Famous Last Words: Finally getting into school work

This week I did a complete hurry up motion for this class. I decided to do all of the assignments for Week 3 between Monday and Tuesday. I will say this did take a lot of time but the reasoning I had behind this was to focus on other school work throughout the week. I'm one of these guys where I like putting my mind to something and getting it done. Sometimes this can be a problem because I can't focus on anything else or I get stressed but this seemed to be positive work for me this week. Now I can focus on studying for the DAT and my other classes and not have to pick this one up until next Monday.

In terms of the work I did for this week in this class, I would say the readings weren't exactly what I was expecting. So far I haven't dived as deep into the readings as I found I did last semester with the mythology and folklore class. I do however think I have an early understanding of what I want my stories to be like and therefore the content of my stories seem to be better. I would say that I could probably make a few revisions to my writing, but the content is ahead of where I was last semester.

In terms of other classes, I need to start taking better notes. I can feel that I'm not performing as well as I should be and I'm going to have to cram if I don't start taking notes soon. Luckily I have the rest of the week to try and get a hold of this. One thing I've done the past few days is make a to-do list and so far I feel that it is helping me keep organized and get a lot done.

I found this image on Flickr to represent the To Do List I've been making on my phone.

Learning Challenge: I wish my teacher knew

What Kids Wish Their Teachers Knew

I found this article to be pretty sad to be honest. Its funny how most of us treat school as just something we have to do and get it over with but a lot of people feel that school is escape from their lives at home. I think that this is a good exercise as a teacher and should be practiced at least through middle school. I think that teachers should be more understanding of people's home lives and that accommodations should be made sometimes as long as people aren't making excuses for themselves. I personally have never done anything like this exercise but I know that many people would love to express themselves anonymously. I think this would be a good way for teacher to show compassion to students without knowing who to show compassion to so that way everything is fair. You never know what people are going through in their lives so it is important to always be compassionate to everyone around you in my opinion. 

I chose this picture based on the note one kid left about not having pencils at home. This note made me pretty sad. I found this image on Pixabay.

Growth Mindset: Acronym

I created this image on Canva.

I have been trying to be a better person in the sense that I get to know more people and understand where they are coming from. Often people are too quick to judge others so this is just a reminder that we are all humans and to R.E.A.D. I came up with this on the go but it was based on how I've tried to live lately.

Wikipedia Trail: From Fireworks to Saturday Night Live

Fireworks

As I read about the festival of Diwali this week, I felt that Fireworks would be a fitting topic to start with on this Wikipedia Trail. I learned that fireworks were invented in China... the ignorant American in me thought they were invented for the Fourth of July. One of the things I learned that people also have competitions with fireworks and that the biggest one is actually in Canada. I feel this would be a cool thing to attend one day. I also learned that the Walt Disney Company is the largest consumer of fireworks.

The Walt Disney Company

I never realized how much Disney is involved with different things.After reading this page, I learned that they owned ABC and ESPN. I also learned that the company was started 94 years ago. It seems crazy to me that this company has been around for so long. I also learned that one of my favorite shows growing up was bought by Disney which is the Muppets.

The Muppets

As a kid I remember watching many Muppet shows and especially the movies. I weirdly don't remember that much about them however. Like I didn't realize that they were tied in with Sesame Street. The page actually says the Sesame Street was geared more for children while The Muppets was supposed to entertain a more adult crowd which I found interesting. I also learned that the muppets appeared on the first season of Saturday night live which I also really enjoy even today. I knew that Muppets have been all throughout pop culture but I found it entertaining to learn that they were featured on a Weezer music video.

This is an image of Kermit from the Muppets. I found the picture on SketchPort.

Saturday Night Live

I don't think I know a single person who dislikes SNL. That is probably why there has been 43 seasons of the show which I learned thanks to this trail. I learned that the show has been nominated 231 times for the Emmys which is more than any show. I also learned that Alec Baldwin has hosted the show 17 times which is more than anyone else. I also learned that he show doesn't allow the musical guests to lip sync which I think is a really cool thing. I would say my favorite comedian to be on SNL would be Will Ferrell.

