Monday, February 6

Today is Monday. Week 3 is now over... and Week 4 has begun. The new week's topic in the Myth-Folklore class is the Middle East and India, and in Indian Epics you'll be a taking a look at the Ramayana from a new angle. You can find the week's assignments at the Class Calendar, and there's also the usual grace period this morning for any Week 3 assignments you need to complete, along with Week 3 extra credit too!

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. As always on Monday, the stack is HUGE at the start of the week. While you're waiting to get comments back from me, you can check the contents of the stack to make sure I received your assignment. I'll be replying to the assignments in the order they were turned in; please do not go on to the Week 4 Project assignment until you get Week 3 comments back from me; I will get comments back to you by the end of the week, and I'll report on my progress each day here in the announcements.

Grading Chart. The class is now 20% over (incredible but true!), so you might want to use this Grading Chart to check how you are doing. The chart lets you see the point totals week by week so you can gauge whether you are on track for the grade you want to receive in the class. If you are not on track, just make sure you do more of the assigned work, along with some extra credit to make up any assignments you might have missed.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Technology. Just imagine the secret life of your... keyboard!

Reading. This is for any other Doctor Who fans in the class: Every book is a TARDIS.

Spelling. Today's word mix-up pair is in honor of the Super Bowl: THRONE v. THROWN.

Featured Storybook. This project is from the Indian Epics class: Ramayana Counseling, Inc.. As you can imagine, everybody in the household of King Dasharatha could use some therapy at the end of the events of the Ramayana, and there is no one more qualified than Valmiki to help Urmila and Lakshmana, Sita and Rama, and the wives of King Dasharatha cope with all the drama of Rama's exile and the war with Ravana.

Free Book Online: Today's free book is Sumerian Mythology by Samuel Noah Kramer. See the Freebookapalooza blog for links and the table of contents. Kramer was one of the great scholars of ancient Sumer in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq).

Words of Wisdom: Today's saying is Don’t stand by the water and long for fish; go home and weave a net (a Chinese proverb). Find out more at the Proverb Lab. This might remind you of another famous saying: "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime."

Video: The video for today is King Tut ("Walking on the Sun" by Smash Mouth). You can find more of these fun history mash-up videos at Amy Burvall's YouTube Channel.

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat is ready for the rest of the semester: Trust yourself. You can find out more at the Growth Mindset blog.

Event on Campus: This week is the first-ever UPB Week with free food, prizes, and activities in the Union every day of the week all week long. Today it's Spin-to-Win in the first floor lobby starting at 11:30AM (details, including a cool promo video).

February 6: Color Our Collections. Today marks the beginning of this year's Color Our Collections event when museums and libraries around the world will be sharing coloring pages from their collections, including contributions from OU's own History of Science Collections like the Flammarion image below (more about the image). To see all the coloring pages this week, follow the Twitter hashtag and/or visit the website. 

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