Thursday, February 23

Today is Thursday of WEEK 6. There is nothing due today, which makes it the perfect day to get ahead and/or do some extra credit. Here is a link to this week's assignments.

Update: The Week 6 blog comment groups are ready now!

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. I've read and replied to the project assignments turned in on Sunday afternoon by 9PM. If you turned in something later on Sunday or during the week, it is probably still in the stack; you can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment. I will try to finish all the Sunday assignments today!

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Storytelling. A lovely quote from the author Neil Gaiman: A world in which there are monsters, and ghosts, and things that want to steal your heart is a world in which there are angels, and dreams, and a world in which there is hope.

Writing. And here's some writing advice from Stephen King: The road to Hell is paved with adverbs.

Spelling. This is a very common word mix-up: PEAK versus PEEK.

Featured Storybook. This project is from the Myth-Folklore class: The Search for Bo Peep's Sheep. Bo Peep has lost her sheep, but she has a whole world of nursery rhyme friends who can help her to find them.

Free Book Online: Today's free book is The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. See the Freebookapalooza blog for links and the table of contents. Yes, this is the book on which the Jungle Book film is based!

Words of Wisdom: Today's saying is When the bee comes to your house, let her have beer; you may want to visit the bee’s house some day (a Congolese proverb). Find out more at the Proverb Lab. As you can imagine, I was very happy to find just the right image to go with this proverb!

Video: The video for today is a very creative and sharp take on school: Failing Superman. It was made by a Canadian teacher: Marc-André Lalande.

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat is ready for either outcome: Sometimes you win; sometimes you learn. You can find out more at the Growth Mindset blog.

Event on Campus: In Gaylord Auditorium this evening at 6:30PM you can see Ava DuVernay's film 13th, which has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

February 23: Majel Barrett. As a lifelong fan of Star Trek in all its incarnations, I am also a fan of Majel Barrett in all her Star Trek roles - and today, February 23, is Majel Barrett's birthday. She was born in 1932 and died in 2008; her husband, Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, died in 1991. Majel Barrett played Nurse Chapel in the original series and Lwaxana Troi in The Next Generation, and she also provided the voice of the computer throughout the series. Here's a picture of her from back in her Nurse Chapel days:

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