Lauren Garner's Blog

Bibliography:

This story is part of the Andersen Fairy Tales unit. Story source: Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by H. P. Paull (1872).

Reading Notes: Hans Christian Andersen unit Part A

For this week’s story, I chose to do a section from the story from the Andersen Fairy Tales unit: The Princess and the Pea. This story is about a prince that was wanting to find a real Princess, but anywhere he traveled, he could not find the one he wanted to marry, or truly thought was a real Princess. After one rainy night, a Princess came knocking at the gate of the castle who did not have the characteristics of what a real Princess looked like, although she claimed she was one. Then the Queen did not fully believe she was a real Princess who was fit for her son, so she put a pea in the bottom of a twenty mattress bed to see if she could feel the pea the next morning after her sleep. The next morning, the princess did feel the pea, which meant she was a real princess. I would change this story to where the Princess came to the castle after a storm still, and slept in the bed where the pea was hidden. Except in the morning, she would wake up and not have felt anything. So the queen and her son, the Prince, would be very sad to know she was not a true Princess. But the Prince would be so infatuated with this fake princess, and would not want to get rid of her quite yet, so he would ask the Queen if they would be able to do anymore challenges to see what she truly would be…

Princess

Bibliography:

This story is part of the Andersen Fairy Tales unit. Story source: Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by H. P. Paull (1872).

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Growth Mindset: My Editing Challenges

For this week's Growth Mindset challenge, I chose to do more editing challenges. When it comes to writing my stories, I always try and go back through to double check that I am not missing anything important. As this class has continued throughout the semester, I have found a lot of editing challenges that have helped me a lot. One thing that I have found helps me a lot is to have two windows on my computer open. One screen has the original story I am reading from, and one where I am starting my own story. That way, I can re read the source and make sure I am not doing anything to similar to the original, and not too far away. A lot of the time, I will find that I have strayed too far from the original- almost to where there is nothing connecting the two! So it always helps me to re read the original and make sure I am on the right track. I have found that this helps me especially when I am doing Wednesday's reading in case my mind starts to wonder and I don't have a good enough story. So, re reading the source is great way to help you stay on track when you feel like you are wondering off too much!

Growth Mindset

Tech Tip: Reverse Image Search

For this tech tip, I chose to do the reverse image search, which actually comes in handy more than you would think! There have been a couple blog posts I've done that need a smaller, or larger image than what I could find, so now that I know how to do this, it will be easier to find different sizes of images.

Ravana Mask

Reading Notes: Italian Popular Tales unit Part A

For this week’s reading notes I chose to do a story from the Italian Popular Tales unit. I liked the section from this story The Cat and the Mouse. To me, I felt like this story was a little repetitive but I loved the idea. This story is about a cat who is wanting to get married and is waiting for each animal to come by and swoon her. She does not care for any animal, except a mouse that stops to sing for her. Eventually the mouse dies in the cat’s food she is preparing, and gets very sad. Everything in the house becomes sad with the cat, which causes outside people/things to get sad as well. So I would change the story by having the cat not trying to get married, but trying to live her life. Every animal would want this cat to be their own wife and she would always refuse. One day a tiny little mouse would approach her, but little did he know that the cat was absolutely terrified of mice. So, she would scream and run around the house trying to avoid this little mouse, while all along he would just be trying to wed her. On the other hand, she would have been wanting to get married for quite some time and would never find the right guy, until the mouse. The mouse would never give up on trying to become her husband, so she eventually learned to live with a mouse in the house. The two would eventually fall in love and live happily ever after, even though her fear of mice would never fully be gone.

Cat and Mouse

Bibliography:

This story is part of the Italian Popular Tales unit. Story source: Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Frederick Crane (1885).

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Reading Notes: Looking-Glass unit Part B

For the second part of this week's stories, I chose to do the section My Own Invention. This story was a little different from the first section I had chosen because one had to do with a nursery rhyme, while this section was a little different. I would change this section of the story to where Alice and Humpty are trying to avoid crossing over the huge wall they stumbled upon in the first section. When they realized the only way to pass the wall was to climb over it, they would have a choice to make: either climb over it, or go back the way they came. They both would talk about it and decide to very carefully climb over the wall. After a long time of them trying to make it over the wall, Humpty would slip and fall, luckily for him he would not break himself, but just knock himself out. Humpty would dream of meeting the Red King. In his dream, the Red King would send all of his men to try and put Humpty back together, but in real life he would not be broken. While Humpty was in a deep coma-like sleep, Alice would be trying to wake him up. She would remember what Humpty told her about the King coming to fix him if he ever fell, so she would run off to try and find the King. After finding the King, she would try and direct him back to her friend who would gone when she returned…

Red King

Bibliography:

This story is part of the Looking-Glass unit. Story source: Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll (1871).

Reading Notes: Looking-Glass unit Part A

For this week’s story, I chose to do a tale from the Looking-Glass unit. I have always adored all of the Alice in Wonderland stories and decided I wanted to write a story over one of the sections in this story. After reading them all, I decided to write notes over the Humpty Dumpty section. I really liked this one because it’s how Alice meets Humpty Dumpty and their conversations. In this story, Humpty Dumpty is somewhat cranky and just sitting on the wall; Alice asks him a few questions and with a snarky attitude, he answers them. I would change this story by switching it around- I would have Alice sitting on the wall and Humpty walking around and decided to go towards her and see what she is doing. Alice would be sitting on the wall wishing she knew how to get down, but could not figure it out. Humpty would be telling her how to get down, because he had done it before. After both of them spoke, and tried to figure out how to get Alice down, she ended up falling off. But unlike Humpty, she would not have broken anything or even hurt herself. After realizing that falling off of a wall would not hurt her, she would leave the wall and come back as she pleases. Her and Humpty Dumpty would go on many adventures together and avoid as many walls as possible. Until one day where they would reach a wall they could not avoid...

