Week 8 Growth Mindset

A very interesting thing occurred in my second week of classes this semester. Two of my psychology classes I am currently in discussed Carol Dweck and her growth mindset approach. After learning some about her in this class during the first week, I was already semi-familiar with her stance and outlook on what a growth mindset was. I was able to use this and combine it with the other information from my two classes to get an even better understanding of myself and growth mindset in general. I think that I have two major faults in this area. First, I am somewhat of a perfectionist and can be mildly OCD. I like for things to go right the first time and when they don't it can really stress me out. I do not think that I am unwilling to learn new things or learn a new way to do something, but I do get very frustrated if that particularly thing does not work out for me. I am also not the best at asking a ton of questions when it comes to classwork. I tend more to stick to what I know and try to figure everything else out around this knowledge. To have more of a growth mindset I know that I should ask more questions when things do not add up and not to simply depend on my previous knowledge.

I think this class can definitely be used to work on these weaknesses. Since writing is not something I feel I am gifted in, it is a great way for me learn from my mistakes. Getting to work on my portfolio helps me to realize that I cannot be a perfectionist and that I am not going to get everything right not he first try. I am also having to read a lot of different types of stories while figuring out how to work canvas and the other sites/technology used so this makes me have to ask questions and expand my knowledge.

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Week 8 Reflections

I cannot believe that this semester is already halfway over. I have really been enjoying this class and I feel like it is such a nice break from some of my other classes because I get to just be myself and read/write what I choose. So far I have really liked the things that I have read/written. There have been a few weeks where I have been super busy and my stories have not been great, but there have also been weeks where I take a lot of time to make sure my stories reflect what I want them to. I have learned that my best writing occurs when I actively think about possible stories as I read the original story. If I think of different ways to change the story or add a character or manipulate the point of view and this helps me understand the story better and also get more creative. If I have a question about a story or my writing I mainly use the internet. If it's about a grammar question I simply google examples and try to match mine to that. If it is more serious and I cannot find the answer, then I will email Laura and she is extremely helpful. I have found from other writers that I want my writing to be more detailed, but not needing a ton of words to do this. I have a bad habit of feeling like I need a ton of descriptions and lots of sentences to explain one thing so I need to get better at using simpler descriptions that can still get the point across. In order to do this I need to pay more attention to the stories I read and see how they use their descriptions.

I have noticed a lot of people have little errors in their writing...misspelled words, grammar mistakes, etc. Some of this is from not rereading and some is just from lack of grammar knowledge. I know I do the same thing, especially if I don't read my story aloud to someone else. If I just read it aloud, I will still miss mistakes; I have to read it to another person in order to catch the bigger mistakes. I think I have been giving good feedback this semester. I try to read very carefully and give them encouraging advice. I think I could be better at giving more negative advice. Sometimes I do not feel like I am qualified to give writing advice since I am not the best writer so I need to get better at this.

Be Creative

Portfolio Introduction

For my portfolio I plan on using stories from Aesop's Fables or other folktales that include stories on animals.

Individuality:
This story is about embracing your differences and your insecurities. Although they are the things that, many times, we wish we could change about ourselves, they are the things to be admired. While growing up it is hard to fit in and that is something that is so important to people as they go through high school and college. What is important to remember is that what makes us different is what makes us stand out and these are the things that other people will learn to appreciate.


The Origins of Lightning and Thunder: 
Have you ever wondered how the sun or the moon got in the sky? Or maybe where the wind and the rain originated? Well, this story is here to tell you exactly how lightning and thunder wound up in the sky. Would you believe that they were not always natural elements of the earth, but instead were one of its inhabitants? To find out exactly how all of this happened, read this Nigerian Folktale and all of your questions can be answered.

The Woodpecker's Tail:
There are many different sides to one single story. Each person, animal, object, etc. has its own point of view; one person's opinion of exactly what happened will be different from another person's. This story tells how the woodpecker's tail became the way it is, but tells it from a surprising point of view. To find out how this happened to the woodpecker and the difference point of view can make, check out this unique Tejas legend.

Story: The Origins of Lightning and Thunder

If you stand at the bottom of the mountains, just past the big round lake and over the small rolling hills, look up and you can see one white lone figure. Look a little closer and you can make out that the lone figure is a lamb, small for its size, so it is probably a baby. Try to look just a tiny bit closer and you can see that the baby lamb is gazing up to the sky. As the baby lamb stares up at the stars she sees a lightning strike far off in the distance; not long after, thunder sounds over the rolling hills. The storm is heading her way and the mother lamb beckons her baby to come into their cave for the evening. As she lays down to sleep, the baby lamb asks her mother for a bedtime story, specifically for one about her ancestors. Snuggling closer to her mother and closing her eyes, the baby lamb listens as her mother begins to tell of how the lightning and thunder came to be what they are today.

