Friday, December 11, 2015

week 15 review

Thursday December 10, 2015 was an announcement that I thought was amusing because of the cat meme. I love Christmas Memes!



source

Famous Last Words Week 15

I find myself finishing up this class the night before everything is due. I had my schedule made out for this week and did not want to be in this situation. However earlier this week I received a call that my best friend’s dad suffered a stroke and had passed away. I also learned that the funeral was going to be fairly quickly so I had to make a fast trip to my hometown to be there. I had to schedule work and homework around this in a way. Either way I will get the work done so I can obtain a good grade in this class and be there for my friend. Thank goodness for my online classes that has allowed me to be there for my friend and her family during this time. Even though we are students, I think sometimes people forget that we have lives as well that include friends and family. I’m very thankful to be home during this time and have an understanding boss and coworkers. I was proud of myself earlier in the week because I was working ahead of schedule.  


On a bright note, I am looking forward to being done with all of my classes on Monday and finally start my Christmas break. I will get to spend two weeks at home with my nephew playing catch for a majority of the time I’m sure. He has also taken up playing with legos, but that usually means he wants me to build the cool truck or car and then he plays with it. It’s a work in progress on understanding it is for him to build. I am ready to spend time with my dog as well. I was unable to come home very much this semester because of school and football games.  It’s been real!

Tech Tip Weather Widget

I added a weather widget to my blog. My Favorite weather is 70 degrees with a light breeze. I'll also take the cold over the heat on most days. As I am getting older that is starting to change.

week 15 Curation

I tend to google most things. I am still working on being better at curation. I was able to come up with a few sites that helped me fins what I needed for class this week.




I used Wikipedia to learn and refresh my memory of snow white for my storybook

Site I was able to find the perfect picture for my storybook.


I was able to find a good buddy the elf meme for one of my post about Growth Mindset.



#curation


 
I thought thus meme was appropriate.
source

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Reading Week 15

My favorite readings were the Brothers Grimm and the nursery rhymes. I enjoyed the stories that were more “original” than others. I also enjoyed the stories that had a moral instead of just for entertainment.

The reading story diary strategy that was the more effective for me was taking notes. I stayed with a format of listing the characters, setting and plot. I think doing this helped me break down the story and see the important elements to retell the story with.

The reading was a little overwhelming for me because I have so much reading with other classes as well. I found myself towards the end of the semester only completing one reading diary per week because it was all I had time for.

My advice would be to do both reading diaries in the same night. Doubling up on assignments would definitely help. I know that might seem like a lot but it keeps you from doing it every day. Time management is key! 

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Growth Mindset Week 15

I have tried talking about growth mindset with children and how having a positive attitude changes everything. This week I chose to talk about growth mindset with my roommate. She is finishing her first semester of grad school and is also taking her finals this week. She was familiar with the growth mindset project. She has applied growth mindset with her classes this semester. She had to learn new ways to study because the material was so dense. For example using her closet door mirrors as a dry erase board for studying. Her studying has also taken several hours of dedication and saying no to social events. I think as college students we struggle the most with self-discipline and time management. I think it is something we have to learn to be successful. 


In honor of finals and Christmas.

Monday, December 7, 2015

Reflections

I can only look back on this semester and take away positive aspects. I am impressed that I was able to write as many storytelling posts that I did and feel very good about them. I was proud of each story I wrote even though I thought some were better than others. My writing is something that I have always been a little self-conscious about and this class forced me to let that go and use my creativity. I liked to integrate the things I enjoy in life such as hunting, my hometown, and children in my stories. I enjoyed the readings very much. I also liked the growth mindset challenges. I think they helped me throughout the semester. I mainly focused on what having a positive impact can do for you and for others. My favorite part of this class was probably the storybook. I remember being nervous at first about writing it. Once I read the comments from my introduction and first story I was relieved to find that my work had been entertaining. I think getting direct feedback from my peers has helped me the most. I think it is something that I can definitely use in the future because I have to remember to be descriptive because not everyone has the same mental image as I do. 

Famous Last Words week 14

This week was my last week to add a story to my storybook. I really struggled with this one because I did not have any ideas that came to mind. I’m kind of a perfectionist so sometimes that enables me to start my work because I don’t have a clear idea in my head. I thought about just trying to revist all the character I had talked about in my introduction, which is what I ended up doing. It turns out that once I started I was really able to run with the idea. I then started rereading the stories about snow white and adjusting some of the details to fit my story’s needs. I always like to have a big finish and I think I did because the final story ties my introduction up nicely, in my opinion. I can only hope that others see it the same way. A lot of what helped me was actually making myself start the project. That is always the worst part for me. I am actually very satisfied with how my story book turned out. It is something that I don’t mind reading to my roommates or my family members because it is something I am proud of. I also put several hours of effort into these stories. Not only my story book, but also the ones on my blog. I am very happy to share those with anyone (especially the ones that I think are some of my best work). I did not know how I would do in this class at first, but I do like to write. I am glad that I was able to do that freely and not be judge strictly by the book but instead by creativity. I have enjoyed this class and would recommend it to anyone. 

