Wednesday, August 28

Today is Wednesday of Week 2. Here is a link to the Week 2 assignments. If you have not read the "Anthology" of stories yet, then you will be doing that today for Reading B. As you read, look for the story you want to retell in your own way, and if you're curious, you can take a look at the stories people have written so far. There are already some stories in both classes!

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. So far, I've been keeping up with people turning in their Week 2 project assignments; if you turned in a project assignment on Tuesday, I should be able to get that back to you today. As those projects come in, I add them to the "stack," and you can check the stack to make sure I have received your project assignment.

Introductions. All the Introductions are in the randomizer now for the Week 2 blog comments, and I will also be commenting on the Introductions. I'll complete as many of those as I can this week, and then finish meeting everybody next week.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. This week I'll keep sharing some pictures from people's favorite places post; here's a link if you are curious and want to scroll through all the favorite places. Here is Shivani's favorite place image: the Hawa Mahal ("Palace of Winds") in Jaipur, India.

Twitter Stream. I liked this ACK graphic illustrating a story told by the Indian guru Ramakrishna (larger view); you can find out more about Ramakrishna at Wikipedia.

Story of the Day. Today's aetiological story is about both the sun and the moon: Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky. It's a Nigerian folktale with an ecological theme: flooding.

Storybooks. And speaking of floods, here's a Storybook with flood stories, and it's created with Twine, which lets you create stories-as-games: Flood Myths.

Indian Epics Today. The epic character today is Vayu, the god of the wind. Vayu is the father of two of the great epic heroes: Hanuman in the Ramayana, and Bhima in the Mahabharata. More about Vayu.

Myth-Folklore Video. And speaking of the wind, here's a mythology video from BBC4: The Four Winds.

Proverbs. This is a proverb from Kashmir about situational awareness: Look at the wind before you loose the boat.

H.E.A.R.T.. This is a Last Lemon graphic to inspire your reading this week: Read more, see more.

Mindset Cats. Today's growth mindset cat agrees: The higher you climb, the more you can see.

Mindset Video. For more growth mindset thoughts, here come Janelle Monae and the Muppets:

Event on Campus. Improv has been a huge source of inspiration for me both as a writer and a teacher, so I was excited to see this event on campus today: Saying Yes: Listening Lessons from the World of Improv. Come hear Cristela Carrizales at 1:30PM today in Gaylord Auditorium (details).

August 28: Burne-Jones. Today is the birthday of Sir Edward Burne-Jones, one of the leading pre-Raphaelite painters. He was born in 1833, and you can find out more about his life and career at Wikipedia. He painted many mythological subjects, from both Greek mythology and also from the Arthurian cycle, like The Beguiling of Merlin:

Check out the Twitter stream for information and fun stuff during the day, or click here for past announcements.