Humpty Dumpty

Bibliography:

This story is part of the Looking-Glass unit. Story source: Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll (1871).

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Growth Mindset: Growth in Other Classes

I chose to do a Growth Mindset option for this extra credit because I want to see how some of my classes fall into the others. So I liked the option of the Growth in Other Classes. Throughout all of my classes, there are a lot of challenges in some form when it comes to homework, exams, or extra credit. I used to not take advantage of any extra credit, simply because it was extra work. Which I realized as of recently, is not the case. This was a challenge for me in almost all of my classes because almost every class offers extra credit. So all of this happened to be the same in every class I took. After I realized that extra credit needed to be done, I started doing better in a majority of my classes. This definitely was a growth mindset for me because I needed to understand that to succeed, I had to accomplish a little extra.

Growth Mindset

Tech Tip: Canvas Calendar

The tech tip I chose to look at this week was the Canvas Calendar. Because I am a senior, and Canvas is completely new to me, I try to do as much research on Canvas as possible. One thing I like more than D2L in the calendar. I think it makes things a lot easier when I am trying to see what comes up next for each class, when the D2L calendar would show things for every class at once. I love that there is a grace period for this class and the assignments which has helped more than anything. There might be times when I forget to do an assignment for this class or have an emergency where I cannot do it on time, and realize there is a grace period the next morning. I have not yet synced my own calendar yet with Canvas's because I am not entirely confident in doing it yet, but that will probably be my next thing to work on! I also love how easy it is to find things through Canvas. Even though this is my only class using Canvas this semester, I am starting to realize how much more I like it than D2L.

Reading Notes: English Fairy Tales Part A

For this week’s story, I chose to do a section from the English Fairy Tales. I have always loved fairy tales and was very intrigued by some that I had found while reading today. The one that stuck out to me the most throughout the whole story, was the section, “The Old Woman and Her Pig”. This was a very interesting section of the story because all it was, was a chain of commands the old woman gave to things around her. She went to the store to buy a pig and the pig would not listen to her. So the old woman would try and have the dog make the pig return to its stile, so she would ask something else to make the dog bring the pig to the stile, and so forth. None of them obeyed her commands until the very end when it finally made it back around the chain and the pig finally went to his stile. I would change this story by having the old lady still ask everything around her to help her get her pig back to its stile, but only one of them would say yes. In the end, the pig would be so disobedient it would not accept any help the old lady tried to give the pig. The pig would run away, making the old lady ask everyone for help on at least finding her pet. Once the pig would be found, he would not go to his stile, but to the old lady’s bed. Making the old lady realize the pig just wanted some company. So from that day on out, the old lady would treat her pig as if he was a dog and they would be best friend until their last days together.

Bibliography:

This story is part of the English Fairy Tales unit. Story source: English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1890).

Old lady and Her Pig

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Reading Notes: Alaskan Legends Part B

For the second part of this week’s storytelling units, I chose to do a section from the Alaskan Legends unit called The Wolves and the Deer. I wanted to do something animal oriented since my Part A had to do with animals. This is pretty much a story originated from why Deer are afraid of Wolves, but I would change it to fit my original story post. Throughout this story, both of the animals are laughing to see the size of each other teeth, and in the ends shows how the Wolves eat the Deer and why they are afraid of Wolves. But instead of making it violent, I would have the animals laughing at the man from Part A who could not see them. The only animals who could see them were the ones that were trying to. Unlike the man, the Raven wanted to see each animal, friend, and food he provided for the man because he was doing a nice deed. So while the animals could see the man and could see the Raven, they could not be seen by anyone who did not want to see the animals formed from clay. The end of the story would lead to the man being so alone, and hungry that he would finally try his best to see what the Raven had created. By the time he would be starving, he could see food. By the time he needed a companion, he would see a girl. So by the time he wanted wild life around, he would see each animal the Raven had created. The man would feel so foolish to belittle the Raven and to not have seen each of these items before, that he would spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to the raven.

Wolf and Deer

Bibliography:

This story is part of the Alaskan Legends unit. Story source:Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911).

Reading Notes: Alaskan Legends Unit Part A

For my reading choice this week, I chose to do a story from the Alaskan Legends unit. As I was reading through the stories, I truly liked the idea of the Raven’s Creation. In this short story, they show how a man came from a pea pod, and transformed into a ma; it is also shown how a Raven transformed as well. Throughout this story it shows how the Raven feeds the man, turns clay into animals, and give him companions. I would change this story to the Raven not transforming, but being able to communicate to the man still. The Raven would try and still make companions, but only the Raven would see what it was trying to create. The man himself, would only see clay. While the Raven was doing his best to comfort the man and make him things to bring the man pleasure, only the Raven could see its creations. The man would only sit back and laugh at the Raven for not making anything real. While the man was watching the Raven slave over making things for him, he would not appreciate any of it. He would sit in silence, except for the laughter, and watch him fail at making him things. By the end of this story, the man would have nothing- no friends, no food, and no animals. The Raven on the other hand, saw everything; and while it would try and convince the man to enjoy his products, it decided to leave the man alone. All of the animals, food, and friends the Raven thought it made would vanish. Because if no one can see the items the Raven made, then they would vanish.

