Class Procedures and Reminders
Project Progress. In the D2L Gradebook, there is an item called "Project Progress." That is where you can see what Project assignment you have due next. Over time, each person ends up on their own schedule based on whether they choose Storybook or Portfolio, if they miss a week, etc. If you are not sure what you have due, just check that item in D2L and/or let me know if you have any questions.
Project Email. Each week there's a Project email that you'll be sending in, and you do the Declaration after you send me that email. Make sure you send the email: it's the only way I have of knowing that you've finished your Project assignment and that you've checked carefully to make sure it is done and ready for readers. Each Project assignment has its own particular checklist as you'll see; if you have any questions, check with me before doing the Declaration.
Assignment Stack. (repeat announcement) You can check the stack to make sure I received your Project assignment; I'll be updating the stack periodically over the weekend. On Monday I'll start responding to the assignments in the order they were turned in, starting with the ones from Friday. If you want comments back sooner rather than later, turn your assignment in on Sunday morning or afternoon. If you wait until Sunday evening, it will be farther down in the stack and you'll have to wait longer to get comments back.
The following items are for fun and exploration:
Pay Attention to the World. Find out more about Susan Sontag's thoughts on writing at BrainPickings: Love words, agonize over sentences.And pay attention to the world.
Mythology Words in English: Today's mythology word in English is MARTIAL from the name of the Roman god of war, Mars. For details, see this blog post.
Featured Storybook: Janaki's Journal: Sita's Story in Her Own Words. After Sita returns to the earth, her twin sons find her journal, which relates the story of their mother's life as they had never heard it told before.
Free Book Online: Folklore of the Santal Parganas by Cecil Henry Bompas. This blog post provides additional information about the contents of the book. There are almost 200 stories in this book, far beyond the few stories I was able to include in the Myth-Folklore reading unit. So much good stuff!
India Featured Book: Drona: Valiant Archer, Supreme Teacher. This blog post provides additional information about this reading option for Indian Epics. It's a comic book on Reserve in Bizzell that is all about Drona!
Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is A cloth is not woven from a single thread (a Chinese proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. I like this metaphor for interweaving of all kinds of things, including stories!
Today's Video: Zombie Nouns. Beware the zombies!!!
Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat is a technocat! I shape the technology; it does not shape me. Details at the blog.
Event on Campus: There will be a matinee performance of the Men's Glee Club and Women's Chorus at 3:00PM in the Sharp Concert Hall (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.
February 21: Mother Language Day. This UNESCO holiday celebrates the importance of people's mother tongues and the use of people's mother tongues in providing education for all. You can read more at the UNESCO website: "It facilitates access to education — while promoting fairness — for population groups that speak minority and indigenous languages, in particular girls and women; it raises the quality of education and learning achievement by laying emphasis on understanding and creativity, rather than on rote and memorization; it strengthens the cognitive aspect of learning by ensuring, through use of the mother tongue, that what is learnt is applied directly in the learner’s life; it increases dialogue and interaction between the learner and the teacher by providing the opportunity for genuine communication from the outset."
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.
