Thursday, December 10, 2015

Growth Mindset: Week 15

Applying the growth mindset theories has many opportunities for application in life. The biggest and perhaps the most important aspect is to apply these challenges to work. A job takes up the largest part of a persons life and is essentially our purpose in life. Practicing growth mindset at work could help keep your job interesting so that it doesn't get as boring as fast. It could also make you work more efficiently, opening doors for promotion and advances.

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Reading: Week 15

My favorite readings were the native american stories and also the european stories. I liked the native american stories because they are more about lessons that are learned in life and where things come from. I like the European stories because they more familiar to me. The most effective reading strategy for me was to read in the evenings so I could relax and enjoy the stories. I think the reading, writing and commenting was great for the class. Reading a unit in one day would be too much but reading them in two days seemed reasonable. I enjoyed reading everyone else's stories and commenting on them. The only advice that I would give to future students would be to not wait until last minute.

Reflections: Week 15

I've opened my mind up to new and different studying reading and writing styles this semester. I plan to use the different writing styles in my other classes as I further my education while here at the university. I've enjoyed reading all of the stories and writing my own stories based off of the original stories. I have really enjoyed reading other people's stories and seeing how they used different styles to write them along with how the stories would teach lessons in different ways. I will take some of the things I've learned in this class and use them throughout life as different ways to keep learning new material.

Portfolio Guide

The Babbling City
A twist on the tower of Babel and the introduction of different languages based on the story from the Old Testament.

The BIG Lie
A story retold in the first person point of view about a lie a girl creates to explain the lost eggs her grandmother gives her.

Watch Over
This is a story about a bird attempting to save a man's life but failing to do so resulting in the man's death.

Snake Bite
The retelling of how the snake became mean and was given his fangs.

The Illusion
A modern version about how a man was tricked and gave away a large amount of money.

Hard Lessons
A man's hard learned lesson about life.

Friday, December 4, 2015

Extra Reading Diary: Grimm (Hunt)

"The Fisherman and His Wife"
A fisherman caught a flounder who turned out to be a prince. When he went home empty handed, the fisherman told his wife what happened. She told him to go back and wish for a cottage to live in. When he did the flounder gave them a cottage. The wife became unhappy and wished for a castle.

"The Fisherman and His Wife Cont."
When the wife got the castle she was still unhappy and wished to be king over the land. The fisherman went back and asked for it and she became king.

"The Fisherman and His Wife Cont.."
The wife was still unhappy and wished to be emperor. When she became emperor she was still unhappy and wished to be pope.

"The Fisherman and His Wife End"
The wife then wants to have power over the sun and moon. When the fisherman asks for this he puts the couple back in their old shack.

"Aschenputtel"
Aschenputtel's mother died and her father took another wife that had evil daughters. They treated her terrible and made her work long car days. The two daughters were invited to a ball and Aschenputtel wished to go also. The step mother gave her tasks to perform so that she could go to the ball.

"Aschenputtel Cont."
Aschenputtel went to the ball after the birds brought her a beautiful dress. She ran away at the end of the night without anyone following her. The prince searched for her but could not find her.

"Aschenputtel End"
When the prince kept one of her slippers he tried to find whose foot it fit. When he tried it on the two step sisters, one cut off a toe and the other sister cut off a part of her heal trying to get the shoe to fit. The prince saw the blood and refused to marry them. When Aschenputtel tried on the shoe it fit perfect and they married each other. The two sisters had their eyes plucked out.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Storytelling Week 14: Hard Lessons

Once upon a time there were two people that lived a long time ago. These two men just so happened to be brothers. One of the men was very wealthy and had more money than his younger brother who was quite poor but content with his life. The older man had all this money but was pretty unhappy because he had to work most of his days away. The younger brother only worked a half-day so that he had plenty of time to spend with his family and enjoy his youth.

One day the younger brother sat down with the older brother for lunch and they discussed their lives and how each of them was doing. The older brother was telling the younger about all of the money he had acquired throughout life along with all of the things he owned. Even though the older brother had all these things the younger brother could tell he was unhappy. The younger brother questioned his happiness, which made the older brother extremely angry. He told his brother to go away because he knew nothing of money and was in no position to give him advice.

The younger brother took these words hard and left to live in another country. He lived there for many years and raised a happy family. He still didn't have much money but yet made enough to keep his family happy and give them what they needed to grow up strong. When the younger brother became old he had heard his brother had become very ill and he wished to say goodbye to his brother. This trip took him many weeks because there were no faster ways of traveling back then. The only way to travel was to walk with a donkey carrying your food and water.

When the younger brother arrived home he was met by a group of people that led him to his older brother's deathbed. He lay there and listened to his brother tell him how he became so successful and had all this money. Later he admitted that he should have listened to the younger brother and worked less so that he could enjoy his youth and be with his family. The older brother felt sorry for the harsh words he had said to his younger brother and decided to give him all of his wealth as long as he promised to take care of his family.

This story was a good lesson to be learned and from then on it was told to every generation of the family to remind them to never work so much that all of that money and time would be wasted with no memories of having a family that survived to old age.



Author's Note
This story was based off the story "The Fox and the Cat." The original story is about a fox bragging about how he had so many tricks to escape dogs to a cat that said he only had and needed one. The cat asked to fox to show him tricks to escape the dog. When the fox tried to show the cat the bag of tricks held down the fox so the dogs attacked him while the cat jumped into the tree to escape the dogs. The stories are similar, both had a characters who were killed because they had too much of something that weighed them down in life while the other had just enough to let them survive. The picture I chose is from the original story where the cat jumps in the tree while the fox gets attacked. I thought this picture would give the reader a good idea of what the original story was about. I chose to write the story with people as the main characters to give a more personal feel to the reader to learn a lesson on not what to do. 

Bibliography
"The Fox and the Cat" by the Grimm Brothers, from Grimm Brothers (Ashliman) (1998-2013) Web Source: UNtextbook

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Reading Diary B for Week 14: Grimm (Ashliman)

"The Fox and the Cat"
A fox was talking to a cat and bragging about how many tricks it had to get away from dogs in his bag. When the fox went to show the cat, the bag weighed down the fox and the dogs caught him.