Tech Tip: Canvas Dashboard

This week I decided to mess around with the Canvas Dashboard for my tech tip. I will say I'm glad I figured out how to change the names or "nicknames" of my classes because I had a terrible problem of clicking on the wrong classes due to the numbers being the only thing read. I wish I had known this was a thing before my last semester. I also figured out how to take classes off of my dashboard because some past classes were staying there and I didn't know how to delete them until now as well. I personally really enjoy the dashboard because it is extremely simple and not full of junk. I can't imagine adding anything else because I feel it could get cluttered. The side bar is perfect for shortcuts into certain things and I always use it. Canvas has been the greatest tool for college in my opinion.

I found this image on Flickr.

Reading Notes: Ramayana Introductory Videos, Extra Credit

I wasn't really sure how to give reading notes over these videos so I just gave my own review and briefly discussed the content of the videos. This was a great way for me to make some connections in the story that I read this week as well as giving me an idea of what different characters would look like. I also think it is cool to see how this famous storybook still applies to people today. I wish that some of the individual stories that I have read had more videos like the animated ones for me to follow. 

Crash Course Video

What I liked about this video was the fact that it cleared up a few things for me. One of those such things were the relationships among the different character's as well as just who is who. I think the video helped because it showed great images for the people as well. One of the things I liked was that it told general stories as well as to set the precedence of these different characters and how they came into contact. Although I'm still going to get things confused, this video did a better job of helping me make connections and imagine some of the stories I have already read. 

Ramayana: The Story of Diwali

What I liked about this video was it told the story at the beginning as to why Diwali is celebrated. I also felt that the animation did a pretty good job as to making me follow along with the story. I didn't realize how graphic the story could get but the video didn't make it as bad since it was a kid's version.  I also think it is cool how lights are everywhere to celebrate good coming over evil. I feel this is good symbolism as well as it makes the festival more fun. The video did a good job as to working its way into describing Diwali in my opinion.

I found this image of Diwali on Wikimedia Commons. I felt that it showed the lights and fireworks perfectly as described in the video.

The Rama Epic LIVE

What I liked about this video was the reality of how the stories still apply today. As the others took an animated way of telling a story of Ramayana, this one makes it feel more applicable due to the interviews and performances that can be seen. I will say this video was slightly long and lost my attention at some points but overall the idea was delivered. 

Bibliography:

I posted the link to each of the videos I watched but I got all of them from YouTube based off this post for the class.

Feedback Strategies

Be a Mirror: Give Readers Feedback That Fosters a Growth Mindset

There were a few things that I like about this article but to start with the main idea of being a "mirror" is useful only some of the time. I think that the idea is correct behind this but I think there is room for being a role model as well when giving feedback. Although being a role model may not be as good for topics like reading and writing, I feel that the best feedback I have received has been from people I look up to. That being said I feel this is where practice what you preach comes into play. What I liked about this article was it said to be specific. So many times I've gotten "feedback" from people but nothing was very specific whether good or bad, so I found it difficult to make changes if needed or see what was going well. This is why I want to be able to give as specific feedback as I can this semester because I feel this will help others, as well as maybe setting a precedence as to how I wish others to give me feedback. I also liked the idea of the feedback being transferable. I think that this means to allow room for challenge. I think that while people should be specific they shouldn't just tell people how to fix things either.  I think it is important for people to struggle and eventually find what was needed for improvement. 

This is an image of a mirror which I found on this website. I felt that it went well with the topic of the article I reviewed. 

Presence, Not Praise: How To Cultivate a Healthy Relationship with Achievement

First off let me start by saying I have tried to remove the yellow at the end of that link but I just can't seem to figure out what to do.... someone should leave me some positive feedback (see what I did there?). What I liked about this article was the idea that praise should be given to one who has achieved something difficult. I find it too often that I see people become lazy because they are just pleasing people who so often told them their work was good even if it wasn't that exceptional. I think that this can hinder people in the long run. I also liked the idea of just being present. I always found that if someone keeps tabs on me or just checks in every so often that I don't want to have them catch me being lazy or disappointing. I think this presence drives people to work even when no one is looking. 

For this class, I know that it will take me some time to get into the swing of giving feedback to people. But unlike last semester, I plan on giving specific feedback to people in order for them to challenge themselves as well. I think I can keep a presence by continually trying to check on a certain few people each week or so with my comments. I look forward to attempting to give better feedback this semester. 

Topic Research: Animals

When thinking about the direction I want to take my project for this class, I think I have narrowed it down to animals. Although in the first two stories I have wrote for this class, the main characters were dogs, I'm not really trying to focus on just one animal. I think it would be fun to tell stories about different types of animals and make them all vary in theme. Maybe have a love story with animals, maybe a great fight, or even just the story of how something came to be based off animals. I'll be honest, I'm the type of person who doesn't really plan stories but rather is inspired by something and just runs with it so the reading's I've picked hopefully serve me for purpose but if they don't I wouldn't be surprised.