Raven

Bibliography:

This story is part of the Alaskan Legends unit. Story source:Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911).

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Google Timer Tech Tip

For this tech tip I chose to do the Google Timer. I have never even known that this was a function I was able to use until this class. It is actually extremely helpful! I have used this to manage my study break times, to study for an exam, and to set aside different times to study for different classes. This is easily one of the best functions Google has if you are in need of some time management!

I realized I use this more for when I am studying so I am not constantly checking my phone, where I have another timer. The one Google offers is easier for me to stay on track and not get distracted from something else.

Reading Notes: Eskimo Folk Tales Part B

For my second part of this week’s stories, I decided to stay on the same animal approach as my first reading notes. I want to use parts of my story from The Eagle and the Whale story where two sisters are taken from their home, and are to marry an eagle, and the other sister would marry a whale. Both animals were mighty hunters who would hunt for their wives, keep them safe, and not let them go. But this did not stop the women from trying to escape (because they did not want to marry); so they did. The women’s tribe would come to try and save them from both mighty hunters, and shoot them down to take the sisters back home. I would change this to where each woman would still marry one of these animals, but instead of the tribe coming to save them by themselves, they would go to the Giant Dog for assistance. This piece of land would be where the couple went when they left their old land because of the giant dog. The tribe would go to the couple for advice on how to get the women back, and would gift the couple items in return. The couple allowed their giant dog to go and try to save these woman, and would succeed. The dog would fight both animals until he was able to retrieve both women safe and sound. By the end, each sister would be so thankful for the help from the dog that they would stay and cook for the couple, and the dog, for the rest of their days in return for their gratitude.

Eagle and Whale

Bibliography:

This story is part of the Eskimo Folk Tales Unit. Story source: Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).

Reading Notes: Eskimo Folk Tales Part A

For this week’s story posts I decided to choose a story from the Eskimo Folk Tales Unit. As I was reading through the stories, I came across The Giant Dog. This is a short story about a man who has never had a son before, but had a dog that helped him and his wife through their days. He had an amulet that would go to his son, if he were to ever have one, but gave it to the dog instead. This dog was very large, and very fierce. It ate people and destroyed people that tried to attack it. So I think I would change this story to have more of a “Clifford” theme. The dog would be huge, and everyone would still be terrified, but it would be friendly. No one would know how friendly this dog would be until they spent time with the owner and the dog itself. Everyone would stay far away and hate the man who owned such a large dog, but little did they know this dog could be used for many things to help further the people’s way of lives. This giant dog would want so badly to play with all the other animals around the tribe, and only eat vegetables. So no one should be worried about the dog eating them or their livestock, but would not know any better because of the massive size. In the end, the owner and his wife would take their dog to another piece of land where they could be loved by all, and enjoy the company of people who were sincerely interested by this large, peaceful animal.

Inuit Unit The Giant Dog

Bibliography:

This story is part of the Eskimo Folk Tales Unit. Story source: Eskimo Folk Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).

Monday, October 10, 2016

Week 8 Growth Mindset

I think my strengths with writing is that my grammar and punctuation is typically pretty good. Because my father in an English teacher, I grew up learning how to write and speak properly. Granted it is not perfect, but I try! To build up this strength definitely comes from the feedback comments; those help me more than anyone will know. It's great that everyone in the class is so respectful towards people's stories and always give positive feedback comments; even if they aren't positive comments, I have noticed that everyone will write them in the most respectful way they can.
My weaknesses are that I usually try and find the easy stories when I should be broadening my outlook on stories like the ones we are given. I really want to try reading stories that are a lot more complex than the ones I have been, so I will start to change all of this in the second half of the semester. I will need to learn to take more risks when it comes to writing, especially because there is so much time to learn how to do that.

Go For It Meme

Week 8 Reflections

I think overall my choices for my readings have been good ones. I think I prefer to do most of my stories in the classical sections, to me, those are the easiest for me to read and think of new ways to re write stories. I also really enjoyed the Persian Fairy Tales unit I did a few weeks back. I usually have Mondays and Wednesdays to do most of my assignments, so on those days I will work at home and try to knock out most of the week in one sitting if I have the time! My notes have definitely helped when it comes to the Wednesday story assignments- it is much easier to look back on my notes and get ideas on how to expand my full story. I think for the upcoming stories it will be really cool to use a Native American story. I am currently enrolled in a Native American Studies course, so it will be really interesting to see how I can connect the two classes assignments and make a story out of it!

Overall I am happy with the stories I write, although I could change them up a bit. Most of my stories are all done in a certain style, and I would like to broaden out and try different perspectives, or styles. When I have questions about my writing, I usually call my dad. My dad is actually an English teacher and has helped me with my writing as long as I can remember- so it's extremely helpful. As for my Storybook, I am overall content with it. I think I was confused on how to do my intro, but after the helpful emails, and feedback comments I now have a better grasp on what to do. I think I definitely want to master writing in second or third person rather than strictly first; I think I'll give that a try with my upcoming stories.

I love reading other people's stories! It is really cool to me to see how other people have different writing styles and different content. I think I could be a little more in depth with my comments instead of giving simple feedback comments. But other than that, I am having a really good time in this course and have learned so many things- considering how not tech-savvy I am!

Fry Writing Meme

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Story: Adventures of Rich and Mike

One day a man named Mike was wandering around his neighborhood trying to decide what he wanted to do for the day. While he was quite bored and was not sure what his day would consist of, he decided to call his friend Rich and see if he wanted to hang out.