"The Little Lamb and the Little Fish"
An evil step mother turned a two siblings into a fish and a lamb. The cook found out what had happened and took them both to the wet nurse who turned them back into humans.

"Simeli Mountain"
Twelve robbers kept their wealth in a mountain. A man saw where they kept the treasure and took some for himself but left the most valuable jewels to himself. His brother became jealous and demanded to know where he was getting his wealth. When he told him he went to the cave and because locked inside after forgetting the password. The thieves caught him and cut off his head.

"Lazy Heinz"
Two lazy people were married and made many plans to put for as little energy in life as possible. When their plans were ruined they decided too be thankful for life and rest.

"The Duration of Life"
The story about how the first thirty years of a man's life are happy. The next 18 are the donkey's and are filled with hard work. The next twelve are the dog years where man is lazy and worthless. The final 10 are a monkey's where he is laughed at by kids.

"Death's Messenger"
A man saved Death from dying. Death agreed to warn the man before he would take him. The man became very sick but eventually became healthy. Death came to take the man but the man questioned Death's promise of a warning. The warning sign was sickness in the man.

"Eve's Unequal Children"
The Lord came to bless the children of Adam and Eve. The good looking ones became the top half of society and the ugly ones became the lower half.


"The Peasants and the Devil"
A peasant tricked the Devil twice. The first time he told the devil he could have whatever grew above the ground if the peasant could have everything under the ground. The peasant grew turnips. The second time the devil said he wanted everything below the ground. The peasant grew wheat and tricked the devil again.

Monday, November 30, 2015

Reading Diary A for Week 14: Grimm Tales (Ashliman)

"Cat and Mouse in Partnership"
A cat and a mouse were friends and made a deal to save up fat for the winter. When the pot was full the cat mad excuses to leave and he would go eat the fat. When the mouse discovered the pot was empty he accused the cat and the cat ate him.

"The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids"
An old goat left her kids home one day to go to the market. When she left she had warned them about the wolf. The wolf tried many tricks to get into the house. Finally the wolf gets into the house and eats all of the children except one. The one left tells the mother what happened and they find the wolf and cut his stomach open, letting all the kids out. The mother puts rocks in his stomach which causes him to drown.

"The Seven Ravens"
Seven boys were sent off to get water for their new-born sister. They dropped the bucket into the well and was too scared to got back home without the water. The father became angry and wished the all into ravens. When the sister was older she overheard someone talk about how she had brothers who were ravens. She went out to find them. Eventually she did and they all returned home together.

"Little Red Cap"
Story of Little Red Riding Hood. The story is the same except the wolf eats them both and the hunter finds the wolf in the grandmothers bed and cuts them out.

"The Singing Bone"
Two brothers set out to kill a boar that the king had requested be killed. The smaller younger brother found it first. The older brother killed the younger brother on the way back and gave the boar to the king. Later the king found out what had happened and had the older brother sewn into a sack and drown alive.

"The Elves"
A shoemaker was very poor and would have leather for two shoes and make them into shoes and sell them and buy leather for four shoes and sell them for eights. He did this until he became rich. The shoes were being made much faster than he could make them so he and his wife stayed up one night and saw two elves make them over night. They made clothes of the elves which freed them and the left.

"Old Sultan"
An old dog became so old that the owner decided to kill him because he was of no use. The wife talked him into letting the dog live one more day. The dog made a plan with the wolf to save his life. When his life was saved the dog would not return a favor and the wolf found a boar to punish the old dog. The dog took a three legged cat to fight the two and scared them off.

"Rumpeltiltskin"
A king ordered a girl to weave stew into gold for him. A man showed up a did it for her. In return the man asked for her first born. When she had her first born she begged the man to let her keep it. The man told her that if she found his name she could keep it. She sent a messenger to find his name and when she did he tore himself apart.



Thursday, November 19, 2015

Storytelling for Week 12: Discovery

Not too long ago there was a genius that was born by the name of Jim. Everyone knew this little kid was going to do great things and make great discoveries as soon as he was born because he was solving basic math equations as soon as he was one year old. He grew up being the top of his class and even graduated high school at fourteen. He even graduated from college three short years later. He had every company trying to hire him on to do research at their facilities to find a cure for diseases.

One day he actually accepted an offer from a biochemical company to look into a cure for different diseases. He worked many years to find an antibiotic that would work against bacterial infections. The company he worked for started to lose faith in him and started to pull money from his research facility because they could not see any progress. No matter the amount of begging he did to keep his funding he could not. Even though he showed scientific evidence that showed progress, the business people that ran the company did not understand the evidence and saw no progress for themselves.

Eventually he asked a member of the board of the company for a few more thousand dollars because he was so close. This member he asked favored the young scientist so he funded him the money. A month later he discovered a drug that would cure almost all bacteria. The drug would come to be known as penicillin. Just to make sure the drug was healthy for people in the long run he ran many test on animals for short and long term effects. He would not release the drug to the company because he did not know the long terms of its effects yet.

Sadly the testing took so long that another scientist that goes by the name of Alexander Fleming discovered the drug because he had worked with Jim until the company cut the funding and he had to leave. Alexander knew how to find and isolate the drug so he did it right after Jim. Alexander didn't care about the effects of the drug in the long run. He only saw the short term effects of healing any bacterial infection and published his finding immediately.

This lead to the finding being credited to Fleming. Later Jim realized that the long term effects of using penicillin would whatever bacteria being treated to create a mutation against the penicillin and to grow stronger and healthier than before. By the time Jim realized this he tried to tell everyone but no one would listen to him because he was looked at as the looser of the antibacterial race.


Author's Note
This story is based off the story "Clever Elsie". I chose to write this story because I am familiar with this field of study and the discovery of penicillin. I chose to write this story about the careful guy losing and the guy in it for the money winning because that is how society is today. There wasn't actually a guy named Jim but Alexander Fleming did discover penicillin. 