Hanuman's Leap

I liked this story because one it deals with a monkey, and who doesn't enjoy a good story with monkeys? This story seems to have multiple directions I can see myself basing my own story on. I could see myself recreating a story about the monkey's famous past and how he got his powers. I could also lead into the attack of the rakshashi attacks him. I could use this story as a fable like story if I wanted to as well. I like the idea of using the confidence of Hanuman as he gets ready to make the jump over the water however. 

This is an image of Hanuman which I found on Wikipedia.

Hanuman and the Mountain

Keeping on the theme of Hauman, even though I said I wanted to do different animals, I had the idea of using this story to tell somewhat of a creation story. I was thinking about possibly intertwining why Monkeys enjoy the base of mountains. Obviously I don't think monkey's and mountains have any connection, but I like the idea of this story creating a friendship relationship beween something natural on earth and an animal. I was also thinking this could be a friendship between the monkey's of today and the Himalayas. I could even use this story to show a teamwork type message between bears and monkeys. 

Sampati and Jatayu

What I liked about this story was the immediate idea of using birds to tell the story of Icarus and how he got to close to the sky just as Sampati and Jatayu do in this one. I think it could be a great way to have each of the stories intertwine between characters since they all do interact between the stories. This also allows for birds to be the main characters rather than monkeys. The story I base off of this would more than likely deal with becoming too confident which could be a theme of my story book since Hanuman becomes too confident in the first story as well. 

I found all of these stories from this link.

Week 3 Story: Love From A Jingle

An updated version of this story can be found in my portfolio by clicking here.

Love from a Jingle

As the two dogs, Penny and Buddy, sat in the back of the car they couldn’t feel more like royalty. Their owners had just picked them up from the groomers and now they were hanging with their heads out the window as the cool wind flew through their fur. They knew their fur was as shiny as a brand-new chew toy. They knew they were softer than the grass in the spring. For Penny even had a new shiny bell on her collar and Buddy was wearing a bandana.

Just as the dogs were feeling their selves, their owner said, “We aren’t going home pups, instead we are going to a friend of mine’s house.” This was new to both of them for they never got to go to friend’s houses.

As they arrived at the friend’s house, the two were bombarded with compliments as to how good they looked. This was no surprise to the dog’s though for they knew of their beauty. Soon after arriving, the dogs were told that they were going to make a friend of their own as the dogs were let outside to the yard.

At this moment, Bosco heard nothing but the sound of Penny’s bell from her collar. As he turned around, he had never seen a more beautiful dog. For Bosco could see the white as snow fur glistening in the sunset of this warm winter night.

At the same time that Bosco saw Penny, she also saw him and thought to herself “I’ve never seen a more rugged, manly dog.” As Penny too was attracted to Bosco.

Trying to keep it cool, Bosco began to play with the new friends of his and even shared some of his toys with them. For Bosco knew that in order to make a good impression on Penny, he must be cool to Buddy as well. The three got along great and ran around the yard for what seemed like forever, until finally Penny and Buddy’s owner gathered them up to leave.

As they left, both Bosco and Penny became sad though they tried not to show it. Bosco just laid around outside as he usually does, but Penny upon reaching home did something unusual for her. She begged her owner to let her out into their yard. Without knowing it, both dogs began to look up at the same time in the moonlit sky with millions of stars out.

Penny and Bosco both howled at the moon longing to hang with the other one for they had such a connection that they both felt the love in their heart for each other. At the time of the howl, a shooting star whizzed by the moon as fast as ever, and they both felt a comfort that they knew each other was looking at the moon feeling the same love for each other.  

I found this image on SketchPort to symbolize Bosco looking at the moon.