Rich and Mike were great friends, even though they would get on each other’s nerves from time to time. Rich was actually the smartest person in the world who so happened to live in Mike’s neighborhood. They began hanging out when they were very young and grew up to be very close. Rich was always into making weird toys and futuristic type objects; sometimes they would work, and sometimes they wouldn’t. But as they got older, Rich’s experiments actually began to work and do things no one had ever seen before… so this is where their story begins.

Mike and Rich decided to go on an adventure and see what they could get into. As they were walking through town on their way to a nearby abandoned park, they saw a man standing in their path who seemed to want something from them. Rich, who did not want to stop and help this man decided to keep walking past the man. Mike, on the other hand, was the type of person to help anyone who was in need.

Mike stopped to ask this man what was wrong and made Rich stop with him so they could continue their adventure together. The man asked if the two boys would help get him to the top of the mountain so he could collect food for his family, and while both boys knew they could easily help him up there by sending him in one of Rich’s transportation devices, they decided to do it the hard way.

Both boys walked all the way to the top of the mountain while the man followed behind them. Half way up the mountain, the boys saw what looked like a blizzard forming coming for them. The boys turned around to look for the man they were helping, and he was gone. The boys were very confused and had no idea where the man went. They called for him, searched for him, and went back down the mountain as far as they could without meeting the blizzard. They never found the man, and decided to keep walking forward in hopes of beating the blizzard to the top of the mountain.

While Mike knew that Rich had an item that could transport them back to their home safe and sound, Mike wanted to see how far they could make it without “cheating”.

Rich, on the other hand, was ready to go home and not risk being caught in the blizzard. So he convinced Mike to follow him home and get home as soon as possible.

Once the boys got back home, they realized the blizzard had followed them back home and was about to cover their neighborhood in complete ice. So the boys worked together to find the perfect weapons, tools, and objects to save the town from complete destruction…

Rich fought hard and used everything he had to save the town, yet nothing was working. The one item he did not use was his transporter…

Shortly after Mike realized nothing was working, he grabbed Rich’s transporter, formed a portal, and made everyone in the town go through it to get to a safe, warm place that would keep the town from losing their population.

When everyone was safe and counted for, they threw a celebration and thank you party for the boys who helped save their people. While everyone was enjoying the festivities, Mike turned around to notice the old man standing there giving his thanks as well. Little did Mike, or Rich, know that the old man had fallen on the way up to the mountain, which is why they could not find him. When Rich had opened his portal, it happened to be right on top of the old man which had caused the man to fall in as well.

In the end, both boys were seen as heroes and were praised for the rest of their lives for saving hundreds of people from the massive blizzard.

Rick and Morty

Author's Note:

I came up with this story using an old Japanese Fairy Tale story of how a warrior goes on an adventure to help a man kill his enemy. I also used the theme of the story from a T.V show called Rick and Morty. If anyone has seen this show, then you will know how some of this (hopefully) fits in.

Bibliography:

This story is part of the Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki) unit. Story source: Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki (1908).

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales Part A

This week’s story that I chose was from the Japanese Fairy Tales. I read the story from Yei Ozaki- the part of her story that stuck out to me the most was the first three chapters called “My Lord Bag of Rice”. These first few chapters are about this warrior named Hidesato. These chapters are about how he goes on an adventure to help someone kill this man’s enemy. The story ends with Hidesato helping this man and receiving many presents, and respect in return. I would change how the adventure would be a lot more intense. Except he would have a friend that joined him- who also happened to be a genius and knew how to make things no one else knew how to. He would have futuristic weapons that could help them change dimensions, time periods, or other planets. They would get into trouble on every trip they would take, and somehow fix it all in the end. Although, it does end with these two earning their countries respect and acceptance.

Rick and Morty Weapons

Bibliography:

This story is part of the Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki) unit. Story source: Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki (1908).

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy Book Part A

For this unit, I chose to write over the Monkey King, in the Chinese Fairy Book. I liked the entire first part of this story, but the parts that stuck out to me the most were the Dragon King, and Dragon Queen sections. Throughout this story there are many baboons who are the Ape King's subjects. They show him a lot of ways to get the weapons he needs, so I think I could change the story by making the whole thing just a dream. I would make the Monkey King be a 5 year old boy, named Sam, who was obsessed with apes, weapons, and fairy tales. Throughout his dream, he would be the king, of course, and find the best weapon in the world! His journeys would consist of him having many monkey friends to show him the way and how to become the greatest King in the world. He would ask all of his monkeys to find the best weapon ever, which they did. They found someone very powerful named Drogon, who made the best swords ever, which he was dying to have. So in the dream, Sam would conquer the world with his amazing weapons and rule over everything. He would be a great King that everyone loved and respected. When Sam would wake up, he would feel like he was still the most amazing King ever, and live life everyday like he was a Monkey King!

Bibliography:

This story is part of the The Monkey King unit. Story source: "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

Young King

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Tech Tip: Google Site Page

Hi everyone! I have a new page up on my website! It's all about my sweet, little kitty named Phylix, and her best friend, Oliver! If you're interested, go check it out! This was a new post for my Storybook, and it was actually pretty easy to create. All I had to do was create a new page on my homepage for my website, and start typing! :)

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Tech Tip: YouTube Playlist

So for this extra credit assignment, I wanted to write a tip on how to make youtube playlists! I have never been "tech savvy", especially when it comes to anything youtube related. I don't use YouTube a lot, so when I do I just do the simplest tasks like typing in what I want to watch and then exiting out of the page. But I realized I needed to start making playlists for a few videos I have saved and didn't know how. That's why this tech tip was awesome for me to find! Making a playlist is actually the easiest thing to do; now that I know how to do it. Once you are logged into YouTube and find a video you want to add to your playlist, simply click on the "Add to" button near the bottom left of the video screen. If you haven't made a playlist before, it will ask you to create a new playlist. Once you have created a new playlist and have added the videos you want then you will start to see them on your home page! Simple as that.
I have never shared any of my videos publicly, simply because I doubt people would want to watch all the cat videos I play. But, when I do make a playlist of the videos that are interesting enough, I will share it for everyone who wants to watch!