Bibliography
"Clever Elsie" by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, from Brothers Grimm (1812). Web Source: UNtextbook

Reading Post B: Grimm (LibriVox)

"The Queen Bee"
Three brothers set out on a journey. The last they had to do was find one thousand pearls, a key to the king's daughter's chamber and choose which of the daughter ate honey. The youngest of the brother was the only one to pass all challenges and got to marry the prettiest princess and eventually became king.

"The Twelve Huntsman"
A man's father was the king and told him to marry a certain woman and take over his kingdom when he dies. The man already had a woman but did as he said and married the one he was told. The wife tried to trick the man into thinking she was a huntsman to be around him. He eventually found out and married her and left his other wife.

"Jorinda and Jorindel"
Jorinda and Jorindel walked through the forrest and came a castle that had a spell around it which made Jorindel freeze and made Jorinda turn into a bird. Jorindel was set free but was forced to leave. He later found a magic pearl that would release Jorinda and keep him from freezing. He went to the castle and freed her along with the other girls that were there.

"The Fox and the Horse"




Sunday, November 15, 2015

Reading Diary A: Grimm (LibriVox)

"The Frog Prince"
The classic story that the modern tale is based off except the princess didn't kiss the frog but let him stay with her for three nights to break the spell.

"Rapunzel"
The prince heard Rapunzel in the tower singing and called for her hair to fall like her mother did. When her mother found out she cut off her hair and sent her to a desert. When the prince called for the hair he climbed up and jumped down to escape the mother and poked his eyes out. He blindly wandered ad eventually found Rapunzel.

"The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean"
A straw, coal and a bean became friends and started off on a journey. When they got to a brook the straw laid across the brook so the other two could cross. The coal burned the straw and they both fell into the water and died. The bean laughed so hard it burst.

"The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage"
The bird, mouse and sausage lived together and had roles to play in their daily duties. The bird thought he was being overworked so they all switched jobs. The sausage ended up getting eaten, the mouse was boiled to death and the bird drowned.

"The Traveling Musicians"
A donkey, dog, cat, and rooster joined together to got o the city to sing. They came onto a house of robbers and scared them so bad they left. When a robber came back the cat scratched him, the dog bit him, the donkey kicked him and the rooster crowed. The man told the rest of the men of the horrors and left them for good.

"Clever Elsie"
Elsie marries Hans and they move away. When Elsie doesn't do as Hans says he puts a net with bells on her and everyone becomes too frightened by her and won't let her into their homes.

"Briar Rose"
The sleeping beauty story. The King and Queen's daughter fell asleep along with everyone in the palace for 100 years while many princes tried to get into the palace. It was guarded by thick thorn bushes that would trap them and kill them. On the 100th day a princess got into the palace and kissed "sleeping beauty" and they wed immediately.



Growth Mindset: Week 12

For this week's growth mindset challenge I decided to do the challenge of talking to a friend about growth mindset. I talked to my roommate about the subject at hand. He told me that he doesn't do much now with it but when he was a freshman here he used to try different study techniques. He told me that he has found the best way that he can study which is in a room alone with low music and no distractions. I talked to him about writing and reading challenges. He told me his major doesn't require him to read or write much so he doest have to try new things for that.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Storytelling for Week 12: The Illusion

There were once two different people that were very different from one another. One was a man that did not have much money for himself. His name is Phillip. The other man had all the money and wealth that he could want. His name is Robert. These two men's characters were also very different in many ways. The wealthier man was not very smart and was very greedy. The other man was more of like a modern-day Robin Hood and was very clever.

The two met on a nice sunny day because they were both in a coffee shop together. Phillip was listening in on Robert's conversation he was having over the phone with one of his clients. Robert was discussing how bad he wanted to find this special kind of gold that is supposedly lost forever. However, had heard it had recently resurfaced. While all of this conversation was taking place, Phillip's interest was increasing so he started listening closer.

Phillip started to think of ways to trick the man into giving him a large amount of money. Phillip finally figured it out and thought, "I think that I could make small bricks of concrete that are in the shape of gold bricks and coat them in gold paint." Then he restarted thinking his idea because he knew Robert would never fall for a simple plan like that and would have to be much more clever. He decided to get Robert drunk somehow.

Phillip approached Robert at his table and said, "I couldn't help but overhear you talking about how you had been looking for a rare type of gold and I think I may have just the one you are looking for." Before Robert could actually think about the mistake he was about to make, Phillip took him to a bar next door to celebrate and get a few drinks to block the judgment he might have of the false blocks. He thought for sure this would help him get away with the scheme he had planned.

After the two had been in the bar for quite some time, Robert went to the bank to gather the money in exchange for the bricks. Meanwhile Phillip hurried home to create these false bricks that he had lied about having. Robert was fast to show up to Phillip's house but somehow Phillip finished the bricks right before he had walked in.  A few of the bricks that were finished last were still drying while Robert walked through the door. Robert, picking up one of the bricks, not being able to tell they were false bricks, gave Phillip all of the money he had asked for and loaded them into his armored truck.

Before Robert could realize that the bricks were false, Phillip took the money to a local charity location and gave them the money to feed the homeless people and help with the funding for them to have jobs. This earned him a strong reputation around town because he had helped so many people that they didn't question where he got the money.


Author's Note:

This story is based off the story "The Priest Who Learned to be a Philosopher." The original story is about a philosopher that goes to a priest and asks for money. The priest loans the philosopher the money and the philosopher offers to show the priest a trick. The philosopher says that a priest like himself would not be interested in a little magic to get his attention. The priest becomes intrigued and offers money to the philosopher to show him how to do magic. The philosopher shows the priest two different tricks to make the priest believe he was doing actual magic. The priest begs the philosopher to show him how the magic is done. When the philosopher shows the priest the magic and receives the money he takes off before he could find out it was false. In my story I wanted to give a more modern feel for the story. I also wanted to have the thief actually end up doing something good with the money. I crossed the story form this weeks reading with the principle behind Robin Hood to give more of a familiar aspect to the story. The picture I chose is what a gold brick looks like. 