Author’s Note:

This story is based on that of Sita from the Ramayana book. In this story Rama, a prince, and Sita, a princess, fall in love by meeting in a garden. Rama was known to be exquisite for he was full of high quality materials to make him very attractive to women, which made people realize that he and his brother as well would be good fits for Sita. In the story, Rama is trimming flowers in the garden when he hears a jingle in which he turned as saw Sita whom he immediately fell in love with. Neither of them exchanged a word before one of Sita’s companions made her leave. Upon her way home, she decided to stop at the goddess Bhavani’s house, where she prayed to find if this was real love which was followed by a sign that it was. Rama also felt the love for at night he confessed to the moon how beautiful he found Sita. Although my story varies and uses dogs instead of humans, the idea of two falling into love remains the same. In my version, I use Bosco to symbolize Rama, Penny to symbolize Sita, and Buddy to represent Sita’s companions. Although the stories are very similar, I used to different objects to replace each other as well such as the bell on Penny’s collar representing the bangles on Sita’s feet. I felt that since both Rama and Sita wanted signs of the love they felt, I would use a common object such as the moon for the confirmation, which Rama used as well in the original story. Overall, I used dogs to make the story more relatable and modern, yet the principle of two lover’s finding each other for the first time remains the same.

Bibliography: 

 The story of Sita from the Ramayana comes from The Divine Archer by F. J. Gould (1911). [600 words] This selection comes from Gould's versions of the Ramayana which is based both on Valmiki's Sanskrit Ramayana but also on Tulsidas's Hindi Ramayana

Reading Notes, Ramayana, Part B

Battle with Khara

Although I feel I shouldn't rag on a story, I'm going to do so anyways. The point of these reading notes is to demonstrate what I feel is a better way to tell a story, but then again I also realize each writer has their own tactic.

To start with what I do like about this writing, I like the way the setting was initially described. I think as a writer one tactic that seems to repeatedly work is in the first paragraph describe the setting. I think that the details here do a great job as to putting the reader in the right mind set for the story. Another thing that I like about this story was the use of dialect. I feel  that sometimes the dialect should be brief between characters, because it can be used for one purpose or another but if one uses too much conversation, then the point can be lost. I also enjoyed some of the uses of similes, because I feel comparisons are a good way as a writer to tell a story.

What I didn't like about this story was the lack of detail in action. I feel that with a chariot ride or describing battle, it is important for the author to describe every single detail in order to make the reader imagine the action. I felt that people getting "slain" should be in more detail and that as a writer I would like to describe action scenes with better body motions and emotions as well. I also felt that the climax and conclusion were rushed. As a writer I feel that in the moment of the point of the story, there should be more description and emotion than just "the battle was won" and Sita "kissed him".

I found this image of a bow and arrow on Pixabay and felt that since this was a weapon of choice in the story, that it fit well.

This story was an example to me as to what I don't want to be like as a writer, yet I respect the briefness in telling the events as well. Some people may not want all the detail that I do, but I feel that my stories involving action like this could use more detail.

Bibliography

The Battle with Khara from  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913). [200 words]. The link to where I found this text is above. 

Reading Notes: Ramayana, Part A

Sita

As I read (and listened to the audio recording) the readings of Part A from the online version of the Ramayana, this specific story seemed to be the most detailed which is one of my main focuses as a writer. From the very beginning I loved how the princes were described with so many adjectives to describe what they looked like and what they were doing. By describing their looks with so much detail you could imagine as a reader exactly what was taking place. Another thing that helped was with the elegance that was described also came with other people reacting positively with what was being said. I think this is a good strategy of confirmation in what is being told to the reader. I think that if I truly want to sell an idea as a writer this would be a good strategy to confirm it with other people's opinions. Especially if it is describing an attraction type scenario. 

Another thing that I liked about this story was not only the details but the way the details were described so naturally. I think that in a love story as this one, the idea of using all of the descriptions made with nature references is a good tactic. Love between two people has always been seen as natural so when the story uses nature to describe the moods and setting, it just seems fitting. Maybe this is just because the event of the two meeting took place in a garden, but I felt that this type of language was on purpose to set the essence of what was taking place.

I chose this image of nature because I felt that the nature described in the story fit perfectly with the events. I found this image on Pexels.

Language is another focus of mine when thinking about what I want to improve with my writing. I think that I should try to imagine the emotions that I’m trying to convey in a story whether it’s a love one like this or a fighting story, then once I imagine I should try to describe the emotions with things that help with my interpretation of what I want to be visualized.

Overall, I thought the wording of this story was great and I need to be more conscious in my choice of description.

Bibliography:

The story of Sita from the Ramayana comes from The Divine Archer by F. J. Gould (1911). [600 words] This selection comes from Gould's versions of the Ramayana which is based both on Valmiki's Sanskrit Ramayana but also on Tulsidas's Hindi Ramayana. The link to where I read the text is above.