YouTube Meme

Monday, September 19, 2016

Readin Notes: Aladdin's Lamp part B

The Story of Aladdin is where this part begins. I would connect the two stories by having the old man turn out to be Aladdin and stumbling across this cave in his journeys. He would go through the cave and realize how psychadelic it was. Everything he touched would either help or harm him in a different way so he had to be careful. So after his many adventures through this cave, he would have finally come across a lamp at the end of the cave. He has been through thick and thin trying to get to the end of the cave with the help, and not so much help, from every little creature along the way. Aladdin has finally made it to the end of the cave and has his hands on the lamp. He would be shaking so much from his excitement that his hands accidentally brushed the lamp, causing (you guessed it!) a genie to appear! But it would not be just an ordinary genie. This genie definitely does not want to be let out of his lamp, so when Aladdin let him out he was not very happy. This genie did know, though, that he had a job to fulfil. So once the genie was released and saw who let him out, he states the rules as simply and as quickly as he can. 1.) Be specific. 2.) Do not annoy me. And 3.) There are only three wishes I am allowed to grant. So of course Aladdin would be shocked since he did not know what would be to come from the lamp in the first place. The genie would go back into the lamp until Aladdin knew what his wishes would be. After Aladdin has made his way out of the cave with the lamp, he would think of all the things he could wish for and find the many obstacles he would face trying to get what he wanted.

Aladdin's Genie

Bibliography:

This story is part of the Arabian Night Unit. Story source: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898). Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 2

Reading Notes: The Story of the Fisherman Part A

For Part A of the Arabian Nights Unit, I chose to write over the Story of the Fisherman. I wanted to connect this story to my Part B of Aladdin. So in this part of the story a poor fisherman does what he can to support his family. He always goes out to the lake to try and find food for his poor, starving family to make ends meet. Every time he had thrown his net, he would either get garbage, fish carcasses, or shells! So for my notes, I would probably change one major thing- on the fisherman’s last try of the day he would pull in a treasure chest. This poor old man who is trying to catch fish to bring home to his family, now has caught a giant treasure chest! The only problem is, that he cannot get into the chest. So throughout the journey of getting the chest onto his boat without anyone else seeing, and trying to get it home, he come across many obstacles. I would eventually make it to where he had gotten it home and told his family all about it. Because he does not have a key to open to box, or an axe to chop it open, he would go on a journey to find something to open this chest. Along this journey, he would come across a large cave that seemed very strange to him…

The Poor Fisherman- Pierre Puvis de Chavannes

Bibliography:

This story is part of the Arabian Nights unit. Story source: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898). The Story of the Fisherman

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Feedback Focus

I think copy and deleting is a more useful tool to me than reading out loud. I have tried reading out loud, and even then I still lose my concentration- so when I can copy and paste a part of a paragraph, then it helps me read the whole thing easier. For me it is way easier reading a story little by little, then reading the story as a whole. I am a little surprised at how much more helpful it is for me to copy and paste than it is to simply read out loud. I use this strategy quite a bit actually; I have always found that I lose focus reading long stories so this strategy helps me a lot. This strategy helps me with any story I read, which is why I like this so much! Using a timer has never been the best way for feedback for me.. it actually makes me feel more pressured, even if I am not under a time constraint. So I don't think I would use this feedback anytime in the future.

Feedback Picture

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Reading Notes: Persian Tales Part B

For the second part of my reading I chose to do another chapter about a wolf so I could combine the two! This story starts out with a wedding, and by the end, the bride has turned into a wolf out of nowhere and tore her husband apart. Then she immediately turns back into her normal self without any idea how it happened or what exactly happened. So to change the story I would have it connect back to my part A of the story. Instead of a girl marrying a man, it would be the goat and the wolf from the beginning of my story. After the wolf had protected his house and managed to calm down the goat, they would have spoken about the miscommunication and the mother goat decided to let the kids have a play date with the wolf’s child. After a few play dates, they would begin going on dates without the children and decide that they have been falling in love! So in a twist of fate, the goat and wolf would fall in love and get married. Once getting married, no one would kill the other (like in the original), but they would live happily ever after like any other cheesy love story. The baby goats would then see the baby wolf as their new sibling and they would become best friends. After spending a couple years together, they would eventually realize that they could not keep up with rebuilding a house every time the wolf would huff, puff, and sneeze their house down. So they would learn what materials to build their house out of, and make sure it didn’t happen to any other unlucky people who built a house next to theirs.

Wolf Sneezing

Bibliography:

This story is part of the Persian Tales unit. Story source: Persian Tales: The Story of the Wolf-Bride , translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer and illustrated by Hilda Roberts (1919).