Bibliography:

"The Priest Who Learned to be a Philosopher" by Eva March Tappan, from Canterbury Tales (1908). Web Source: UNtextbook

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Review: Week 12


Famous Last Words: Week 12

I actually really enjoyed the readings of this week. I was actually excited that when I got the the end of a few of the stories to see that there was three to four more parts that I could read. The stories were more like stories that I would actually hear of than stories where there is always a lesson to be learned. The only writing I've done so far is for my biochemical methods lab. I feel pretty proud of my lab report that I wrote. It took me a few hours to write. I tried a new style of writing and for each different section of my report I would change places that I wrote. For the opinionated parts of the report I would be in a more relaxed location and for the results and methods section I wrote them in the library. I've read a lot of interesting things in this class with all kids of different styles. One of my favorite stories I have red is one where a story was within a story. I can't remember whose it was or what it was exactly about but it was written very cleverly. My other classes are going pretty smooth. I've gotten behind in my labs the last couple of weeks because of studying for lecture class's midterms. There really aren't any connections with this class and my other classes at all. All of my other classes are science classes so the mindset needed to study and do the work for them is completely different. The only similarity that there is is that one of them requires us to read scientific reports and to write about them and answer a short quiz. I went to the football game last week against Iowa State. It wasn't a very exciting game and I didn't stay the whole time. Other than that I haven't done much. Duck season has officially started so I've just been getting my gun and decoys ready for a hunt in a few weeks.

Tech Tip: Weather Widget

I decided to add the weather widget to my blog because it's nice to always know the weather. Especially in Oklahoma. It changes way too much here that you have to know the weather from hour to hour. My favorite type of weather would have to be mid 60s with slight wind. The worst is winter storms they are just miserable.

Growth Mindset: Week 12

The mindset project I am reflecting on the challenges presented by different classes and how I go out them. I am in six hours of microbiology lecture classes where I just go to class and listen to what is said. The only grades in those classes are the exams. I usually start preparing for the exams three days before the exams where I just go over the material covered in lectures. I am also in six hours of chemistry labs. Most of the grades come from lab reports or pre lab quizzes. There are also practicals and finals that I study for in the same way as the lectures. The only other class is this one. At first I wasn't sure how this class would work or how best to work for this class. I've found that throughout the semester it is best to work on this class in the evening when I am getting tired so my mind is out of the science way of thinking and I can be more creative.


Reading Diary B: Canterbury Tales

"Little Hugh"
A young boy learned the lyrics to an old latin song and sang it throughout the city. This angered the Jews and they had him killed. The boy was seen as a martyr and revenge was sought for the people responsible.

"The Cock, the Hen, and the Fox"
A cock and a hen were the strongest of couples and had a great love for one another. When the cock had a bad dream he told his wife about it and she scolded him for not being a man because he was scared.

"The Cock, the Hen, and the Fox Cont."
The cock told his wife of two stories where the dreams came true and the first one the man listened to his dream and the second dream the man didn't and died.

The Cock, the Hen, and the Fox Cont.."
The fox met with the cock and cock became frightened. Before the cock could call for help, the fox had calmed him and told him how beautiful his singing was and how he would like to hear it. The cock fell for it and began to sing when the fox sneakily grabbed his throat and headed to the woods.

"The Cock, the Hen, and the Fox End"
All the workers and animals at the farm chased the fox into the woods. The cock tricked the fox into opening his mouth and letting him go. He flew into the tree and escaped the fox.

"The Priest as Philosopher"
A priest ran into a philosopher. The philosopher asked the priest to loan him money. When he the philosopher told the priest he would show him philosophy.

"The Priest as Philosopher Cont."
The philosopher tricked the priest into thinking the philosopher had turned some cheep silver into fine silver and the priest became very happy with the philosopher.

"The Priest as Philosopher End"
The philosopher tricked the priest into thinking he made another plate. The priest bought the recipe from the philosopher and ran off with the money before the priest could realize it was a lie.



Monday, November 9, 2015

Reading Diary A: Canterbury Tales

"The Unknown Bride":
A knight was to be put to death when the Queen begged for the release. The Queen told him in order to not be killed after 1 year he must go find the answer to what all women went. After walking the earth and not getting the same two answers he found an old woman. She told him she would give him the answer he desired.

"The Unknown Bride Cont."
Th bride told him the answer was to control their husbands. The old woman said to marry her for saving his life. He did so and was sad because she was ugly. When he chose to stay with her because she was wise and true she turned beautiful and young.

"The Story of the Summoner":
A summoner meats a bailiff and they become friends. The bailiff continues to tell the summoner that he is a fiend form hell.

"The Story of the Summoner Cont.":
The two went to the house of an old woman and told her to give them the money she owed. She told the fiend that he could take the pan and the summoner in pay for her debt.

"The Promise of Dorigen":
Arviragus left the land of Brittany to go to England. Dorigen was heart broken and could do nothing but think of her lost lover and wait for his return each day. A young squire fell in love with her and wrote many songs about her.

"The Promise of Dorigen Cont."
Dorigen became angry with Arelius and told him that he would leave her husband for him only when the rocks near the sea dissapeard. Arviragus came home and Arelius left to Italy to find a magician to make the rocks disappear.

"The Promise of Dorigen Cont.."
The magician made his promise and made each rock disappear. When Arelius went to Dorigen and showed her what had happened she ran to her house and cried. When she told Arviragus what had happened he told her to be true to her word and leave.

The Promise of Dorigen End"
When Dorigen went to Aurelius she had been crying. Aurelius told Dorigen to go back to her husband because he could not stand to see her unhappy. Aurelius went to the magician and the magician told him he didn't need to pay back the money because he was so true to himself.

"The Revelers"
Three friend were in a bar and swore to kill death as it were a person.

"The Revelers Cont."
The three friends find a pile of gold and divide a plan to carry it without being seen.

