Feedback Thoughts

Feedback has always been something that I have had a love/hate relationship with. Similar to what was said in the class discussion, I love getting the ideas to make my work better but I absolutely hate the possibility of someone having something really negative to say about my assignment. For that reason, I really liked these articles and learned a lot about how to balance both of those feelings when it comes to feedback for the class.

There are a lot of different ways to both receive and

accept feedback. Source: Public Domain Pictures

One of the things I loved that I read about this in the article, 6 Bad Mental Habits That Sabotage Your Success, is the way that it talked about the danger of making excuses. While this article wasn't necessarily directly related to receiving feedback as we will in this class, it still was relevant because of the nature of feedback. Speaking from experience, it is so easy to make excuses like "My reader doesn't know what they're talking about" or "they just don't appreciate what I was writing about like they should" and to throw their advice out the window without a second thought. However, not taking things personally can allow us as writers to be more open to advice in order to better ourselves in this practice.

I also am really bad about comparing myself to others around me and often questioning why I can't have the same success that they seem to. This, however, never does anything but harm. Instead of finding ways to improve my own work, I instead end up frustrated and even a little bit jealous. For this reason, The Psychology of Comparison and How to Stop provided a lot of good commentary on this exact issue. I loved the way that it said it's completely normal, we're all human. Sometimes that easy to forget. From now on, I will do my very best to "be a racehorse" and focus on myself and how I can improve, not the work of others.

Lastly, I am a perfectionist. I want to be the best at everything. Needless to say, that doesn't always work out in my favor. In fact, sometimes my very desire to succeed is what causes me to fail because I'm getting in my way. The biggest thing that I got from the article Recalibrating the Perfectionist Mind is that errors are not final, but rather they are a way to improve and to find what can be done better. This is something I can keep in mind when it comes to receiving feedback and to not be bitter about what others might have to say about my own work. After all, the feelings of others are mostly shared to allow growth, not to insult. These things are all ideas that I can keep in mind to better myself when it comes to receiving feedback and, as a result, writing.

Topic Brainstorm

When I was thinking about which direction I wanted to go with this project, I honestly had a really hard time narrowing it down because so many different things came to mind. That being said, I decided to take advantage of this assignment opportunity to fully dive in to a couple of different things that are completely separate from each other, don't follow any type of theme, but interest me greatly.

The first thing I am interested in possibly doing for the project is something on the Canterbury Tales, potentially to be based on the storybook collection found within the Untextbook. Being an English education major and having always loved English growing up, the Canterbury Tales is a piece of literature that I have never really looked at. I think it would be so cool to get to read them and then retell them in my own unique way. As of now, I'm not completely sure of which direction I would take it but I think it could be cool to change the setting to a modern time as opposed to it's original one. The storybook collection I researched had it in modern prose but I might would even take it one step further to completely revamp the setting and maybe add a few more bells and whistles while I'm at it.

A page from George Chaucer's original

Canterbury Tales. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Another topic that I am interested in further exploring is that of The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus. I remember doing this unit a couple of times in high school and I was always so fascinated by it and would love to learn more about it. As far as a direction for the project, I think it would be cool to somehow explain or create some type of drama between them. I especially liked the way some of the examples were done in diary format and thought it might be cool to potentially turn it into a series of letters that the Gods and Goddesses write to each other, letting them know what is going on in their lives as if they had been separated.

Aurora, the goddess of the morning red, is just one of

many that could be included in such a project.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Additionally, I am interested in potentially doing something with a biblical foundation such as the Biblical Love Stories project that was posted in the Untextbook or even something along the lines of a rendition of major Bible stories retold someway. This might be something cool to do in a letter or diary format where one character is present to tell what is going on in all stages. The idea is still a work in progress but my Christian faith is something that has always been super important to me so I would love to dive into it in this way and to get to incorporate it into such a big project. 

Noah's Ark, a story found in Genesis in the Bible,

is a story I could possibly add in this type

of project. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Last, but certainly not least, I was considering doing a project of some sort based on the Caribbean culture. This is definitely the subject area that I know the least about, meaning there is a ton that I could learn from it. I am interested in this route because my family and I have traveled to multiple parts of the Caribbean region and it is something that I absolutely love overtime. The people there are so kind and the islands themselves are amazing. For that reason, I think it would be amazing to dive into their culture and some of their literature and then have an opportunity to create some of my own. I was thinking it might be kind of cool to do some kind of Caribbean meets the rest of the world or Caribbean meets America type thing, but I am not entirely sure what that would look like yet. I also like the idea of turning these short poems from the link above into full prose for my rewriting.

The region from which such tales come from. 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Week 2 Story: Prisoner

"I can't believe mother agreed to this," thought young Bella as she angrily threw her belongings into her tattered brown travel bag. She continued to throw her belongings into the bag as she recalled the events of the day that mother had just explained to her upon her return from the village.