Monday, September 12, 2016

Reading Notes: Persian Tales Part A

This week I chose to do my story notes over Persian Tales. Because my boyfriend's family is Persian, I thought it would be interesting to read more into some of their stories! I read most of the story and loved the part of The Goat and the Wolf. This part of the story was very cool to me because it showed how the mother goat's motherly instincts set in once her children had gone missing. I think instead of the wolf overhearing the mother warn her kids about not letting a stranger in, the wolf would just be wandering by at the wrong time. The wolf could be a good guy and end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Instead of the wolf breaking in and kidnapping the kids, he would try and sell them cookies for a fundraiser for his own child. In the story, only one of the baby goats was able to escape and hide when the wolf kidnapped the others, so I would change it to where all of the kids followed the wolf. While the wolf tried to sell them cookies, the kids would end up following the wolf home to try and buy more cookies because the wolf did not bring enough to their home. When the mother gets back home, she will notice her kids are missing and start an adventure to find them. When she gets to the Wolf's house, she will become extremely worried and try to break into the Wolf's house to fight him to get her kids back. Little will she know that the kids will be out in the wolf's backyard playing with his child and eating cookies! So when the wolf answers and tries to explain where her kids are, she won't believe him and become angry anyways. So while the mother goat tries to get her children back, who are not in any harm, she does everything in her power to get inside the wolf's house while he does everything he can to make sure his home is not destroyed by an overprotective mother.

Wolf and Goat

Bibliography:
Story source: Persian Tales: The Wolf and the Goat, translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer and illustrated by Hilda Roberts (1919). Link to Story

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Story: How Adam and Eve Met

One breezy, hot day in the middle of the desert, there was a boy named Adam who was left all alone with nothing but his name. He knew nothing of what was about to be ahead of him, or even how to handle it. Adam looked around in such confusion because he had no idea where he was or how he had gotten there; all he knew was his name. As he sat and pondered everything that was happening around him, he finally got the urge to go exploring. Little did he know that he was created on purpose; to find his purpose in life, and recreate mankind. Adam was created as simple as simple could get. He had little to no muscles, he was only about 5 feet and 5 inches tall, and he only knew simple English.

Adam wondered around for a few hours, and eventually fell extremely hungry. Not knowing how to cook or catch anything to eat, he started to brainstorm ideas of what to eat and how to catch it. After many trials and errors of cooking things that seemed to be edible, he finally figured out what was good to eat, and what was bad for him.

Adam struggled for many days. He cooked what food he could and picked what fruit was available, but only found enough to keep him somewhat satisfied. Adam realized how lonely he was becoming and still was not truly happy. He needed a companion, and didn’t even know it. Help was needed for harvesting crops and fruits, killing game for meat, making shelter, and simply someone for company. So he decided to start his journey to a new part of this world…

Adam hiked mountains and swam through lakes and stumbled upon a beautiful rainforest which was rich with vegetables, fruits, and fresh water. He decided this was the place to set up camp for a while.

After finding a comfortable place that was shaded and had plenty of food, he decided to walk around and find stuff that could further his journey. Although what he didn’t know was that he was intruding on someone else’s land… Eve had put a lot of thought into her life so far and did not want what she had made to be ruined, so she made plenty of weapons for cases like this. She noticed someone walking through her forest that she had never seen before. For as far as Eve knew, she was the only human on earth. She began shooting arrows towards Adam in hopes it would scare him off her land. Adam had no idea what was shooting towards him, so with fear running through him, he ran in circles terrified of what was happening to him. Because he was not fighting back, and Eve did not feel threatened, she slowly made her way towards this strange human that was running in circles.

After calming him down and realizing he was of no threat, she spoke to him the best she could to understand what he was and where he had been. After the both of these humans felt safe around each other, they began to start this journey of life together. Both of them knew different things to help get them through, which led to the both of them teaching each other everything. They began making shelters together and learning off one another to make their lives better. Eventually the two realized why they were the only ones on earth and how to change that. They figured out life together and made small adjustments little by little to make earth a habitable place to live.

Adam and Eve

Author's Note:

This story was based on the original story of Adam and Eve. I based the beginning of the story on how Adam was created, and went from there. Instead of the two already being together, I wanted to change it on how they would have met in real life and what would have actually happened if they realized they were the only two people on earth.

Bibliography:

Louis Ginzberg's Adam and Eve: The Ideal Man

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Reading Notes: Adam and Eve, Part A

I chose to write about Adam and Eve’s story of where the Ideal Man was created. When I was younger, my family would take me to church every week, but as I got older and my brother was born, we stopped going as much. Ever since we stopped going, I got more and more into other religions outside of Christianity. So although I would consider myself Agnostic, I like to learn about as much religion as I possibly can! I chose this story because I figured it would be a good spot to pick back up on since I do know a little about the story already. I would want to change a few things to make this story somewhat a little more comical than the original. Instead of Adam knowing where he came from and who created him, I would change into where he would just wake up one day and be the only person in the world. Instead of Adam being pretty much "perfect" and made by the God's, he would be average and quite skinny. He would have to figure out why he was put on this earth and what his purpose was. I would probably make him to be about 18 years of age instead of in his twenties. Eve would not be found yet, so he would be all alone until he found her. As soon as he finds Eve, they would then try to figure out where they were and how to make life begin. The only thing Adam would know in this life is his name, but does not know how to spell, read, or write. Anytime Adam would do something to further himself and make the world a better place, he would receive a faint memory of where he came from. So over time, he would learn all the life skills he needs to become a better person and how to make humanity start from the bottom up. He would learn how to make shelter, what food would be poisonous or healthy, and how to talk to girls…
Once Adam had joined Eve, Adam would find his own hell by living with a girl he just met, instead of dealing with the devil.

Adam and Eve

Bibliography:

Adam and Eve: The Ideal Man, story by Louis Ginzberg

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

My Feedback Thoughts!