"The Revelers End"
One of the friends went to the nearby town and asked an apothecary for poison. He put it into wine and gave it to the other two. Those two killed the other guy and drank the wine that killed both go them.




Friday, November 6, 2015

Extra Reading Diary: Tejas Legends

"When the Storm God Rides":
The storm go d became angry when a foreign tribe came and killed the birds. He created great storms that picked up sediment and dropped it into the gulf and created islands for the birds to hide on.

"How the North Wind Lost His Hair":
The north wind and south wind got in a big fight and the south wind pulled out north wind's hair and threw it everywhere. This is now the moss that grows and reminds north wind not to stay too long.

"The Plant That Grows in Trees":
The mistletoe grew on the ground at one time. The thunderbird took pity on the mistletoe because all of the animals ate it and killed it. He placed it high in the trees so no one wold eat it.

"Why the Woodpecker Pecks":
A godd of the indians took the children from a tribe because they were being neglected. He put them into hollow trees to hide them from the sun and wolves. He told the tribe what he did then turned them into birds to find the children. That's how the woodpecker came to be.

"The Woodpecker's Stumpy Tail":
A flood came and the woodpecker was warned and did not listen to the warning. When the flood came he tried to get to the highest tree but could not fly at night. His tail hung in the water. A fish came by and bit a part of it off.

"The Tribe That Left Its Shoes":
A tribe of indians left a trail of moccasins to help them get back to their original homeland that had been destroyed. The moccasins turned into orchids.

"The Cloud That Was Lost":
A lot cloud laid on top of orchids and the orchids drank the cloud until they turned pink and lavender while some stayed white.

"The Swift Blue One":
A spaniards brought a horse to the indians and taught one of them the language of the horse. When this indian died they released the horse to the wild.

"Grandmother River's Trick":
River tricked the garfish into swimming over the banks during a flood and trapped them outside of the river to relieve the fish in the river.


Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Growth Mindset: Week 11

The growth mindset I worked on for this week is the reading challenge. I read an entertainment type story this week instead of a myth type story. I prefer reading the myth type stories because they tell more of a story behind the story. I didn't like the entertainment type story because it was more challenging to come up with a story for it. I also read a story out of the UNtextbook in a different location. I was sitting outside and read one of the stories about nature and it helped me to think of the story in a different aspect. Reading outside made me think of the story in a more entertainment way instead of like work as it does when I am in a studious environment. This could help me out in classes like this where I don't have to think of the material in such a stern way.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Reading Diary B: Alice in Wonderland

"A Mad Tea-Party":
Alice comes up on a large table with The Hatter, Dormouse, and Hare sitting at it. They refused Alices offering to join the table but she sat anyway. The three had an argument about sentence inversions. The Hatter confused Alice with all of his questions.

Alice, the hatter, and the hare have an argument over time. The hatter tells a story about how the queen and himself got in a fight and time isn't on his side so he is stuck at six o'clock forever. 

Alice and the mouse had a heated conversation about him telling her a story. She left and went to a tree that had a door in it and ate more of the mushroom to make herself shrink.

Alice was wondering around and found three gardeners painting white roses red. The queen and her party came up to the four of them. The queen asked who Alice was and when Alice got smart with the queen the queen told the guards to cut her head off. The queen ordered the gardeners heads off then left.

When they got to the grounds Alice realized the grounds weren't normal croquet grounds. The balls were hedgehogs and the mallets were flamingos. The arches were the soldiers. The queen ran around angrily screaming off with anyones head who makes her mad.

When Alice saw the cheshire cat she went over to talk to him and realized the rest of his body wasn't there but he could still talk. When the king saw the cat he wen too ask who he was. When the cat refused to tel h, the King told the Queen and the Queen ordered his head off. When the time came to question him the cat disappeared.

Alice is in the court room and knocks over the jury box and spills the jurors on the floor and picks them up. When Alice says she knows nothing of the incident the king can't decide whether it is important or not.

The irrational rulings continued and finally Alice stood up to the queen and the queen ordered Alice's head off.



Reading Diary A: Alice in Wonderland

"Down the Rabbit Hole":
Alice sees a rabbit running along who stops to check his pocket watch. Alice thinks this is very strange so decides to follow him. She follows him down a large rabbit hole. Alice then finds herself falling at a slow rate and realizes there are shelves lining the walls and starts thinking random thoughts to herself.

"Down the Rabbit Hole Cont.":
When alice finally landed at the bottom of the hole she landed on a pile of sticks and leaves. She was in a hallway lined with doors which were all locked. She found a table with a key on it. She finally found a door that would fit the lock but it was far too small for her to fit through. She then found a bottle that ssid "drink me". She thought long and hard about whether to drink it and finally drank all of it.

"Down the Rabbit Hole End":
Alice shrunk so small that she could fit through the tiny door. She then realized she forgot the key on the table. She ate a cake thinking it would help her grow. The cake made her grow nine feet tall. She grew so large that she could hardly see out of the door with one eye. When she got out she saw a caterpillar sitting on a mushroom smoking a hookah.

"Advise from a Caterpillar":
The caterpillar and Alice have a very rude beginning to meeting each other and do not get along very well. The caterpillar keeps asking who Alice is but Alice refuses to give a straight forward answer.

"Advise from a Caterpillar Cont.":
The caterpillar told Alice that her story was wrong and if she wanted to change sizes she would have to eat the side of the mushrooms that made her grow taller.

"Pig and Pepper":
Alice walks onto a house that has a frog man sitting outside. She walks up and asks how to enter the house. HE confuses her with vague answers. She walks into the house where it is filled with smoke. There was a cat, a baby, a cook, and a duchess in the house. The cat was grinning form ear to ear.

"Pig and Pepper Cont.":
Alive questioned the duchess about the cat. The cook threw pots and pans at the duchess and her child. The duchess threw her baby in the air and hit it for sneezing. The duchess threw the baby at Alice and ran off.






