Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade (a Chinese proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. This is true of trees... and other slow-growing things.
Mahabharata Image: Today's Mahabharata image is Bhima and Duryodhana as they confront one another in the Battle of Kurukshetra.
Sunday Event NEAR Campus: There will be a matinee performance of Our Town at the Sooner Theater (101 E. Main Street), in conjunction with the OU School of Drama (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.
October 26: Carlo Collodi. Today, October 26, marks the anniversary of the death in the year 1890 of the Italian author, Carlo Collodi, who is best known today as the creator of the the story of Pinocchio, the little boy made of wood. If you have never read the actual Pinocchio story, I highly recommend it - it's a surprising and beautiful and mysterious book, definitely one of the best books ever written for children, in my opinion. Here is Pinocchio in English online. The image below is from an English version with the Attilio Mussino illustrations::
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.