Giving feedback has always been a somewhat difficult task for me, simply for the fact I do not want to hurt anyone's feelings! At the same time, receiving negative feedback can hurt as well, although I have learned that no one means any harm, they simply are just giving feedback! That's why the article I thought was the most interesting to me was, Why Rejection Hurts So Much- and What to do About It. I liked this article because it talked about both sides of this situation and why people handle it differently, and I think that helped me understand it a little bit more as well. I have learned that you have to be careful with your choice of words when giving feedback though, especially over the internet. When people read words over the computer, they may read it in a different way that you intended when originally leaving the comment. So just be courteous when leaving feedback!
I have had a few times outside of school where I have had to give negative feedback, and I never feel good about it. I manage at a restaurant and have realized that nothing will change for the better if you do not tell people to fix something that is going wrong. If no one knows they are doing something wrong, then it will never get fixed. I have learned this way that no one is trying to be mean when giving feedback, but they are just trying to help you. Like I said above, I used to take negative feedback somewhat to the heart too. But as I have gone through many classes where feedback is necessary, I have realized that I need to just accept it as is and fix what may, or may not, be wrong with my writing!

Happy, Mutual, and Negative

Story: The Two Great Battles

As the men approached the forbidden cave where the giant, robot cyclops lived, they could hear the deep growling from a mile away… The men strapped their armor on and added as much armor to their hover craft that they could before they ran out of time. As they hovered closer and closer to the cave, they could feel the tension so hard they could cut it with their metal swords.

The cyclops could hear the men approaching; he grabbed every piece of armor he had and every one of his weapons he owned. Although, none would do the trick like his Valyrian Steel sword would. He strapped all of his armor on, and locked everything important to him away in case the men were able to invade his cave. Once he heard the hovercraft board his island, he made his way to the beach where the soldiers had arrived.

The soldiers and the cyclops were finally face to face. While there is only one of the cyclops, and hundreds of soldiers, the cyclops’ power outnumbered the men 50 to 1. You could see the soldiers shaking as they saw the giant robot wielded his incredible sword towards them. Each men knew that the only way to win this battle was to fight with all of their strength and fight like they never had before. While the cyclops was waiting for the men to make the first move, he pulled the lever to his grenade launcher and watched it fly past the men’s hovercraft; almost like he was teasing them. The soldiers knew it was time to make their move before it was too late.

The soldiers fought with all of their might and used all of their weapons against this giant monster. The soldiers had every gun in the world, even those that were not able to be used outside of the government, and fought with every bit of strength they possessed. The cyclops robot put up a hell of a fight, and held them off for as long as he could; he even took half of the army’s soldier’s lives doing so. Yet, he did not prevail.

The men fought long and hard and did their very best to win this battle. Which they did, after many hours of fighting against the giant cyclops. Although it was not an easy battle, they decided to spare the cyclops’s life and tie him to their hovercraft to take him back to headquarters to be tested on. After the cyclops had been secured down, they took every bit of something worth any money, and took every weapon they could find.

On their way back to headquarters, they would have to pass the island of the Sirens; deadly creatures to anyone who would hear their singing if they felt threatened. The only way to get back home was to pass this isle, so they did as quiet and stealthy as they could. Little did the men know that the cyclops was still awake enough to groan in pain…

While they were passing the isle, the cyclops did in fact groan as loudly as he could. Thankfully for the men, they still had their armor on and the craft was still covered in metal armor to be protected as well.

The evil mermaid, sirens tried as hard as they could to attack this hovercraft and sang as loud as possible to try and capture every man on board. While only a few men were aware of the singing, the others were falling off the hovercraft due to the singing of the sirens being so deadly. Each and every men that fell off the craft were immediately taken by the mermaids and were dragged back to their isle to receive their fate.

The few men that did survive the battle of the sirens made their way back to headquarters, only to find that the cyclops had somehow untied himself and let himself loose near the siren’s island. Which is why this island is now known as the most deadly island in the world and must not ever be passed by again.

Soldiers in battle

Author's Note:

This story was taken from the original story of Homer's Odyssey. The two parts from this story I had taken were from the story of the evil Cyclops and the beautiful Sirens. Each part of these stories were changed slightly to be a little bit more futuristic and up to date of what it would be more like if this happened today.

Bibliography:

Homer's story, The Odyssey. Link to The Odyssey

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Reading Notes for homer's Odyssey part 2!

For this section of the story I am choosing to write about the Siren’s Isle. This has always been my favorite part of The Odyssey! Although, changing the story to fit the futuristic theme might be semi-difficult, so I’m hoping for the best here. Instead of the soldiers sailing past the isle in a boat, they would be in a hovercraft with the rest of their weapons and loot they had stolen from the Cyclops. The men would pass by the isle and see the most strange, pretty, mermaid-type creatures they have ever seen. They did, however, know that these creatures were the most evil, quickest, sneaky and dangerous types of women. So the men would do everything in their power to make sure that harm would come to none of the soldiers on board. They would wear every bit of armor they had on the ship, and arm the hovercraft with the strongest steel they stole from the Cyclops in case these creatures felt threatened in anyway.

