Growth Mindset: Sharing Growth Mindset

I took this assignment as an opportunity to talk about growth mindset with one of my friends. My friend is an education major, so I felt that knowing about growth mindset and its applications would be very useful. My friend was pretty familiar with the idea of growth mindset, but she did not yet know it by this name. She felt that the entire mindset required to successfully incorporate growth mindset activities into a classroom is something that should be taught more in class. We also discussed this topic with my other roommate who was completely unfamiliar with growth mindset. He is going to try and incorporate growth mindset into his life as a student. Sharing growth mindset has been a success.

Growth 

Tech Tip: Countdown Widget

I added a countdown widget to the sidebar of my blog. I put the countdown as a countdown to the last day of finals for the end of the semester.

Reading Notes: Vasantasena a dancer

This story is about an evil king named Palaka who is trying to attract a beautiful woman Vasantasena. She is not interested in the evil king. Rather, she is interested in a poor man with a kind spirit. The poor man comes to possess some of her jewels but he loses them. Later, she gets her jewels back and her freedom is gained by her slave. The woman is caught by the evil brother in law of the evil king. The rival of the evil king escapes and takes the place of the woman in a carriage. The poor man is forced to go to a trial for a crime he did not do. The main thing that stood out to me in this comic is the pursuit of a beautiful woman by the evil king, but the woman was actually interested in a poor but goodhearted man. I think it would be interesting to write a story in which a woman chooses a nice man of a lesser social status over a mean rich man. The moral of this story is that a good heart is worth more than social status or money.

Bibliography: Vasantasena, a Dancer

Vasantasena 

Reading Notes: The Stolen Plow Part B

This is the story of two traders, one from a  village and one from a town. The village man brought his plow to the town trader to have it fixed. When he returned, the plow had been sold and the town trader kept the money. The town trader said that a plow had been eaten by mice. The village trader then took the man's son to a friend's house. He told the man that his son had been carried off by a bird. The man said this was impossible, so they went to a judge to get his decision. The judge said that it was not possible for a boy to be taken by a bird or for mice to eat a plow. The plow and the boy were both returned to their owners. I think it would be interesting to do a very similar story with alterations made to the characters and the tales being told by each man. This would allow some room for imagination in crafting a similar tale.

Bibliography: The Stolen Plow

Plow 

Reading Notes: The Three fishes Part A

This is the story of three fish. Their names are Very Thoughtful, Thoughtful, and Thoughtless. They used to live in a place where there were no humans interacting with their environment. They decided to move to a place that did have humans. Once there, they realized that it was not a very good place to be, so they decided they should go back to their old home. Very Thoughtful wanted to go soon. However, Thoughtful and Thoughtless kept putting off the move because they are lazy. Eventually, these two fish went swimming off on their own and were caught in a fishing net. Very Thoughtful splashed around to save them from the fishing net, and this worked. They all went back to their normal home. I think this would provide a great opportunity to write a story with perhaps three kids instead of fish. The kids are playing. Two of the kids decide to go play a game without waiting on the other kid. Along the way, these two that went ahead got caught in some sort of trouble. The other kid decides to save them even though he was abandoned by them. Eventually, the problem is resolved and they all play together happily.


Bibliography:  The Three Fishes

Three fish

Learning Challenge: I Wish My Teacher Knew

I read the "I Wish My Teacher Knew" article.  This article was truly eye opening. I was a bit shocked that such depth was coming from children in such a young age group. This proved that we really do not know what people are going through, and we should take every opportunity to be kind to others. I now believe that asking for feedback such as this, even anonymously, can help a teacher tailor her teaching style to the needs of the classroom. I have friends that are education majors, and I am excited to show this article to them. I think that more teachers, and more people in general, should seek feedback such as this in order to gain some perspective and empathy for others.

Empathy 

Growth Mindset: Bad Habits

I read the article 6 Bad Mental Habits That Sabotage Your Success. I found this to be very helpful as I am guilty of a few of these, and I know that I need to work on them. A few that I am guilty of are fearing the future, self doubt, and second guessing myself. I know that if I can work on conquering these bad mental habits, then I will grow as a student and a person in general. The cool thing about this article is that it pointed out things that I was not even consciously aware of that I do. It is hard to fix something if you are not aware that is a problem. I am glad this article brought these bad habits to my attention and I will work on conquering them this semester.

