Class Procedures and Reminders
Update. Places Posts. Thanks to everybody who published their "favorite places" posts to start their blogs this weekend. I think I've caught up on commenting on all of those posts so far, and I'll do my best to keep up as people add more posts today and tomorrow. My goals is to comment on all those favorite places posts plus all the introduction posts, along with more posts as I have time. Then once all the blogs are up and running, I'll be creating blog groups later in the week for you all to read and comment and start to get to know each other. You'll be doing blog comments like that every week throughout the semester. It's different from the way you get to know people in a classroom-based class, but it works — and it's fun too!
Canvas. Have you heard about the transition from D2L to the new program called Canvas? You'll be using Canvas for this class, and you may have some other classes using Canvas too. I hope you will like it! When you log on to Canvas.ou.edu, you will see this same Announcements page as the Canvas homepage.
Daily Announcements. Starting today I'll be updating the announcements every day. At the top of each day's announcements you'll find information about due dates, class procedures, etc. Then you will find below some items for your educational enjoyment. If you want to subscribe by email, use the "subscribe" box in the sidebar of this blog. Type in the email address you prefer and follow the instructions to confirm your subscription.
Two Classes | One Announcements blog. This Announcements blog is for BOTH the Myth-Folklore class AND the Indian Epics class (those are the two classes that I teach). Although the reading in the classes is different, the assignments are the same, and there is even some overlap in the reading too because stories from India are included in the Myth-Folklore class, and some students in Myth-Folklore might be choosing Indian topics for their class projects. You'll learn more about all that during this Orientation Week.
The following items are for fun and exploration:
The Perils of Cursive: Demon? Or Lemon? I don't know about your handwriting; I know my handwriting isn't always the easiest to read. But hey: this is an online class! We're all typing... and so we are avoiding the perils of cursive. The cartoon is from the Writing Lab.
Creatvity. Here is some creativity motivation from Maya Angelou. Find out more at the H.E.A.R.T. blog: You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
Word from Mythology. Today's word from mythology is GEOLOGY, from the Greek earth goddess, Gaia. Find out more at the Geology / Gaia blog post.
Featured Storybook. Each day in the announcements, I'll feature a project from a past class. This project is from the Indian Epics class: The Brahmazing Race. Brahma is your host for the "Brahmazing Race" in which Team Dharma (Rama and Sita) and Team Asura (Ravana and Surpanakha) compete for the big prize. The race ranges all over India, with the teams facing geographical challenges and epic challenges at each stop.
Words of Wisdom: I'll also be including a traditional proverb each day; today's saying is Put your best foot forward (an English proverb). Find out more at the Proverb Lab. I thought this would be a good one for the start of the semester!
Today's Video: Ramayana + Mahabharata = Wisdom. Those of you in Indian Epics might enjoy this Epified video (the Epified YouTube channel is a great resource for the class)... and the Ramayana is a reading option in Myth-Folklore, too, so you all might want to take a look. The style of these Epified animations is really fun to watch:
Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat advises you to study something new. You'll be learning more about growth mindset later this week, and you can find out more about this particular cat meme at the Growth Mindset blog.
Monday Event on Campus: For Howdy Week, it's "Puppies and Painting" from 6PM-8PM at Walker-Adams (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.
Check out the Twitter stream for information and fun stuff during the day.
