Class Procedures and Reminders
Blog commenting. Thanks for all the new stories, everybody! After the grace period ends at noon today, I'll start putting together the new random blog groups for the blog commenting so that you can read more stories and meet more people by reading their Introductions. I'll get that done on Thursday afternoon and will update these announcements when the groups are ready to go — I'll have that done by 5PM at the latest.
Update: The blog commenting assignment is ready to go! :-)
Introductions. I think I've managed to leave comments myself on all the Introductions now, but if somehow I missed yours, let me know. It was really great getting to meet all of you, and I am sure you will each enjoy getting to know more and more people in the class as the weeks go by.
Class schedule. For those of you who are doing the work while watching the clock, I wanted to share again this important information about creating your own class schedule. The deadlines that I set are probably not very convenient for you, and I'm guessing you probably don't want to be doing work for this class every day, right? So, make your own schedule! It's an online class, and you can organize it however you want: MWF, TTh, weekend-only. It's up to you! Here's how that works: Designing Your Own Class Schedule.
The following items are for fun and exploration:
Knowledge is (Super)Power. The phrase "knowledge is power" is famously associated with the great English thinker, Sir Francis Bacon: scientia potentia est in Latin This poster shows that knowledge is not just power, but a superpower!
Mythology Words in English: Today's mythology word in English is CEREAL, from the Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres (Demeter to the Greeks). For details, see this blog post.
Featured Storybook: The Ravana Diaries. For many years, an archaeologist has been excavating ancient sites on the island of Lanka, seeking to learn more about Ravana, King of the Rakshasas. Finally one day he discovers just what he has always hoped to find: Ravana's own diary.
Free Book Online: Historic Tales - Greek by Charles Morris. This blog post provides additional information about the contents of the book, which includes myths and legends and history. It even includes the story of Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra (you may have been following the very sad news from Syria about the ancient ruins of Palmyra and their destruction).
India Comic Book: Kumbhakarna: The Sleeping Giant. This blog post provides a detailed reading guide for this comic book which is on Reserve in Bizzell Library. As you can see from the cover, Ravana's brother is big... VERY big.
Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is A lion may be beholden to a mouse (an English proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. This is another proverb inspired by an Aesop's fable: the story of how the mouse repaid the lion by chewing through the ropes that held him captive.
Today's Video: The Odyssey ("Across the Universe" by the Beatles). I finally got to meet Amy Burvall in person this summer, and what an extraordinary person she is! This is just one of her many mash-up videos; you can see more here: Amy Burvall Videos.
Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat advocates social learning: Learn, and then share what you learned. Details at the blog.
Event in Dallas: Yep, it's an event in Dallas, not in Norman, but at least one person from class is going to AnimeFest in Dallas this weekend... maybe some others of you are going too! (details). For Norman campus events, check the Campus Calendar online.
Note: You can page back through the 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.