Friday, October 30, 2015

Essay: Lessons for Life

A lot of the stories from the Native Americans either tells a story to explain something that has happened or to teach some kind of lesson. In the story "How the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite" there is actually a bit of both. These stories were meant to give meaning to history and to try to shape their futures by teaching life lessons on what is right and wrong. These lessons started the founding for the morals that the Natives developed. If these types of stories hadn't been made there may have not been a type of order because people are inherently not good and these lessons tell you of reasons to do right.

The first aspect that I noticed in this story and even in the title is the explanation of how the rattlesnake learned to bite. The foremost important reason for this story is the explanation. The snake needed some kind of way to protect itself from people that were annoying him because he had no way to be assertive. Since he needed some way of protecting himself he went to the Elder Brother who gave him fangs to bite anyone who annoyed the snake.

The second aspect of the story is the lesson of it and what the story is trying to teach. To me the story is don't push someone so far that they have to give themselves the upper hang and could eventually do harm to someone because of the pent up aggression that they feel. The snake eventually goes to the Elder Brother to get help because people have annoyed him so much about his rattler. He is too nice to say anything about it so when the Elder Brother gives him fangs he uses them to hurt and eventually kill the first person that annoys him after getting his fangs.



Thursday, October 29, 2015

Storytelling Week 10: Snake Bite

One day in a land far away a long time ago there was a snake that lived. This snake's name was Bo and he was nothing like the snakes today. He had the softest heart and never wanted to hurt anyone. This story is his account of the turning point in his life and why snakes are the way they are today. You may never question why snakes are so mean and have a tendency to bite you after they shake their rattler. This is a story about the long ago relative of the common rattlesnake of today and why the rattlesnakes are so mean.

Hi. I hear you would like for me to tell you why rattlesnakes are so mean and have a tendency to bite people when provoked. It all started when I grew my beautiful rattler. Everyone came from miles around to see and hear the sound it made. At first I loved all the attention that my rattler brought to me. After a few months of everyone wanting to meet me, I began to become very annoyed by not being able to have any time alone. I started to lose sleep because people would want me to rattle for them during the night. I was just too nice to say no.

One day I had finally had enough and went to the Elder Brother for advice on what to do. He took a feather from his lip and cut it into short pieces and formed teeth with them. These teeth were so sharp they could easily pierce through skin and harm anyone that I bit. He also put some kind of poison in them so that when they pierced skin they would make the victim very sick. He told me "If anyone annoys you and will not leave you alone, just simply bite them and they will eventually learn when everyone sees how sick they get and slow the bit person dies."

Later that day Rabbit came to see my rattler and to hear its beautiful sound. I told him to leave me alone but he kept annoying me. He actually got mad at me and scratched me because I refused. I did as the Elder Brother told me to do and bit him. He scratched me again so I bit him again. This went on for multiple rounds until he finally gave up and went home. Later that night Rabbit became very sick. Instead of everyone seeing it my way everyone saw me as a bad person and exiled me from the land. I went into hiding so now when anyone comes around I simply bite them to remind them to leave me alone.

This is how the modern cousin of the snake in this story came to be so mean and obtain fangs. When you are around a snake always remember the reason why they are mean and do not taunt them. You may end up just like Rabbit and regret what you did.



Author's Note:

This story is based off the first half of "How the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite." I began the story with a little background to give a good beginning to the story. The story starts out by the rattlesnake having a rattler that everyone wants to see. When he gets annoyed by everyone wanting to hear his rattler, he goes to the Elder Brother to ask him what to do. The Elder Brother gives him fangs and tells him to bite anyone who bothers him. Rabbit was the first victim and would scratch rattlesnake because he wouldn't shake his rattler. Rattlesnake bit Rabbit, which eventually killed him. The rest of the story is just written in first person instead of third person. I chose to write in this style to be able to give a better idea about how the rattlesnake thought about the situation and why he bit rabbit. I feel like it helps to give a more personal sense to the rattlesnake's character. The picture I chose is of a rattlesnake because that is what the story is about and how they became to be like the modern rattlesnake. 

Bibliography:

"How the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite" by Katherine Berry Judson, from Southwestern and California Legends (1912). Web Source: UNtextbook

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Reading Diary B: California and the Old Southwest

"Origin of the Sierra Nevadas and Coast Range":
Crow and Hawk fought over who would sit on the highest pole and made mountains from mud they took from duck's mouth to make the mountains.

"El Capitan":
Two boys were trapped on a mountain and a Measuring-Worm was the only one able to bring them down.

"The Children of Cloud":
The cloud's sons went to meet their father and was sent back and forth between cloud and wind until cloud challenged them to prove he was their father.


"Origin of the Raven and the Macaw":
A tribe had to choose between two eggs. The stronger tribe took away the raven egg and the weaker one settled for the macaw egg. The priest became the leader for the macaw tribe

"Coyote and the Hare":
Coyote caught hare and was going to kill him. Hare tricked coyote into letting him stand to tell him something. Hare ran and entered a house and tricked the coyote and escaped.

"Coyote and the Quails":
Story about how the quail tricked the coyote into thinking he ate himself and ended up trying to bite the quail but bit into a cactus and killed himself.

"How Bluebird and Coyote Got Their Colors"
The bluebird bathed on a blue lake for four mornings and four evening until he turned blue. The Coyote wanted to do the same. When he turned blue he walked around showing off and didn't watch where he was going and fell in the dirt and became the color of dirt.

"Coyote's eyes":
Coyote asked a bird to help him get his eyes brighter but after a few times of making them brighter the bird became annoyed and kept them. The bird then gave the coyote yellow eyes.

"How the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite"
The Elder Brother gave the snake fangs to bite because people kept annoying him to hear his rattlers. The snake then killed the rabbit and the animals hid the body from coyote.

"Coyote and the Rattlesnake":
Coyote tried to out scare rattlesnake and ended up with no food and had to hunt anyway.


Coyote hunting in the snow

Monday, October 26, 2015

Reading Diary A: California and the Old Southwest

"Three Coyote Creation Story":
The creation of people by coyote and eagle. The creation of mean by coyote and fox. The destruction and resurrection of men by coyote.

