Wednesday, September 9

Today is Wednesday of WEEK 3. Wednesday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you did not finish the Reading Diary that was due on Tuesday, and there is also a Reading Diary and Storytelling due today.

D2L Outage: At about 11PM on Wednesday night there was a D2L outage. I'm not sure if it affects everybody or when it will be fixed, but don't worry: just do your post(s), and if you are not able to get the Declaration done, you can let me know and I'll record the points for you when I am able to log back on (I'm not able to log on right now either). Hopefully it will be fixed soon!

Class Procedures and Reminders

Wednesday: Reading and Storytelling. Because of the Labor Day schedule this week, you have two assignments due today: your second Reading Diary post for the week, along with the Storytelling based on your favorite episode from the week's reading.

Project Stack. I'm working my way through the stack of project assignments; on Tuesday, I finished reading and replying to all the assignments turned in by 6PM on Sunday. On Wednesday, I'll start working on the assignments turned in on Sunday evening, and I should be able to finish the entire Stack by the end of the day on Friday. Please wait to get my comments before you go on to the next Project assignment — although you can certainly keep working ahead on other assignments in the class while you wait! The Project assignment is the only item each week where you need to wait for my comments back to you. You can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment, and if you have not turned in your Week 2 Project assignment yet, you can still turn that in for partial credit. See the Project Guide for details.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Practice Your Writing. Some words of wisdom from Sol Stein:

Words to Watch: Today's words to watch out for are BOARD and BORED. For details, see this blog post.

Featured Storybook: Paranormal: The Ayodhya Files. Right here, right now, the brothers Rama and Lakshmana are battling demons in Boston and New York, unaware that they are caught up in an ancient battle being fought all over again.

Free Book Online: The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown. This blog post provides additional information about the contents of the book, which some of you may be reading in Myth-Folklore this week.

India Comic Book: Vali: The Downfall of an Arrogant King. This blog post provides a detailed reading guide for this comic book about Vali, the monkey king. It's available on Reserve in Bizzell.

Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is Teachers open the door; you enter by yourself (a Chinese proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. As you may have guessed from the way this class works, I am a believer in this proverb's wisdom.

Today's Video: Ganesha's Secret. Here is another video from Devdutt Pattanaik, this time about the elephant-headed god, Ganesha, whose image provides a gateway to learning about the many ways of seeing "god" in Hindu traditions.

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat is all about project-based learning: Immerse yourself in a project, and create something new. Details at the blog. I thought this would be a good idea to keep in mind as you contemplate project topics for this class!

Event on Campus: This Wednesday the Hispanic American Student Association is having their first general meeting at a cookout at 6PM in Reaves Park with free hamburgers and hotdogs for all people who attend; you do not have to be Hispanic to be a part of this great organization (details). Find out more about this and other events at 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.