Growth Mindset 

Tech Tip: Twitter Widget

I added a twitter widget of my twitter profile to my blog.

Story Lab: Advice to Writers

The most valuable piece I found was about how writing is all about selection. You begin your writing by selecting words. Then you select sentences and paragraphs. The power rests with the writer. If something is interesting to the writer, then it goes in the story. If not, then it goes out. Writing is all about selection. I found this an interesting thought to consider. Another valuable piece of advice was to forget yourself. You should look more closely at the world around you and gain inspiration from that rather than yourself. I think this will be a big help in my writing in the future. I am always trying to come up with stories that I can personally relate to. I need to work on breaking out of my comfort zone and writing about stuff as I see it rather than as I personally experience it.

Advice to Writers

Writing 

Reading Notes: Why The Owl is not the king of birds

This is the story of how the birds chose their king. It is stated that all the other animal groups had a king but the birds did not. The birds took time to think it over. This is when one bird suggested that the owl be their king. The crow protested this decision because the owl is sour looking in his opinion. The birds decided to choose the turtle dove as their king. This started the tradition of owls and crows fighting. I think this would be an interesting story on how a feud could start between two people. For example, two students are running for class president of their small school. The campaign turns ugly and they become enemies. In the midst of their fighting, it is decided that neither of them will become class president. Someday else is chosen. However, the feud between the students goes on long into the future.

Bibliography: Why the owl is not the king of birds.

Owl 

Reading Notes: The Foolish Timid Rabbit

I read the story about the foolish timid rabbit. This rabbit had a dream that the earth would be destroyed. Then, right as he woke up, a coconut fell behind him and shook the ground. Without looking, he took off running in fear of the earth being destroyed. When other rabbits saw him running, they joined him. Then, deer joined him. Other animals kept joining until the lion saw them and stopped them. He asked what they were running from, and eventually narrowed down the rabbit that started the running. He then took the rabbit back to where he said the earth was being destroyed and saw the coconut. It was clear that this was a false alarm that everybody fell for. The moral of this story is do not start a frenzy if you are unsure of the facts at hand. There are a variety of stories I could retell in this form. One idea is a story of a kid in a school who thinks there is an emergency but is unsure and starts an uproar that turns into a panic by students and teachers alike until the principal realizes that it was a false alarm.

Bibliography: The Foolish Timid Rabbit

The Lion and the Rabbit 

Learning Challenge: Reading

I read the article Can Reading Make You Happier?  While reading this article, I was intrigued how the author was talking about using reading as a source of personal therapy. I found this idea intriguing. I have noticed that when I go on vacation to the beach, for example, I always have a few light reads with me. Reading does improve my happiness, although I never really thought about it like therapy. I guess it truly is a form of therapy. After reading this article, I was encouraged to find more time for reading to relax rather than reading to learn dense science texts for my classes.

Reading  

Growth Mindset: Genius

I think the components of genius are dedication, perseverance, ambition, and openness to learning. I would give these attributes each a 25% rating because it is hard to have one without the others. I believe these four attributes are closely linked and key to success.

Tech Tip: Twitter lists

https://twitter.com/AndyMcdowell408/lists/sports

I made a list for my favorite sports teams' accounts. I added them so I could read just sports material in one place. I have never used lists before. In fact, I did not even know that this option was available. It does seem to be an efficient way to use twitter.

Week 9 Story: A Hunting Accident

Portfolio: A Hunting Accident 

It is late October in far eastern Oklahoma. The leaves begin to change their hue to a bright orange that matches the burning sun in the evenings. The temperature drops steadily as the leaves fall. There is a crisp bite to the air as the wind switches to blowing from the north. Deer hunting season is just beginning, and this is the favorite time of the year for locals such as Leroy Hughes. Leroy is old, his vision is fading, and he rarely ventures out of the comfort of his home in the middle of the dense forest near the ghost town of Peoria, Oklahoma. His one exception is to hunt.