"The Creation of the World":
How the Earth Doctor created the world by stretching a piece of dirt and having the help of other animals to create it.

"Spider's Creation":
The creation of earth by the spider and how he separated the humans into clans. Also how he made people in charge of different aspects of earth.

"The Great Fire":
The creation of the sun by a hawk and coyote. The coyote gave the hawk a ball of dried reeds and told the hawk to fly into the sky snd set it on fire.

"Creation of Man":
The animals got together to decide what man should look like. The coyote, tricking everyone and cheating, won the contest.

"Old Man Above and the Grizzlies":
The old man lost his daughter to the world before. She married a bear and made the new human race. When her father found out he cursed them to walk on all fours.

"Creation of Mankind and the Flood"
How Earth Doctor created the earth but then killed all the humans and animals because of over crowding. The Elder Brother then wanted to destroy humans again but the Earth Doctor warned them of a great flood.

"The Fable of the Animals":
Man decided which animals would be prey to each other and who had the most and least strength. Coyote tried to stay awake all night to meet Man first but fell asleep late and was the last one awake.

"The Theft of Fire":
The coyote devised a plan to steal the fire form two old hags and passed it to different animals until it got to the ground squirrel who burned himself and still has a black stripe to this day.

"Coyote, Tortilla, and Mesquite Beans":
Coyote tried to trick a woman into giving her some tortillas and ended up drowning.

The coyote like the one in each story


Thursday, October 22, 2015

Extra Reading Diary: Aesop's Fables (Jacobs)

"Birds, Part 1":
A fox tricked the crow into dropping a piece of cheese form his mouth so the fox could eat it. Another story a crow talks an eagle into dropping a tortoise on sharp rocks to break his shell.

"Birds, Part 2":
A man captured a bird to sing to him. When the bird refused to sing the man told him he would put the bird on toast. The bird told the man if he let him go he would tell him about something much better to eat. When let go the bird flew away.

"Insects, Snakes, Crabs":
A man's son stepped on a snake's tail so the snake turned and bit him and killed him. The man tok revenge and cut off part of the snake's tail. In turn the snake killed part of the man's cattle. When the man tried to make peace the snake denied.

"Frogs and Fish":
The frogs were living without order but still happy and careless. A few of the frogs when to Jove and asked for a ruler. Jove sent a log to them. When they realized the log wasn't living they asked for a different ruler so Jove sent a start that began eating all of them.

"Nature and Inanimate Objects":
The other organs of the body got mad at the stomach for not doing any of the work. The other organs went on strike and told the stomach he had to start working harder. When the hands stopped bringing food to the mouth the rest of the body got so weak they could not do their jobs. They all agreed they would start working again.

"Human's and Gods":
A man went to a satyr's house and he warmed his hands with his breath as well as cooled his soup with his breath. The Satyr thought of this as unnatural and kicked him out for blowing hot and cold air.


Storytelling: Small and Swift

Hello, My name is Phil and I am known as a hummingbird to most people. From day to day I live my life as perhaps the smallest of the birds. People like to poke fun at me for being so small. Because I am to small I am about to move very quickly. I move so fast that no animal can keeps their eyes on me long enough to track where I am going.

There is one tobacco plant that is shared between all animals. One day the plant was stolen. Each of the biggest strongest animals tried to go and retrieve the plant but were killed one by one. Finally when all hope was lost I went to the other animals and told them I would try to get the plant back for them. I was laughed at for being so small. At first I wasn't even been considered for the job but I kept asking and kept asking until I was given a test. A plant was place in the middle of a field and I was told to retrieve it without being noticed. With all of the animals watching, I flew quickly to the plant and grabbed a few leaves and seeds. The other animals had thought I had ran from being too scared and never saw me actually from to the plant. When I returned with the leaves I was given the job.

On the morning of the great journey I woke up and ate my usual breakfast like I do every other day. On my way to the meeting place for my great journey I thought about my trip I am about to take and what might happen if I were to be killed. When I reached the start all of the other animals were wishing me luck and hoping to see me soon.

When I left it was just a straight easy flight. Once I reached the island of the dreaded monster I had to be very quiet and work quickly. I flew right over the monster and he never even noticed anyone was near. I found the tobacco plant and grabbed as many leaves and seeds as I could handle to carry. I quickly flew back to the other animals with the leaves and seeds. The animals threw me a huge party for saving their tobacco plant and have not looked down on me for being so small ever since.


Author's Note:

This story is based off of the story "How They Brought Back the Tobacco". I chose to write this story in first person instead of the third person storytelling style. The picture I chose is a hummingbird as in the one like the main character of the story.

Bibliography:

"How They Brought Back the Tobacco" by James Mooney, from Cherokee Myths (1900). Web Source: UNtextbook.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Reading Diary B: Cherokee

"The Terrapin's Escape From the Wolves":
This is a story about how a terrapin tricked the wolves by getting the wolves to trow him into the river. He escaped but broke his back and sowed his back back together but still has the scars.

"The Ball Game of the Birds and the Animals":
A story about the creation of the bat and flying squirrel and how the martin made his home in a gourd.

"The Race Between the Crane and the Hummingbird":
The crane and hummingbird fell in love with a woman. The woman told them to race and the winner would be with her. The crane won but she didn't really want to be with him so she stayed single.

"The Owl Gets Married":
a story of how a man would go off to hunt for his wife and turn into an owl. The wife found out and kicked him out of her house.

"The Huhu Gets Married":
A mother had her daughter marry a man so he could work for them. He went to work for two days and the mother hadn't seen him or any progress so she kicked him out of the house.

"The Red Man and the Uktena":
A hunter stumbles on a man being killed by a snake and kills the snake. The man being killed was the red and man gave him a gift that would always bring him good luck while hunting.

"The Snake Boy":
A story about how a boy turned into a snake because his family was jealous of his relationship with his grandmother.

"The Bullfrog Lover":
A man had the mouth of a tadpole and tricked a woman into marrying him then was kicked out of the family when they discovered what he really is.