Week 14 Growth Mindset: It works!

I started off my growth mindset challenege with my children at school. I currently run a “homework club” (at an afterschool program) where for 30 minutes they do their homework and then go to an activity. I wanted to see if having a positive attitude from all of the staff and being overly excited would help. I have to say I think it has. We really struggled with the kids not wanting to do worksheets if they did not have homework. There was a level of disrespect I was receiving from them. I feel like I have given them speeches until I am blue in the face. They have finally gotten to a state in which they accept that they have to get their work done. We also established a reward system with prizes and getting to do a different activity earlier for good behavior. I am proud to say that a positive attitude means everything! 

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Storytelling Week 14: The Rivalry


He was the star athlete on the basketball team. He never worried about how he was going to perform because he averaged at least twenty points a game at a high school level. This week was a big game against their rival and Cody was not even a bit worried. Neither were Cody’s teammates because they knew they had him for a point guard.

All week at school there had been pep assemblies and rally lunches to bring excitement for the big game. Of course, what is a good rivalry game without a prank? The boys had decided that the night before the big game they were going to travel to Checotah, their rivalry town, and teepee their gym.
Thursday night came and Cody and his buddies, John and Landon, headed towards Checotah to do the deed. Checotah had just built a new school and gymnasium while Eufaula was in need of a new gym but could not get a bond to pass for one. The boys were jealous of the nice facility that Checotah had with their high quality locker room and workout equipment.

When they arrived it was around 2 a.m. and not a soul was lurking around the school. The boys gave each other a boost and managed to get into a window in the locker room. After they were inside they through all of the boys things that were in the lockers down on the ground such as, uniforms, shoes, and warm up clothes. The boys then decided to poor water all over them.  Next was the gym. The boys started throwing toilet paper over the goals and sprayed silly string all over the bleachers.
Finally the place look like a disaster and Cody and his friends took a step back to look at their accomplishment.

“That ought to do it,” Cody said as he rubbed his hands together.

The boys all laughed when suddenly they heard a noise.

They looked at each other and suddenly all took off separate ways.

Cody went back to the locker room and jumped out of the window and ran back to the truck to wait for his friends. It seemed like an eternity before Landon and John showed up.

“Where have you been?” said Cody.

“We were hiding from the cops and the principal. We thought we were in the clear, but the principal is pretty mad. We heard him say something about how he was glad they had installed cameras now.”

“Cameras?” said Cody.

“Yeah, hopefully it will be too dark to see our faces because they said if it was one of us we would be suspended from the game.” said John.

Cody could not sleep that night. He knew he needed rest for the big game but it was not possible. The next day at school the players had a meeting. The coach told the boys that the game would be played at their gym instead due to vandalism. He said that they were working on finding out who was responsible. After the players were dismissed coach told Cody to stay behind.

“I sure hope you had nothing to do with this son, but if you did you will be benched for the game,” said Coach Campbell.

“I understand,” said Cody as he felt a lump grow in his throat.

That evening right before the game the principal from Checotah talked with Coach Campbell and told him what they found on the tape. His star player and two of his best post players were guilty. They were then forced to sit out and Checotah ended up winning the game.


Author’s Note:

I wrote this story from the idea of The Fox and the Cat. The fox thought that he could do no wrong and that he was smarter than the cat. However his confidence ended up costing him in the end. Just like Cody’s did. He was the king of the school and he cost the game for his team and the school. It is good to have confidence but sometimes it can be too much and it is better to be humble.  The Rivalry is real in my hometown and there are pranks, some of them have involved severe punishment but most of them are just for fun.


Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Reading Diary B:Brothers Grimm (Ashliman)

I chose the Brothers’ Grimm Unit for my reading this week. I thought it might help me figure out who my next villain in my storybook should be because I am having a hard time choosing.
The Fox and the Cat
Characters:
The Fox
The cat
The dogs
Setting: In the woods
The cat seems to have looked up to the fox until she meets him and figures out his true colors. I think we can apply that scenario to people in today’s world. The cat was able to be smarter than the fox and get away from the enemy. I think that the moral of this story is something several people have witnessed before; someone that is over confident and ends up crashing and burning.

The Little Lamb and the Little Fish
Characters:
Stepmother
Brother
Sister
Cook
Peasant woman
The stepmother did not agree with the children’s happiness. After all they had been through at least they had each other. Once they were separated they were no longer happy. In this story the evil villain was clear to see, the stepmother. The cook saved the life of the brother and sister by listening to them when they would speak. I was happy to see that the brother and sister were turned back into human form and lived happy afterward.


One thing I noticed is that these stories were more like the ones at the beginning of the semester. They showed a moral and were not just entertainment. That is something I liked to replicate in my own stories.



vulpes et feles