Apparently, the way her mother put it, she had found these beautiful ruby red slippers that she simply had to have. Exactly what for, Bella had no idea. All she knew was that her mother, a simple country woman who rarely had an opportunity to be dressed so elegantly, had decided that there was nothing more valuable than those brilliant shoes. That being said, the beast of a salesman named a price that was clearly too high for a woman who was a farmer's widow. Dismayed, her mother recalled how she had to refuse the offer, but the salesman wasn't quite ready to give up just yet. Instead, he inquired if she had any young daughters suitable for a young man looking to take a wife. Of course, you can put it together at this point, and figure that beautiful Bella's mother jumped at the opportunity for the shoes and willingly traded her daughter for them.

The beautiful, must have shoes that Bella's mother

traded her to the salesman for to be married to his

son. Source: Flickr

Several hours later, Bella trudged up to the ornate house; however, to her, it looked more like a prison and she was to be the prisoner. She thought of all the things she would miss in this place: her sisters growing up, her family's holiday traditions, going out with her friends. The list went on and on. Hesitantly, not knowing what else to do, she rang the doorbell and found herself face to face with the beast that would now be in charge of her life as she knew it. Soon, there would be a wedding, she would be a wife, and eventually a mother to this wretched man's children. This was what her life had become, thanks to her mother's thoughtless decision, and there was nothing that she could do about it at this point.

Author's Note:

The story above is a rewrite of Beauty and the Basilisk which follows the tale of a young girl who finds herself traded for three red roses to a Basilisk. However, I didn't like how Beauty was never given a voice, so that is what I attempted to do in my rewrite. I also changed the item for which she was traded and set it a little bit differently to where it wasn't an actual creature that she was given to, but rather a "beast of a man" that she was to spend the rest of her life with, all because her mother had to have these new shoes. 

Bibliography

"Beauty and the Basilisk." from The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Fairy Tales, Tricksters & Metamorphosis

Going into this part of the assignment for the week, I was both unsure of what was to come but also excited. I had no idea that there were so many different things that fell under the classification of mythology and folklore. For example, Beauty and the Beast was one of my favorite stories as a kid, but I had no idea that it fell into this type of category or that it could be worked with in such a way as to retell it and make it into a completely new story.

Fairy Tale Thoughts: Beauty and the Basilisk
- Favorite fairy tale
- New version: like the shift on character development
- Fun twist in plot; more emphasis on mother
-Could take this and turn it by focusing on the girl's side of it and how she might feel betrayed and unwanted by her mother

Trickster Thoughts: Tiger, Brahman, and Jackal
- Love the trickster theme
- Could rework with a completely unexpected turn (small beats large or something like that)

Metamorphosis Thoughts: Pygmalion
- Along similar lines as Princess and the Frog as far as type
- Could use it to also spin fairy tale of some sort
- characters? Might have one thats incredibly privileged that stereotypes against the other but then finds out they aren't so bad.

Representation of the variety of fairytales

and different stories that can be told. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Reading Options

When it came time to start picking articles that I might be interested in using for the purpose of this course, I honestly had no idea where to start. As I started thumbing through some of the articles and stories that were posted, I kept going back to ones that were centered around fairy tales and things like that. I have always loved the well-known tales such as Snow White and Cinderella, found in Grimm (Crane), as well as the idea of ones that are not so well known. This looked like something I might be interested in for this course because of the nature of the reading. As much as I love the well known fairy tales, I would probably want to focus more on some that aren't so popular to create a more unheard of story of my own.

Cinderella, a tale told in the unit above that I was interested in. 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

I was also interested in using the Arabian Nights unit for one of my own stories. I have always loved Aladdin as told by the Disney movie so I thought it would be cool to see the difference in this tale and then potentially model something of my own after it. I could potentially even pick something from the related list and make a completely different tale of my own. I didn't realize before doing this reading assignment that there were so many different options for readings in this course.

Disney's live rendition of Aladdin. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Finally, I enjoyed reading through the English Fairy Tales, for a similar reason as the other two. I think it would be super cool to use these and put my own spin on them for my own project, similar to something that I saw done in the readings we got to sort through last week.

To sum up my choices, I also think these would serve as a fun experience when it comes to how I might could do a creative writing assignment after graduation when I have a classroom of my own. I could have students do a rewrite assignment of their own and I think it would serve as good experience in creative writing. However, I would want to have experience with it myself. This would be a cool way to get such an experience that I could later include into my own teachings.

