Week 2: Myth-Folklore Reading A and B, plus Extra

For the reading this week, you'll explore the reading options for the whole semester (that's the Reading A assignment), and then there's a short anthology of stories to read (that's the Reading B assignment). There's also an extra credit reading option this week too if you are looking to rack up some extra credit points now at the start of the semester (which I highly encourage you to do!).

Reading A — Reading B — Extra Credit

Reading A : UnTextbook Reading Options

This assignment has three parts: first, you will read an overview of the course "UnTextbook," and then you will spend some time browsing those course materials to see what grabs your attention. To finish up, you will write up a blog post with your thoughts. 

ONE. Here's where you should start: Overview of the UnTextbook.

TWO. Then, after you have read the UnTextbook overview, you can start exploring the UnTextbook units to see what you think about the different reading options. Plan on spending about 30 minutes (or more if you want!) exploring any/all units that grab your attention, bookmarking the pages that you might want to return to later on.

THREE. When you are done browsing, write up a blog post with your thoughts about the kinds of reading you think you are going to want to choose. You don't need to make your choices now; the idea is just to get a good idea about what's coming! Include at least three links to reading units and/or specific stories you are most interested in with a sentence or two to remind yourself later what grabbed your attention for each one. (If you are curious, you can see other students' blog posts here.)

For the blog post, use "Reading Options" in the title, with "Reading, Week 2" as the labels, and include at least one image (with image information). Here is the Declaration for Reading A:

Reading B : Myth-Folklore Anthology... and reading like a writer

To get your started with some story ideas this week, I have prepared an anthology of stories from the UnTextbook that is also a preview of the Google Sites platform where you might be publishing your class project this semester: Myth-Folklore Anthology. Each of the stories that you read in this anthology is also a story from the UnTextbook, so if there is a story you really like, you might want to choose that reading unit later on in the semester!

As you read through the stories, you need to start reading like a writer. You are not taking notes that you will use for a quiz; instead, you are taking notes that will help you to tell your own story, based on one of the stories in the reading. You will be writing these Reading Notes blog posts every week, and here are the instructions for that assignment: Reading Notes Post.

When you have completed your reading notes post, you can do the Week 2 Reading B Declaration. And then you can move on to writing your own story based one one of the stories you read in the Anthology.

Extra Credit

For this week's extra credit option, I'd like to introduce you to the Crash Course: Mythology video series at YouTube. There are 35 short videos in this series, and I've arranged them into groups of 3 and 4 so that you can do up to 10 weeks of extra credit this way if you like the series; each video group will take about an hour to watch and write notes, which is the same amount of time you would budget for a regular reading assignment.

If you want to get started, begin with this set: Overview of Mythology: What is Myth? Theories of Myth. The Hero's Journey and the Monomyth. (3 videos, appx. 40 minutes).

For videos, you will take notes just like for a regular reading notes post, and then you can do the Extra Credit Reading Declaration at Canvas after you have posted your notes.