Saturday, August 27

Today is Saturday of Week 1, and I hope everybody is enjoying a nice break after a busy first week of classes! (... whew! ...) If you are finishing up the Orientation this weekend, here is that link: Week 1. And if you are starting on Week 2, you'll find that at the Class Calendar.

Class Procedures and Reminders

My schedule. I don't check email as often on the weekends, and on Saturday in particular I will probably not be available, but please send me any questions you have. If it's something urgent, I'll be sure to get back to you as soon as I can! If it's not urgent, I'll get back to you on Monday morning.

Project Stack. For those of you who are already finishing up Week 2: you can check the stack to make sure I received your Week 2 Project assignment.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Keyboard Drama. Remember: there are potential story characters everywhere! Even in your computer keyboard... Find out more at The Writing Lab.


Spelling. This is why the spellchecker is your friend in English... your very good friend: GHOUGHPHTHEIGHTTEEEAU.


English Words. The word mango comes to English from Tamil, a language of southern India. Find out more at Words from India.


Featured Storybook. This project is from the Myth-Folklore class: Into the Skye. Traditional fairy tales and supernatural creatures come to life when Maisie MacLeod comes to live with her grandmother on the island of Skye.


Free Book Online: One Hundred Poems of Kabir as translated by Rabindranath Tagore. See the Freebookapalooza blog for links and the table of contents. There is also a free audiobook for this one! Kabir was one of the the most revered Indian mystics, while Tagore was one of modern India's greatest writers; he was, in fact, the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.


Words of Wisdom: Today's saying is Share and share alike (an English proverb). Find out more at the Proverb Lab. I thought this would be a good proverb this weekend as you are sharing your blogs with each other!


Today's Video: Angkor Wat: Vishnu in Cambodia. As the beauties of Angkor Wat show, the ancient stories of India spread throughout south Asia.


Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat is an independent learner: I drive my own learning. You can find out more at the Growth Mindset blog.


Event on Campus: Check out Titanoboa: Monster Snake at the Sam Noble Museum (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.


August 27: Leon Theremin. Today marks the birthday of Leon Theremin, who was born in 1896; he died in 1993. He was the inventor of the Theremin, a remarkable electronic musical instrument. You can read about Leon Theremin at Wikipedia, and if you ever get a chance to see this documentary about Theremin's truly bizarre life, I highly recommend it: Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey. This YouTube video shows Theremin playing his instrument with its very distinctive sound:



Check out the Twitter stream for all the stuff you can find there from last week.