Time Strategies

This semester, I am taking 19 hours so time management is something that I am going to have to really work on in order to succeed. For this reason, I have been trying to really sit down this week as it has been the first week of classes and figure out how in the world I am going to get everything that needs to be done finished. The Important Habit of Just Starting by John Mackay is something that I found very useful in thinking about this task. All too often, as the author said, I tend to put off doing the work for longer than the assignment itself actually would take me. For this reason, if I could just overcome this hurdle I think my semester would be come a lot less stressful.

I am also a big believer in The Psychology of Checklists. For as long as I can remember, I have lived by my planner. I write everything down in it, usually color code things, and am sure to cross things off as soon as they are completed. This is something that I think has been huge in my ability to get things done efficiently thus far in my academic experience and a huge key to my ability to utilize good time management.

A personal photo of my own planner that I use

in my own adaptation of a checklist method for time management.

I am not entirely sure that the schedule I set up earlier this week is going to be the most effective, but it might be. I have never taken 2 online classes in one semester like I am right now, as well as one blended course, so I am still trying to figure out how this is going to work best, seeing as it is still just the first week of classes. However, with a little bit of effort and planning, I am sure that I can plan out a schedule that will be applicable to most weeks in order to succeed in not only this course, but my other ones as well.

Technology Everywhere!

Something that has become particularly fascinating to me during my time as a college student is just how much technology there is incorporated into the classroom, both online and in person. This class, of course, is the epitome of this very idea. I'm excited to explore the different kinds of technology that are going to be involved in this online experience.

I have used a lot of the different types of technologies that we are going to be utilizing, but I most definitely have room to grow in how I use them. This online class seems to incorporate much more technology than the one I have taken before. I like the variety because it keeps things interesting and also gives students a way to be proud of the things that they have done because they are so unique.

One web skill in particular that I want to work on is videoing and website building. I have done a little bit of work with both, but not much. This is something that a class I am in about Educational Technologies has looked at heavily thus far and I think it would be cool to dive into outside of that course as well. I think those would both be things I could utilize to do some really cool things in this course.

There are many platforms useful for making short videos

for educational purposes, such as the one displayed above.

Source: Vimeo

Assignments

It is quite obvious by now that this course is set up in a rather unique fashion compared to many others that I have taken up to this point. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect is the way that we really get to pick what we are doing and can therefore make the class an experience different than what any other student might have. I love that this is set up this way because tuition is incredibly high so it's cool to be able to control what I am getting for the money that I am putting in. Most of the other classes that I have taken before have been much more rigid in the structure and, occasionally, that very aspect eliminated a lot of the fun from the course simply due to the amount of stress that it created.

The University of Oklahoma, pictured above, has a 

high tuition rate, especially for out of state students. Source: Wikimedia Commons

I also am especially intrigued by the extra credit aspect and the way that it works. I've never had a professor tell us that we could use the extra credit assignments to replace other assignments ahead of time or to avoid having to do certain things and finish the course early. There are a few parts that really jumped out to me. I love the idea of the Tech Tips assignment. I have a course this semester that is all about how to incorporate technology in the classroom and I feel like this is something that I might could implement to go hand and hand with that class as well. I also am interested in the Growth Mindset possibilities, simply because of their relevance to my future career as a teacher. Lastly, I love the idea of the Famous Last Words to be able to reflect on the week and then have to option to go back and look at it later.

Growth Mindset Learning

Carol Dweck's concept of the growth mindset is something that I had heard of before in one of my courses required for a degree in education. Due to the nature of being a teacher and entering the classroom in this position, this is something that seems vital to me and my specific career path. In my own experiences, I see it implemented in several different ways. Growing up, I was always an A+ student, but even so, I absolutely hated being told that I had missed the mark on something and not being able to prove myself once more. To put it simply, I was a perfectionist. To me, this idea of a growth mindset would cross great lengths to resolve similar issues with other children from a teachers perspective.

A simple infographic addressing the ways in which 

a growth mindset might enhance learning. Source: Flikr

Another way that I have seen something like this emerge is in a class that I am currently enrolled in, even though I have only attended one session thus far. I am enrolled in a special education course that all majors have to take in my college and I think this approach would be specifically useful there. Due to the nature of diversity of students, especially those that study with exceptionalities, I think utilizing this growth mindset of "not yet" instead of a permanent "no" would provide a lot of room to work with these students, and many others for that fact, to enable them to reach their full potential. 

Introduction to a Waco Girl That Doesn't Sic 'Em

Hello! My name is Hannah Virnau and I am a junior from Waco, Texas. No, I did not want to go to Baylor. I chose to come to OU because I wanted to experience life in a new place and I am loving it here. I am studying English education at the moment. I love the idea of being an English teacher because of the way it allows students to express themselves through writing and to find their own creative outlet. However, being a teacher is not my end goal. When all is said and done, it would be a dream come true to me to become a school counselor. I love helping people and think that high school is such a formative time so I plan on pursuing a masters degree to become certified to do so in this area. I have taken some really cool classes here at OU but my favorite would have to be my Educational Psychology class that I took last semester. It was so fascinating to me to learn how to construct lessons and things for the classroom in a way that really reached my students while also learning some of the things that might make my students who they are outside of the biological factors that play into this.

