Final Review: Serialized

Good morning,

It seems that for our final exam we will do well to fill out the suggested chart. Blogger isn't particularly good at doing non-linear work, so I figured I'd do an outline. (My internal nerd won't move on without mentioning that this is a classic scenario requiring the serialization of a non-linear body of information--in this case, turning a chart into a written flow of information due to the blog's limitations.) Here goes!



Poetically, I'd like to take this approach, as it follows what I learned:

1. Folk Knowledge, or What I Thought I Knew
1. I've been through some simple folkloristics, so this was just more of the same fun.
2. teaching slide rules and learning knitting was a blast, especially since it tied into a class
2. Oral Knowledge, or What Flummoxed Me Most
1. I could not get my head wrapped around this one in order to blog about it
2. blogging first began to decay :-\
3. Written Knowledge, or What Surprised Me
1. Arabic Scripture Epiphany
2. Horrific Hieroglyphics
4. Printed Knowledge, or What I Didn't Know I Didn't Know
1. China
2. Sunny Gutenberg (trip to printing museum last year)

However, I'll start from the other direction as I feel like I can get further and is more learning-outcome-oriented:

1. Self Directed Learning
1. Folk
1. first getting rhythm of class
2. Hadn't the Foggiest what I was Doing
3. MSA memories
4. Nibley Review
2. Oral
1. Read lots and lots on history of Ancient Persia, hunting for small hints of oral tradition (Herodotus was most helpful, yet marginal)
2. Discovery that oral cultures don't keep written records of their culture (Persia, early Arabia)
3. Written
1. Transition from Written to Oral: Koran Surprise post
2. Foray into Alphabets (Futhark is weird, Cuneiform is hard, English is...a mutt)
3. Writing Systems post
4. Printed
1. waaaaaahh!! (I didn't do much significant here--life was too crazy. Sad.)
2. Chinese printing essay: learned ~10x more than needed for paper - awesome!
2. Others' Blogging
1. Folk - Korea posts, hunting interview, Sibo Gomero
2. Oral - clip from Greek drama
3. Written - Ted's Greek notebook, Ogham bamboo leaves,
4. Printed - Crista's playful note
3. Collaborative Learning
1. Folk - group interview
2. Oral
1. King Benjamin Recitation
2. group video
3. Written - Rosetta Project
1. On The Difficulties of Translating Ancient Languages
4. Printed - groups for paper
1. "bibliography" as a genre? Cool.
4. Projects / Activities
1. Folk - teach/learn folk knowledge
2. Oral - oral interview post - started; book-based post
3. Written - Rosetta Project
4. Printed - annotated bibliography, field trip
5. Themes / Readings
1. Mantic vs. Sophic - Nibley
2. Reinventing the Syllabus - Oh, how I wish I'd had/made more time...
3. Brilliant seed posts with lots of sources 

Some interesting questions are raised as I attempt to assemble this. For one, what am I doing? "Reviewing" so I can hold "intelligent conversation." Am I collecting references to interesting blog posts? Am I chronicling what I have done? Am I summarizing what I and others have learned in this class and how? (Is it all of the above? Most likely.)