What's scheduled for the week: 
    (Each week starts on Monday morning and ends Sunday night at 11PM. You might consider printing out this page and checking off each task as completed).

• First, as this is the starting week, we need to do quite a bit to get everything going. But, before you even begin on the regular weekly tasks, please send your e-mail address to me at folklorecourse@sbcglobal.net . If I do not have your e-mail address by the end of this Wednesday, I will consider you a "no-show" and give your class slot to one of the people on the wait list (there has always been a wait list).
• Next, consider listening to my weekly audio lecture. These short audio lectures are simply offered to highlight important tasks, touch on key concepts, and appeal to the audio learner--listening to them is optional. All the information contained in these short audio files can be gleamed via review of the weekly homefun, your text, and the linked sites. You can listen to the lecture in either Real Audio format or you can listen to the lecture in Windows Media format. I have compressed all the weekly lecture audio files (subsequently reducing the sound quality quite a bit) to make the file size small enough to allow reasonable download time on a fairly slow Internet connection (I think the Real Audio file format sounds a bit better). If you do not have either of the above audio players, you can download the free Realone Audio player or download a free Windows Media player.
• Explore the following links:
  • What comes under Folklore? : Take a look at what I feel fits easily under the folklore umbrella.
  • Why study folklore? : Read why I think you should be interested in the subject, and listen to the author of your textbook respond to the same question.
  • Who are the "folk" in Folklore? Read about why I think "you" are the folk in Folklore.
  • Review the course Syllabus/First Day Handout : look it over carefully and perhaps print out a copy for late night reading--it is the road map to course success. You might also find it interesting to view the student example of the collection sheet, homefun sheet, and course project assignments. Looking at successful student examples will give you a good idea of exactly what I expect from you on the major assignments (Consider printing out the examples and keeping them as a handy reference).
  • Course FAQ's--Read these "Frequently Asked Questions" about the class.
  
  
• Next, thumb through the entire Brunvand text--note the book's major sections and index. Look for couple of topics that spark your interest. You might also enjoy listening to the author of your text briefly discuss how the creation of the textbook came about and why it is structured the way it is. You can listen to his response in either Real Audio format or his response in Windows Media format. If you do not have either of the above audio players, you can download the free Realone Audio player or download a free Windows Media player.
  
• Read for main ideas only pages 3--70 in the Brunvand text. In this section of the text the author is obligated to offer a broad overview of folklore, a bit of history surrounding the subject, and a significant number of relevant definitions--you are not expected to master it all. Instead, try to grasp the main ideas: how one might define folklore, how one goes about collecting folklore, and common groups that have folklore (occupational groups, age groups...). After you have a better handle on folklore, say in a couple of weeks, return to this section and read for a more comprehensive understanding.
  
• Read carefully pages 71--87, and briefly look over the bibliographic notes on pages 87-91 (The annotated bibliographic note section after each chapter is a valuable research tool. It lists interesting and relevant articles for further reading). This week's reading should provide you with a a basic understanding of dialect variations in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. You should be able to briefly explain terms such as euphemism, acronym, and secret language.
• By the end of this week, and hopefully sooner,  post a short biography about yourself under the "Student Profile" forum found under the "Discussion and Private Messages" link. This will allow us to sort of know who we are "talking" to via the forum topics. You can use my short bio (already posted there) as an example. If you wish, you can also upload a photo into your Student Profile post.  If you do not have a a digital photo to add to your profile, just ask someone you know with a digital camera to help you out. Be sure to resize the photo--you don't need a 4 megapixel image for your profile, and other students will not be able to view such a large image anyway. The photo in my profile is about 400 by 350 pixels, and it only uses about 38k of memory.
  
• After you have completed the above reading, explored the folklore web site, and posted your student profile, reply to my "Week 1 Topic Question" below. By the way, you must make your posts by the end of the week (each week ends on Sunday--let us say at 11 pm). Don't be embarrassed or timid about using the Discussion and Private Messages board--everyone's participation is needed, and everyone (including your instructor) will make errors in method and content of posts.
  
• Week 1 Topic Question:  After doing the assigned reading and looking around the folklore site, go to the "Discussion and Private Messages" board and click on "Week 1 Topic Question," select "newtopic," put something appropriate in the subject line, and then share something you discovered about folklore that is of interest to you (type it into the message box). Take a bit of time to explain what specific type of folklore caught your interest, where you found it, and why it caught your interest. Were you surprised that the topic is studied as folklore? Do you want to know more about the topic? Why? Does the topic relate to your own life? How?  After you "submit" your post, take a few minutes and respond to the post of at least one other student. When you do reply to another student's post, you should feel free to agree with them, disagree with them, or ask them to clarify a point. Try to create a dialogue and show a bit of thought. Be sure to select "postreply" while their message is in view and change the subject line so that it indicates exactly what you are doing (For example, if you are responding to a comment by a student named "John Doe," your subject line might read something like "Reply to John Doe's question." If you do make a posting mistake, or notice an error after you post, you can always edit your post or delete it (one exception: if someone has already posted a reply to your post, you can still edit your post but not delete it). By the way, if you wish to add an "avatar"--a little image/photo that is attached to every discussion board post you make, you only need to locate a small image  (say about 130 pixels by 130 pixels) and update "My Profile" at the top of the dicussion page.
• Lastly, by the end of the week, take a short on-line quiz  (found in the "Tests and Quizzes" area) over the information in the Course Syllabus/Firstday handout.