Something else interesting about me is that I LOVE to travel. More specifically, I love to cruise. Since my first one in 2010, I have been on 7 of them. It is something that I have gotten to do with my family and I truly wouldn't trade the experience for the world. On that note, my family is also incredibly important to me. My mom is a 3rd grade teacher, my dad an accountant, and I have 2 sisters that are still in high school. Since being in college, it has been hard to be away from them at times but we are all still just as close as ever. We also have a sweet havanese puppy named Forest, the most spoiled little guy that you will ever meet. He is the only dog I have ever seen that will literally not let you eat a cookie unless you share with him first.

Personal photo of my family's dog, Forest.

Last, but certainly not least, I love to spend time outside and hanging with my friends and family on the rare occurrence that I actually stumble upon some free time. I love to hike, watch the sunset, go to the lake, swim, and anything of that sort. 

That's just a little bit about me. I can't wait to meet you!

Storybook Favorites Review Post

Novel Nursery Rhymes
I loved the topic of this post! Particularly, I enjoyed the way that the author took something familiar and rather childlike and ran with it, making it into new and exciting stories that were a refresher of things I'm sure we have all heard a million times. The introduction set up what was to come from the very beginning, really making me excited to read the fairy tales in their new forms. I loved the way that it was also told as if a grandmother was telling the stories because of the degree of innocence and youth that it added. This storybook was very easy to navigate and felt just like reading a traditional fairy tale collection, which I loved. I love the idea of even being able to use something like this later on when I become a teacher and I think this could be a great platform to start with as an example for writing projects for students.

One of the fairy tales on the post was Humpty Dumpty but

with a backstory in regards to how he got up on the wall. 

Source: Sketch Port

Dear Diary: Camp Olympus
I thought the topic of this posting was an interesting way to go about exploring the idea of the gods and goddesses of Greek Mythology. Although some of the writing was a little choppy or could have been slightly more eloquent, the idea still worked nicely and provided another creative outlet to tell about the topic of mythology in a more fun way. The set up was slightly confusing because of the way that the writer said everything was from Penny's perspective but gave the sections titles that were different names. After a little bit of reading, it became more clear but it took a little bit of research to figure it out. I also love the way this is a potential creative writing platform I could model something after in the future and give my students a more intriguing way of diving into mythology and folklore and really taking ownership over it.

Morgan's Mythology: Highschool Gods
This was a particularly unique way of diving into the idea of the Greek gods and goddesses and who they really were at their core. I loved the way that the author applied what she knew about mythology but also managed to put a fictional twist on it, setting it back to high school days. I thought the introduction set it up really well because of the way that it addressed the personality of each character. The only thing that I would probably change is the way that she was so brief on the Three Brothers and the Three Maiden's page, but other than that, this story book was really well done.

There's No Place Like...

Growing up, my family traveled a lot. Every year, my sisters and I looked forward to learning of our destination for an upcoming trip. However, our traveling was mostly done in one way. We loved to cruise. I have been to many different beaches and tropical destinations, but there are a few that stick out above the rest. Even with everywhere that we have been, my two favorites have to be Nassau, Bahamas and Key West, Florida.

Key West, Florida

Usually when we cruise, the ports of call are not in the states. However, our most recent cruise traveled to Florida and the port of Key West most definitely qualifies as one of my favorite ones. We got to eat at a Sloppy Joe restaurant that is a major tourist attraction, see Ernest Hemingway's home, and venture to the southern most point of the U.S. It is because of these unique experiences that this port is now one of my favorites that I would return to in a heart beat if given the chance.

Sloppy Joe Bar frequently visited by Ernest Hemingway

during his lifetime that we visited. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Southernmost point of the United States

that we visited during our trip. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Nassau, Bahamas

Another one of my favorite ports of call that I've gotten to visit is in the Bahamas on an island called Nassau. During our time here, we went to the Atlantis resort and got to spend our day in paradise. We went through an aquarium, spent hours on private beaches, ate yummy food, and even got to go on big water slides and rides. It was a blast and the island itself was beautiful.

A personal photo of my dad and I on our 

cruise to the Bahamas in Nassau.

A personal photo I took when we are at the Atlantis 

resort of the private island.

Hello!

My name is Hannah Virnau and I am a junior here at the University of Oklahoma. I am an English Education major and eventually would like to pursue my master's degree to become a school counselor as well.

I love spending time with my family and friends, volunteering with children, being outside, coffee, and many other things during the rare free time that I have.

I am excited for this class and can't wait to get started!