Class Procedures and Reminders
Blog comment groups. The groups for Week 1 are available now! Each week there are random groups so that you can start getting to know each other by reading and commenting on each other's blog posts. There's also an extra credit blog comment option too so that you can interact with even more people in class. I hope you will have fun getting to know each other and enjoying all the stories.
My comments on blogs. I've left comments on people's favorite places posts, and I'll also be adding comments on your Introductions; I should be able to get to everybody's Introductions next week. I'll also be leaving comments on the blogs at random throughout the semester, although most of my time and attention will go to your Projects; you will start working on your project in Week 2.
From Week 1 to Week 2. If you have not finished the Week 1 assignments, you need to do that today (Friday) or over the weekend. Based on your personal schedule, Week 2 might start on Friday or Saturday or Sunday or Monday or Tuesday. Check the D2L Gradebook, and you'll see the day when Week 2 starts for you — and of course you don't have to wait for that date. Working ahead is always the best strategy!
Extra Credit. There are extra credit options for Week 1, and there will be extra credit every week all semester long. Doing extra credit is a great idea: you can use extra credit to make up for missing work, and you can also build up some extra credit in advance so that you can take a week off for midterms, etc. There are lots of different kinds of extra credit options, so I hope everybody can find some options they really like!
The following items are for fun and exploration:
Adverbs. Stephen King is famous as a writer and also as a teacher of writing; as you can see, he is not a fan of adverbs: The road to Hell is paved with adverbs. Find out more at this blog post.
Words to Watch: Today's words to watch out for are CLICK and CLIQUE. For details, see this blog post.
Free Book Online: The Orange Fairy Book by Andrew Lang. This blog post provides additional information about the contents of the book. You will find familiar stories in here like "The Ugly Duckling," along with many stories that will be new to you I'm sure!
India Featured Book: Hanuman to the Rescue. This blog post provides additional information about this reading option for Indian Epics. It's another comic book about Hanuman that you can read on Reserve in Bizzell.
Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is Heroism consists in hanging on one minute longer (a Norwegian proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. I thought this would be a good proverb for the end of the week!
Today's Video: Prem Joshua - Mangalam. Yesterday I shared Ravi Shankar's Vedic version of the Mangalam mantra; here is a funky rendition of that same mantra by Prem Joshua:
Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cats are careful observers: Pay attention and stretch your knowledge. Details at the blog. You'll be learning about growth mindset here at the end of Week 1 if you have not done that yet.
Event on Campus: There will be LASER TAG for Winter Welcome Week, 5PM-8PM, in the Jim Thorpe Multicultural Center (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online. Here are all the Winter Welcome Week events for Friday:
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.
