Class Procedures and Reminders
Project stack. As always on Monday, I will have a huge bunch of assignments in the Project stack that were turned in over the weekend or on Monday morning. The first thing I will do on Monday morning when I get to work is to update the list of items in the stack so that you will be able to check the contents of the stack to confirm that I received your assignment. Please make sure you answer the checklist questions so that you can be sure the assignment is ready to sit in the stack until I get to it this week!
Grading. Now that we have finished Week 6 of the semester, there have been 180 points so far. You can consult this chart to get an indication of how you are doing overall: if you have around 165 points (175 points if you want a Dead Week), you are headed for an A; if you have around 145 points, you are headed for a B; if you have around 125 points, you are headed for a C; with less than 125, you are not passing right now. If you are not on track for the grade you want, there are still 9 weeks to go: just make sure you budget time to do more of the assignments and, if you do miss an assignment, do some extra credit points to make up for it!
The following items are for fun and exploration:
Word-Unit Palindromes. You probably know some letter-by-letter palindromes; well, here are some word-by-word palindrome sentences! "Is it crazy how saying sentences backwards creates backwards sentences saying how crazy it is?"
And... Mind your own business: Own your mind.
Indian Words in English: Today's word from India in English is SINGAPORE, a name which comes from Sanskrit Simhapuram, Lion-City. For details, see this blog post.
Featured Storybook: Lifelong Devotion: Tales of Love at Karva Chauth. Karva Chauth is an Indian holiday in which women honor the power of love in their lives. In this Storybook, you will spend the holiday with Sita, Ahalya and Radha as they reflect on the dramatic ways in which each woman's loving devotion was put to the test.
Free Book Online: Nights With Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris. This blog post provides additional information about the Brer Rabbit stories in this book... including "Why Brer Bear has no Tail" and "Brer Rabbit and his Famous Foot."
India Featured Book: Jayadratha: Retold from the Mahabharata. This blog post provides additional information about this reading option for Indian Epics. It's about Jayadratha, notorious for his attempt to kidnap Draupadi.
Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is An untouched drum does not speak (a Liberian proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. Play your drum, people!
Today's Video: Chinese Dynasties ("Vogue" by Madonna). This is another one of Amy Burvall's wonderful "History Teacher" mash-up videos.
Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat is I am learning step by step. Details at the blog.
Event on Campus: There will be a FREE concert by the OU Symphony Band at 8PM in the Sharp Concert Hall in Catlett (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.
Happy Leap Year Day! As you can imagine, the Wikipedia article about Leap Years is filled with all kinds of fascinating details about this calendar phenomenon, including leap years in folklore. For example, here is a postcard from the 1908 Leap Year based on the folk tradition that in a Leap Year, and only in a Leap Year, women may make a proposal of marriage to men, rather than the usual vice versa.
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.