            On the morning of October 27, Leroy sets his alarm for four thirty in the morning. This will give him ample time to put on his camo, strap up his boots, and clean his gun before heading out to his favorite deer stand near the small creek running through the woods near his house. When he walks outside, his visibility is extremely low due to the dense fog that will not burn off until the sun rises in the later morning hours. With poor vision and a dense fog, he hopes that he will be able to hit his target if he is so lucky as to cross paths with a deer.

            Leroy makes his way to the stand and sets up for a long morning. He enjoys relaxing and listening to the beautiful cacophony of birds chirping, squirrels cracking acorns, and the howls of a distant coyote. Shortly after sunrise, Leroy hears a crunching of the leaves. The sound is approaching his stand from the dried-up creek bed. Leroy slowly grips his rifle. Heart beating, palms sweating despite the cool northern wind, Leroy anticipates the sight of the deer approaching him from beyond the trees. The fog is still so dense that Leroy can only make out the dark figure of the animal as it creeps out from the trees. With great excitement, Leroy steadies his rifle and fires. The dark figure drops in its tracks.

            Elated, Leroy slowly begins to climb down from his tree and make the three quarters of a mile trek to claim his trophy. As he walks, he daydreams about the size of his kill. He will have enough venison to last well throughout the winter. Although the fog was too dense to make out details, perhaps his prize even has an enormous rack of antlers. The anticipation is almost too much to bear.

            Leroy inches closer and closer. Suddenly, his heart sinks and his stomach ties in a knot. Leroy is overwhelmed with grief. A cold sweat builds on his forehead and his heart races. Laying on the ground in a pool of its own blood is no prized whitetail buck. It is the dead body of a fellow hunter wearing a dark brown camouflage.

A hunter wearing proper orange coloring

Bibliography: Kincaid Mahabharata 

Author's Note: I crafted this story from an excerpt of Kincaid's Mahabharata.This section is where Krishna is meditating in the forest. While he is meditating, a hunter in the forest believes that he is a deer and shoots him. This stood out to me because I am from rural Oklahoma and deer hunting is a favorite hobby of many people in the fall. During the hunter safety course, it is discussed how relatively easy it is to mistake people in the forest for animals and accidentally shoot them. This is why wearing hunter's orange is such a big requirement while hunting to provide an indicator to other hunters in the forest. My story is the story of an old man with poor vision hunting in a dense fog. He mistakenly shoots another hunter in the forest. This is similar to what happened in the Mahabharata reading for this week. 

Reading Notes: Kincaid Mahabharata Part B

There is one very small part of this section of the reading that stood out to me. This section is where Krishna is meditating in the forest. While he is meditating, a hunter in the forest believes that he is a deer and shoots him. This stood out to me because I am from rural Oklahoma and deer hunting is a favorite hobby of many people in the fall. During the hunter safety course, it was discussed how relatively easy it is to mistake people in the forest for animals and accidentally shoot them. This is why wearing hunter's orange is such a big requirement while shooting. I could take this concept and craft a short story about this very type of incident happening. I believe it could be a realistic story that is both tragic and engaging.

Hunter orange 

Bibliography: Kincaid Mahabharata

Reading Notes: Kincaid Mahabharata Part A

I found this telling of the Mahabharata to be a very fun read. One segment that stood out to me was the segment about Hidimba. The Pandavas have fled into the forest. Bhima is watching over the members of the family while they sleep. There is a monster called Hidimba watching the scene and planning to eat and kill them. However, when Hidimbi sees Bhima, she experiences love at first sight. She turns into a woman and warns Bhima about her brother Hidimba. Brim then kills Hidimba and goes off with Hidimbi. I feel that this story would provide a great opportunity to retell a story using modern characters and settings. This could be the story of two families who were grown up to feud with each other. The members of one family hatch a plot to sabotage the other family, but one girl falls in love with a boy from the other family and prevents the evil plan from happening. This is similar to what happened in the reading and would provide a great opportunity for some creativity.

Bibliography: Kincaid Mahabharata

Bhima