Monday, October 19, 2015

Reading Diary A: Cherokee Diary

"How the World was Made":
A story about the beginning of the world and how everything became as it is known today. The sun was made seven hand widths high. The owl and panther were given night vision because they stayed awake for seven days.

"The First Fire":
A story about how the animals brought the first fire from a mysterious place onto the land they live on.

"The Journey to the Sunrise":
A story about a few men's unsuccessful journey to meet the sun and question where he is from and what he is like.

"Origin of the Pleiades and the Pine":
The story of how the star pattern "Pleiades" came to be along with the pine tree. Seven boys were punished by their mothers and danced to be sent someplace else. They were put into the heavens while one was put into the ground.

"The Moon and the Thunders":
This story is of multiple forms of what the moon and sun are and it's various characteristics. One tells why the sun is only out at night and why it has dark spots.

"The Deluge":
A version of the Noah's Ark story from the bible.

"How They Brought Back the Tobacco":
The story about the fail of every animal to get the tobacco back. The hummingbird was the only animal swift enough to steal it back.

"The Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting":
A story of how the otter and rabbit were in a competition and the otter tricked the rabbit into roping and goose and ended up in a stump without a door until he tricked a family into letting him out.

"How The Terrapin beat the Rabbit":
A story of how the Terrapin tricked the Rabbit and won the race.

"The Deer and the Rabbit":
The first part tells how the deer was awarded the prize of antlers for a race in which he won becsaue the rabbit was accused of cheating. The second part tells of how the rabbit tricked the deer into letting him shave his teeth flat.


Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Reading Plan

Week 9: Cherokee

Week 10: Great Plains

Week 11: Robin Hood

Week 12: Celtic Tales

Week 13: Italian

Week 14: Inferno



Reflections: looking forward

I would like to read more stories about the native american cultures and what their belief might be. I would also like to try to read the stories in different locations throughout the remaining semester. I need to come up with a better schedule and work on a few extra assignments to bring my score up some and work toward getting an A for the class. I would like to work on these assignments in the mornings instead of at night. Also the growth mindsets seem to be a good tool to help with writing and would like to learn to use them more. With the extra credit assignments I would be doing curation  projects.

A plant growing up through solidified lava representing a new beginning

Monday, October 12, 2015

Reflections: Looking Back

This class has helped me the most for writing so far in school. It gives me a chance to write about something completely random, in a sense, and then to get feedback then to make it better. I also like to read other people's stories so that I can get a good a view of a few different styles of writing. My favorite readings are the stories about how things became to be known as they are now. Particularly how the world was started and why things were created the way they are. I haunt really created a concrete schedule for this class but I usually try to work on things for this class late in the evening. Most of the time I do my work in my room at my desk but sometimes I work in my kitchen just to study someplace else. I actually have been practicing the growth mindset things I read. Ive been trying various types of studying for this class and even others. It has helped me to keep focus on what I'm studying so that I don't get with what I'm working on.


The Beginning used to reflect my interest in stories to read

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Storytelling Week 7: Watch Over

Hi. My name is Phillip and I belong to a flock of individuals known as the ravens. Every day I go out and find food for my family and look out over the mountains. Each day around noon I fly over the small river runs through a valley. The water in this river is the most appealing water you could imagine. It has the clearest water in the land which draws many people to it. It also has added minerals for flavor. Now these minerals aren't all good minerals. You see, there is a snake at the start of it that pours his venom into the river. The reason for this is a very long story, so I'll have to save it for another day. Just know the snake is punishing anyone that drinks from his river. I have watched many people come to the river to drink after a long day. Most of the animals know not to drink form this evil river. Even the tiniest drop of this water will kill someone but because most of the people that come are very thirsty they drink many cups of water from it. I try to get to the people before they drink to try and save their lives but most people either brush me off or think I'm just a crazed bird.

One day on my normal flyover I came across a man walking in the woods. I had been doing a great job of turning everyone away from the river before they could reach it but somehow this man actually had snuck past me. He looked as if he had been walking a long time and was pretty thirsty. He was headed right for the river! The closer he got to the river and the closer to death I would fly a little closer to swoop in at any time so I could save his life. I knew that once he laid eyes on the river it would be much harder for me to stop him and be would try to kill me for trying to stop him form drinking the water. When he came into eye shot of the river he broke a large leaf off a tree and made it into a cup. Once he had dipped the cup into the poisoned water I knocked it out of his hand and into the river. He became very angry with me and looked like he wanted to kill me. He walked over to the tree again and grabbed another leaf and made it as he did before and walked to the river. He filled the cup once again and as before I knocked it out of his hands and into the river. The man grabbed the nearest rock he could find and sent it flying right at me. He hit my head with the rock. Luckily he didn't kill me. It just hurt really back and made me kind of dizzy. I flew to the near tree the wait out the dizzy spell so that I could warn him again but before I had time to he dipped another cup in the water and drank it. As you might have guessed he didn't make it far from the bank before he dropped dead. I flew home and took my family some food he had in his bag. 


The raven trying to warn the man


Author's Note:

The story that I based this story off of is "How the Raven Saved the Hunter." I changed the story from third person into the first person point of view from the raven. I like stories that are in the first person because it is easier to place yourself into the story and live it like the raven who is telling the story. I changed the story from the raven dying to the man dying at the end because who likes the good guy to die in the end? In the original story the man is a hunter that is on a hunt and goes to a river and a random raven is bothering him as he approaches the river. The hunter kills the raven after the raven knocks three bowls out of his hands. Afterwards the hunter travels upstream and realizes there is a snake a the beginning putting poison in the river and feels terrible about killing the bird that tried to save his life. I changed the ending of the story to make it more of a happy ending because the good character wins instead of being killed. I chose the picture above just because it is a simple picture of what a raven looks like in case someone does not know. 

Bibliography:

"How the Raven Saved the Hunter" by A.L. Shelton, from Tibetan Folk Tales (1925). Web Source: UNtextbook.