By the time they would come near the isle, the Siren’s would already be ready to defend their land. The hover craft and mass weapons and protection upon the hovercraft would have spooked them already. As soon as the Sirens swam closer to the hovercraft, they would begin to sing their song, which the soldiers soon realized was much more. The song of the sirens would be deadly to anyone who would hear the song for longer than thirty seconds…

Evil Mermaid

Bibliography:

Homer's The Odyssey. Link to Siren's Section of The Odyssey

Monday, August 29, 2016

Reading Notes for Homer's Odyssey

I chose to write my notes over Homer's Odyssey! I have always loved this story and got really into it when we read it in middle school. Although, I have not read this in a while so I wanted to read up on it again. I do think it would be cool to change the setting of this story in the future instead of the 12th century. Instead of the cyclops being a “monster” I would probably change him to a giant robot with a robotic eye. I would keep the story around the same but have the setting a little different with futuristic objects, medicine, weapons, and people. Instead of a giant club the Cyclops owned, he would wield a sword made of Valyrian Steel and the soldiers from would be wearing uniforms made of Baratheon Steel. Each weapon would be stronger than the other in their own way making the fight between the two sides very strenuous.

The battle would consist of the soldiers all using their futuristic guns, tanks, and their best robot men to win the battle. The giant Cyclops’s weapon of choice is his giant sword, but still uses other futuristic weapons to his advantage. The entire cave the cyclops lives in is filled with every weapon you could think of; from a wooden club with spikes to grenade launchers and light sabers. Once the soldiers win the battle, they would take over the cyclops’s cave and take all of his belongings; each expensive painting, every weapon on display, and his Valyrian Sword- the greatest triumph to be won.

The Robot Cyclops

Bibliography
Homer’s The Odyssey. Link to The Odyssey

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Growth Mindset

I have actually heard of Carol Dweck before from a previous class I took here at OU, although I never learned too much about her. I see myself in a fixed mindset for my school work in a way that, the more I work on one class, the more I learn. The classes I do not have a lot of homework, or assignments for, I do not learn as much. As obvious as that may seem, it is very hard for me to do well in some classes because of this. There are many classes where the only assignment are the exams, and because of that, I do poorly on these exams. My biggest challenges are in fact the exams for those said classes! It is very hard for me to do well on exams when I have not been doing much else in the class besides sitting in a lecture hall listening to a professor speak. I am very interested in the growth mindset and cannot wait to learn more about it! Due to these circumstances, I am currently worried about a certain class that does not have any assignment, yet two exams; a final and a midterm. So hopefully learning more about growth mindset will help me with my classes!

Meme on growth mindset

link to image

Starting the Semester!

Some of the best organizational tips I can think of for starting off a new semester is getting separate folders for each class, whether they are online or on campus! Getting folders for each class has helped me more than anything, especially being able to keep a syllabus for every class in each folder! Also, time management. I found that, personally, using my phone's calendar to input exam dates, meeting times, and any other important times has been very helpful. For some people it helps more to physically write these times down in a planner, but either way works as long as you are writing down the things that need to be remembered.

Daily Planner

link to image

My Reading Options

My choice for week 2 was Homer's Odyssey. I read this book in middle school and loved everything about it, so I would love to learn more about it now that I am able to understand a lot more than I was able to in middle school! Homer's Odyssey link

Odysseus and the Sirens

Like I stated in a previous post, I love Alice in Wonderland! It brings back so many childhood memories and I cannot wait to read more about the story. I want to get more in depth with the story than the movies have portrayed as well. Alice in Wonderland link\

Personally, I have not been very church oriented in quite some time. So reading the story of Adam and Eve is something I think can be a good starting point on reading more biblical stories. I think this is a good choice for me to read! Adam and Eve link

As a child, Robin Hood was always kind of an interesting story to me. I do not really agree with stealing from the rich to give to the needy, but I like where his head was at. And just by reading the overview, I can tell there are a lot more stories than the one that I know of, so I am excited to get into something like this! Robin Hood lin k

Lauren's Storybook Favorites!

Mermaid Tales of The World
I have always been very interested in Merpeople, so as soon as I saw the title that was related to Mermaids, I was instantly pulled in! I am not very familiar with the theories of mermaids, although I am very interested. Because I do not know that much about them, I figured this would be a great story for me to look into! The introduction for this story definitely gave me some insight into the full story and made me want to keep reading. It was really cool to see a story starting out in first person and how she was writing a letter to the audience instead of just telling a story. The layout of the page was really beautiful as well! The blue colors of the page really interacted well with the "mermaid scene" it was trying to portray. This gives me a great idea on how to eventually turn my blog into something that really reacts well to my personality.

The Little Mermaid

Link to picture

Mermaid Tales of The World link

In a World of My Own
The movie, and book, Alice in Wonderland has always been one of my favorites! The plot has been so interesting to me because it has never been done before. So the title of this caught me instantly. The introduction to this story was very interesting; also being third person! I only wish I could go back in time to being a child and having an imagination like Alice's. Wherever Wonderland is, I hope to find it one day and have my own white rabbit. I also enjoyed how it switched from Alice's view to Duke (the rabbit)'s view about half way through the story. The design of this page was very dark and ominous, but it fit very well into the theme of the story. If I were writing a darker story, having a darker themed page would make more sense than having a brightly colored theme.

Wonderland painting by Gordon Tarpley

link to image

link to story

How My Hero Asked

This story caught me instantly. When I first clicked the link, I was not sure what I was going to read, but as soon as I read the introduction my thoughts instantly changed. The introduction is very grabbing and that is something I love to see. When I read a book or a story, I want the first page to be as eye catching as possible, and this definitely caught my eye. The page is very heart felt (literally, there are pink hearts all over the page), and is so brightly colored! But it was interesting because if you keep reading, you will see this is a page for fiancé’s who have conducted heroic acts. Not heroic acts in ways that make a girl swoon, but in a way that he actually did something to fight an evil monster or defeat a bad guy. This was a very interesting page and I cannot wait to read the entire thing!

Heroic painting