Famous Last Words Week 15

The Famous Last Words blog post is perfect for the last week of class. For this class, these really will be my last words. It’s also a great blog post for the last week because you can look over all your work and progress in this class as a whole and that’s exactly what I am going to do.

This class hasn’t been the best representation of my academic ability. I have really had a hard time meeting deadlines and turning in work. I think that is the case for multiple reasons. One being, that I never got on a schedule to get ahead of assignments so I was always doing them the day of. Another reason is that I had a very busy semester this year. I was in my capstone that basically got completely rearranged 3 weeks before school. I was also an intern this semester working 16 hours a week. I also was worrying about my near graduation in about 1 week. There were many factors that contributed to my lack of accountability, but in the end it was me not making it a priority.

With that being said, I really did enjoy this class and the creative outlet it serves as. I am a PR major so we write factual pieces that need to be set up in a very regimented way. In this class, it truly is creative writing. We get to create our own stories and choose what we read to base those stories off of. Now that we are done, my favorite story I wrote this semester is George and theApple.  I spent the most time on this story and had the most fun writing it. 

Overall, I have enjoyed this class. It’s weird for me as I write this because I realize it is one of my last assignments in school ever. I graduate in 1 week and am moving on back to Dallas. I have enjoyed my time at OU and the things I have learned here.

My family and me at my high school graduation.
 Now, 4 years later I am graduating college. Photo taken by Arlene McDowell.

Tech Tip

Image I created using Canva. The backdrop
 photo was taken by Averey McDowell.

This week for my Tech Tip I created a quote photo using Canva. I have used Canva a little before and have really enjoyed it. It is very user friendly. You can create great looking designs in such a short time. You can use Canva from invitations, flyers, posters, pretty much anything you want to design. It's a great tool to know about because it's so easy and you can create some great looking things.

Week 15 Growth Mindset

I remember learning about Growth Mindset in another class, but honestly I can’t remember what class or even what Growth Mindset is. I figured for my first Growth Mindset blog I should learn a little more about what it is.

The Growth Mindset was developed by Carol Dweck in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. The growth mindset is a mindset where you believe you can develop your abilities by hard work and dedication. Oppose to the more common mindsets kids grow up having. They consider themselves either dumb or smart and no effort can change their abilities.

This actually applies to me a lot for different reasons. Growing up I was diagnosed with Dyslexia and as a result had to repeat the third grade. I was the weird, older, idiot who couldn’t pass third grade. I was bullied. For some reason, I didn’t let people calling me an idiot affect my view on myself. I worked hard through my alpha phonics tutoring and didn’t let the bullying make me think different of myself.

This meme was created by Laura Gibbs. 

Therefore, I completely believe in the growth mindset and its ability to help children learn and grow. I think at such a young age when grades are distributed it puts a numerical divide that children view they are either on the other side, the smart side or the dumb side.

Source: The Glossary of Education Reform

Reading Evaluation

This semester I really enjoyed the Cherokee, Russian, and Italian reading units. I thought the stories in those sections were easy to understand, which made it easy to create a story from them. The balance between reading, writing, and commenting was pretty even in my opinion.  I feel like I spent an equal amount of time on both. I really enjoyed reading and commenting on other blogs because it was a way to gain insight and inspiration.

Advice I have for students next year:

1. Read the stories until you understand them enough so you can write an informative Author's Note
2. Really try to get a schedule established early in order to avoid missing deadlines

Reflections

Looking back, I have realized the structure of this class is probably not best for the type of student I am. I normally choose to take online classes if they are available because they work for me, but this one was a little different. I had trouble with deadlines everyday. I know you could work ahead and make your own schedule, but I found that hard to do. I am quit the procrastinator.

With that being said, I did enjoy the creative aspect of this course.  I am a journalism major so I rarely get to write creatively. I enjoyed getting to write my own stories and use my imagination. It was hard to forget my journalism writing principles and try to get my creative juices flowing. I wish I had stayed on top of this class because it is totally reachable to get an A. I would recommend this class to someone who can meet deadlines everyday, but I work better in classes with deadlines in one day that allow me to procrastinate a little more.

Portfolio Week 9 Storytelling: George and The Apple

Damien and George were two brothers who just moved from Nevada to California. They were about to start their first day at their new school. The brothers were both juniors who loved to play lacrosse. Damien played the guitar and George played the drums. They were nervous to start their first day but excited to make new friends and join the lacrosse team.

George and Damien walked into the front doors of their new school ready to start a great semester when George heard a commotion going on down the hallway. They were late to their first class because they were checking in with the principal. So George was surprised to hear anyone in the hall. When he ran down there, he found a small boy with thick-framed glasses being pushed around by one of the big football players. George assumed he was on the team by his big red and blue letterman jacket with a football patch on it.

George got down on the ground with them and started wrestling the football player off the innocent boy. Damien stood there and let his brother handle this one because he got suspended from their last school for fighting.

It took George longer than he thought but he finally got his hand in between the boy’s neck and the football player’s arm. He broke them up and asked why they were fighting. The football player walked away without answering the question.

The boy in the glasses said, “Thank you so much. I don’t know why he was beating me up, but I need to repay you."

George told the boy that he didn’t need to repay him. He was just glad the boy was OK. The boy insisted on repaying George with a lucky apple that the boy claimed would help George find true love. George took the apple to make the boy happy, but was very unsure if the boy's gift would actually work.