Lightning

Long long ago, Thunder was a sheep here on Earth and Lightning was her son, a ram. Like most young rams, Lightning had a temper much of the time. Unlike most young rams, Lightning chose to take his temper out on the nature that surrounded him. He would carry this out by burning houses, forcing down trees, damaging people’s farms, and even going as far as killing people. Thunder would rebuke Lightning with her loud and powerful voice when he did these terrible acts, but Lightning could not rein in his temper. Eventually, the people had enough of his nonsense and took their complaints to the king. The king, not wanting to deal with lightning’s wrongdoings, decided he would banish Thunder and Lightning from the town so they could no longer hurt the people….or so he thought.

This banishment did not seem to have an effect on Lightning because the next time he got angry, he burned down the entire forest. This forest fire spread to the entire town and burned down all the farms within range. The king had no other choice than to banish Thunder and Lightning yet again, but this time he banished them away from Earth and into the sky where Lightning could no longer directly destroy the things on Earth.

Even though they were banished to the sky, they are still seen and heard among those living on Earth. Whenever Lightning gets angry, you can see his marks across the sky. Just after seeing these marks, you can hear Thunder, his mother, reprimanding him. The longer it takes to hear her rebuke, the farther away the two are up in the sky. Lightning is still very bitter that he was banished, so every once in a while he reminds the people on Earth of the destruction he can cause by striking down and making his mark hit the Earth’s surface, sometimes causing similar destruction as before.

When the baby sheep’s mother finishes this story she can see that her sweet baby is fast asleep. As quietly as she can, she slips away from her baby and goes to the opening of the cave. She looks out over the rolling hills and big round lake and finally gazes up into the sky. Before the mother turns around to head to bed, she sees one bright, threatening lightning bolt strike cross the sky.

Ram

Author's Note: This story is originally from folk stories of Nigeria. Many of the Nigerian folk stories are about either the origins of certain elements in nature or the origins of behavior in certain animals. The story I chose is called The Lightning and the Thunder. This story is very close to the story I told. It tells of how a sheep and her ram son were once here on earth as lightning and thunder. Lightning was unruly and destructive and his mother would rebuke him with her loud voice. He would not listen to his mother’s reprimanding and continued his assault on the earth. The people feared he would harm them so they went to the king. He first banished them from the land, but this was not sufficient to keep the people and their property safe. The king reassessed the situation and decided that they would both banished to the sky. Today the two can still be seen and heard from the sky. I added in the parts about looking up the mountain and seeing the baby lamb and also the parts about her asking her mother for a bedtime story. I wanted to keep the original story in my writing so I just added in a side story so that the original one could be told.   

Bibliography: The Story of the Lightning and the Thundery by Elphistone Dayrell 

Wikipedia Trails: From The University of Texas to America's Favorite Architect

Since it is OU/TX weekend I decided to start with looking up the University of Texas. From here, I clicked on a link to the National Medal of Science. I thought it was interesting that so many of their professors had so many different achievements. From here I saw a link to the White House. I took a trip to DC to see the last presidential inauguration so I thought this would be an interesting link. Lastly, this led me to a site on America's Favorite Architecture. 

The White House

(Extra) Reading Notes: Folklore of Laos, Reading A

A Child of the Woods by Katherine Fleeson: A woman tells of how she became revered by all. She once lived in a village but became overwhelmed with anger so she had to leave. She lived in the forest and was respected by the animals and her heart grew less angry. She went to a village and told the people how the animals respected her and she was not afraid of them. They were in awe of her and were amazed. This story kind of reminded me of the Jungle Book so I really enjoyed it. I think it would be neat to retell it from the point of view of one of the animals

The Mountain Spirits and the Stone Mortars by Katherine Fleeson: Stone mortars are brought to the city and the people are told to buy them, but the people complain that they have no use for them and that they are far too expensive. The spirits told the people that they needed to carry them back up the mountain if they don't want them. The people know this is impossible so they just pay for them. An interesting aspect of this story is that they emphasize that obviously this is the true story of what happened because you can still see that the mortars are scattered about the city. I think it would be interesting to retell the story and have someone or something else move the stones into the city and since the people don't know who it was they just assumed it was the spirits.

Stone Mortar

Reading Notes: Tibetan Folk Tales Reading B

These are from the Tibetan Folk Tales by A.L. Shelton

How the Rabbit Killed the Lion: There is a lion who is king of all beasts. A rabbit decides not to go kowtow (what I am guessing means something like praise) the lion because he was too comfy in the grass. The lion sees him and asks why he did not come. The rabbit makes up a lie so that he is not killed and says that a she-devil came and scared her silly and that the lion should go down to the water to talk to her. He does so with much pride; when he looks into the water and sees his reflection, the rabbit exclaims that the reflection is the she-devil. The lion freaks out and pounces into the water and eventually drowns himself. This shows an important message about pride and ego. The rabbit is very clever and outwits the lion.

Lion

The Three Hunters: This is a very gruesome and brutal story. Basically, there are three hunters, their three wives, and their one sister. The wives are jealous of the sister so the older two wives kill her. Her soul is transformed into a bird and the brothers find out. The younger wife eventually tells the hunters what happened and they end up killing the older two wives. I wrote about it because it was a very straightforward story and there was not a lot of interpretation to it which is different than most stories. Also this story contained no animals as characters which is different than a lot of the other Tibetan stories.