George went back down the hall to his brother and explained the strange encounter he just had with the boy. Damien took the apple to inspect it and didn’t believe the boy either. George threw the apple in his backpack because the boy was still watching and he didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

George and Damien continued to their classroom. When they walked in, George made eye contact with this beautiful blue-eyed brunette named Jamie. George knew at that moment he would fall in love with this girl and marry her. He thought to himself, “Maybe it’s just the apple making me crazy, but I am going to marry this girl.” For the next years George and Jamie dated and were as happy as ever. They were so in love and couldn’t wait to get married. Ten years later George and Jamie married and George would never forget that day that nerdy boy gave him the apple and changed his life forever.

George and Jamie had three children together. They grew old together. They loved each other every day for the rest of their long lives.

Author’s Note: I wrote this story after reading the story The Red Man and The Uktena. In the original story, there are two brothers. One day the one brother encounters a man being strangled by a snake. The man asks the brother for help and he shoots the snake, killing him. He saved the man’s life and he wanted to repay him. He repaid him with a medicine that would cure his brother and with an animal skin that would make him always be able to find game. I changed my story and made it about love. I thought it would be a good idea to keep the same theme from the original story, extend help and you will be rewarded, but to change the characters, plot and setting. So I made the story about two brothers starting a new high school. They save a boy from a bully and the boy repays the one brother with an apple that will help him find true love. The apple does help him find true love and he ends up marrying Jamie. I really enjoyed reading this story and writing my own interpretation. These stories were easy to understand and read and therefore it was easy to create my own story.

Bibliography: "The Red Man and The Uktena" by James Mooney, from Myths of the Cherokee (1900).

The Red Apple.

                                                                    The Red Apple.

Storytelling Week 14: A Hellish Dream

Garrett didn’t know where he was. He was officially lost after trying to find his way for two hours. “Great,” Garrett said to himself. “I have no idea where the hell I am in these dark ass woods. Why did I think it would be a good idea to walk to this party…FIVE MILES AWAY?”

Illistration by Matthew Anderson. 

As Garrett was walking in what he thought was the right directions, he noticed a bright light in the distance. It was getting closer to him. He was officially freaked out, but kept walking towards the light. The closer it got he realized it was a man. Garrett was scared, but there was something familiar about this man. He got closer and closer and then he realized it was Michael Jackson, his favorite artist of all time. But wait…he was supposed to be dead.

Garrett rubbed his eyes and looked again, yep it was Michael all right. Michael told Garrett that he needed to lead his through a place that he must see in order to one day be in a better place. Garrett was hesitant. “The ghost of Michael Jackson was asking me to go somewhere with him…um hell no,” Garrett thought to himself.

But something inside of him told him to go with him. Michael explained on their journey that they were going to tour hell. Garrett was so confused and freaked out, but was also curious.

He agreed and walked with Michael further until they got to a gate that had inscripted on it “abandon all hope, you who enter here”. Garrett was scared but Michael explained that they were about to see the different levels of hell and the various reasons people ended up there. He told Garrett that he would see angry people, scary people, and people laying there content with where they are. Then they entered the first level.

Michael explained that people in this level were there for vanity. These people cared too much about what they looked like and not enough about the people they were. This level was sitting in chairs forced to look at themselves without blinking. Their eyes were bleeding and they were in so much pain. They moved on to the second level.

The second level was for people who spent too much time using cell phones. The people in this level were forced to constantly talk. Most of them couldn’t anymore so their throats were on fire. They looked so miserable, Garrett thought.

The third level was filled with gluttons, people who consumed too much junk food. They were forced to sit in heating lamps. Their skin was burning off and bleeding.

The fourth level was filled with liars, people who lied on the Internet and to one another. This level was forced to hear constant buzzing in their ears. Their ears were bleeding and they were crying from pain.

Garrett heard the buzzing. It was hurting his ears so bad. He couldn’t stand it. The buzzing got louder and louder. Garrett didn’t know why he was hearing this too. He started to shake back and forth. The buzzing is getting louder and louder. He just wanted it to stop.

Finally it stopped as Garrett opened his eyes and realized he had been dreaming. The buzzing was from his alarm clock. He looked around in a panic sweat and realized it was just a dream. He picked his Inferno book up off the floor. Garrett guessed he must have fallen asleep while reading for his test tomorrow. “I better be really ready for that test now,” Garrett said to himself.

Author’s Note: This week I read Dante’s Inferno. I read the book in high school and honestly enjoyed it. I thought it was a very interesting take on what hell might be like. And that is still true today. I enjoyed this condensed version and was glad I got to refresh my Inferno knowledge. For those of you who haven’t read Dante’s Inferno, is it a story about Dante who gets lost in the woods and runs into Virgil an old Italian poet and they take a journey through hell or inferno, the Italian word for hell. They encounter 12 different circles of hell and each circle has people who committed the same sins, as the circled progress the sins get worse. The first circle is the pagans and the last circle has Lucifer. So each circle get progressively worse and worse. I decided to write a very condensed version of the story because it is so long and would take forever to retell the whole thing and it also wouldn’t make much sense to just tell the story from one section. So that is how I decided to write mine this way. I wrote mine with a very modern approach. I think its interesting to take old stories and write them in a modern way. I also used sins that have more to do with modern society. I decided to end my story in a very different way, as a dream because I think it is a very interesting and shocking twist. In the original, Dante gets out of his tour of hell and returns to Earth. In my story, Garrett also leaves hell and returns to Earth just in a very different way. I hope you enjoy.

Bibliography: Inferno. Divine. Dante Alighieri. 1400.